It was the beginning of my freshman year of college, August 1991. I graduated high school the year prior, but wasn't sure that I wanted to attend school. I took a year off and continued to work my shift supervisor job at Pizza Hut. At the time, this made me realize I wanted to go to school. I wanted better opportunities because I was determined to have a family someday.

University of Pittsburgh - Greensburg Campus
This is where my college days began. I specifically chose the Greensburg Campus of Pitt, because they offered the major of Administration of Justice. My initial goal was to start here with the desire of becoming some type of investigator or attorney. 

A few buddies and I shared an on-campus apartment. Two bedrooms, 1 bath, living area, and kitchen.  Simple and eventually gross af. It should be illegal for boys 18-19yo living together. Old food, wrappers, crumbs, socks, chew spit cups (spilled ones), beer cans, bathroom fungus. Talk about a time of rampant viruses and bacteria. I am happy to report we all survived. That little place was a lot of fun. It was more fun for my roommates because they did not have to work a full-time job as well. I do not regret having to work, but it made me uptight because

The good news is, I had enough time to have some fun. It wasn't all business, especially if I started drinking. It was all fun and happy when being fueled by my preferred energy drink: Beer. I became fond of Rolling Rock because our new friend and resident across the hall, Adam, worked on the bottling line. Seemed as though we had an endless supply of Rolling Rock 7oz Pony bottles. Along with the pony bottles we had NES, Super NES, the Metallica Black Album, and then "Smells Like Teen Spirit". What a time to be alive.

Here we are now, Entertain us

Smells Like Teen Spirit.  Do you mean the deodorant? This was the first thought we all had. The answer mattered not. The opening guitar riff accompanied by chest pounding drum beats were hypnotic. I clearly remember hearing it for the first time in our cesspool living space. We all were like damn that is a great song. The song would begin getting a lot of air time, on what felt like every station on the dial. 

Of the four of us bunking together, I was the only one with a car. In October of 1989, my grandfather (Pops) gave me $500 to put down on a brand new Nissan Hardbody Truck 4x2. This thing had power steering and power brakes. No frills, just the basics. I loved it. I literally drove it off the showroom floor.  The price financed was $7,200. My payment was $136.50 a month. Sadly for a college student, I did not want to spend that chunk, when I needed to eat, pay for entertainment, gas, etc...  I was 19 after all.

My stepdad came to the rescue! He had a 1981 Chevy Citation, navy blue, manual 4-speed he was willing to part with. He said I could take it at no charge and he would drive my truck, and make the payments while I was at school. When I was ready, we could swap back and I would resume payments on the truck. I took that deal before he could finish his sentence.

The car was a total dork mobile! I didn't give a shit, I had wheels. I could help my homies get around, which was awesome.  My stepdad worked at a Seafood market in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. You couldn't spend 10 minutes shopping in there without smelling like you just came off the fish cleaning line. Horrid smells that make themselves at home in your nostrils. I can still smell it, even though it is not there! Keeping this in mind, you can imagine how that car smelled. We called it a pretty crude name: P@##$ Mobile. I am not proud, Lord forgive me.

Oh, how we loved that car. Taco Bell was our favorite destination. It was about 15 minutes from our apartment complex. We'd pull out onto the road leading us to Route 30 East. It was like the yellow brick road. At the end of the road was our treasure.

This sign made us tickled pink. Each one of us was in a hurry to rush inside and secure our place in line. We looked at the menu, like each trip before, only to order the same thing we always did. A six-pack of Tacos. Sometimes we would munch them there, others we would eat half in the car and half at home base. I became talented in driving a manual while eating Taco Bell tacos. Stuff legends are made of.

Taco Bell and Smells Like Teen Spirit
I would say 8/10 trips to Taco Bell, this song would be on the radio and we would jam. "There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. That was Nirvana with Smells Like Teen Spirit." I hadn't recalled the name of the band up until this point. Now I knew I wanted to get more of this band's music. I did what any kid in the early '90s would do for music. I took my $17 to National Record Mart and bought myself the Compact Disc of Nevermind, by Nirvana.



The cover sure was curious. I didn't know what I was looking at and frankly didn't care. I knew it held one of the most energizing songs I'd ever absorbed, Smells Like Teen Spirit (SLTS).

SLTS is the first song on the album which launches you into one of my favorite listening experiences. It only gets better and builds from there. I listened to that album over and over. I returned to National Record Mart with my $11 to purchase the cassette version for the car rides. The same thing happened with the cassette. More often than not, it was playing while in the car. Whether I was alone or had company, I was learning the lyrics, the riffs, and singing my heart out. I have always loved to sing. Anyone who knows me can verify. Nirvana, as I learned more specifically, Kurt Cobain was instilling a creative vibe in me I had never experienced. I am sure a lot had to do with being out on my own, in a new college world too. Nevertheless, my appreciation for music took on a new meaning and moved to a new level.

Along with Nirvana came an onslaught of bands and music, which I still enjoy today. The 90's music scene was so fun and somewhat short-lived. The timing was perfect though. When I was a SiriusXM subscriber, you could find my dial on Channel 34: Lithium about 90% of the time. It's neat how music can take you back, like a virtual time machine, but you can also create and relive newer experiences with it.

SLTS started it all for me. Simple, yet powerful, songs by Nirvana became my favorites. Nirvana replaced Metallica as my favorite band. You can imagine how bummed and genuinely hurt when Kurt took his own life. It was a tragedy.

My introduction to Nirvana and SLTS is coming up on 30 years! SLTS was released on the radio on 9/10/1991. Today is 8/19/2021. This fact popped up in one of my news feeds (Twitter) and inspired this writing. Thirty years and Kurt's music still resonates with me. I am thankful for the water his music provided to my seed of a musical life. I can't think of another song that had such a lasting impact on me. Thank you, Kurt, Krist, and Dave.

So many bands are special to me. Weezer, for example, houses the frontman and principal songwriter - Rivers Cuomo. Rivers is my favorite songwriter. My son's middle name is Rivers, as my little nod to his inspiration in my life. Truth be told, my wife and I are headed to the Hella Mega Tour later today and Weezer is one of the headliners. 

Fun fact - Nirvana inspired Weezer. Nirvana inspired a shitload of bands and still does.

Happy Anniversary to this incredible milestone: 30 years of Smells Like Teen Spirit.  I am going to put it on now. On the vinyl copy, I own.  Spin it, baby, spin it.

Kurt and his Japanese Fender Mustang.

How bout you? Are there any songs that you hold near and dear?

-DB