Dave Grohl: 'I Cried When I Revisited Teen Spirit'

He performed the track for the Sound City movie

Published 27th Feb 2013



Dave Grohl says he broke down in tears when he performed ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ for his Sound City documentary.

Over two decades after he originally recorded the track at the world-famous studios, Dave returned to the site of Sound City – now dubbed Fairfax Recordings – to drum along to the zeitgeist-defining Nirvana anthem.

Explaining how the performance came about, Dave told Kerrang!: “Kevin Augunas, the guy who runs Fairfax, said to me he was producing RDGLDGRN and asked if I’d play drums on a track (‘I Love Lamp’).

“It was a perfect opportunity to set up and play along to Teen Spirit for the movie.”

!He continued: “I listened to it on headphones and played along. And you know what… I got really choked up. I didn’t want to break down in tears in front of everyone but I did.

“It was a really strange day. It was really weird, like there were ghosts in the room.”

You can read the full in-depth interview with Dave in this week’s Kerrang! Magazine, on sale now.

Sound City the movie is available to download from iTunes now and the album ‘Sound City – Reel To Reel’ follows on 11th March.

Nirvana: ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’