Song Wars 16 Smells Like Teen Spirit Vs Self Esteem

Riddle101

Nothing Else Matters won in Song Wars 15. In this one i've gone with , Smells like teen spirit by Nirvana and Self Esteem by The Offspring. I don't have much else to say, except that both are big hits and are quite similar in how they are played.

Anyway my choice goes to Self Esteem. I just think it's a great rock out tune from start to finish, and really good for a song that's pretty simple and ordinary. It's not much lyric wise, and i'm not quite sure about the vocals either at least compared to Smells like teen spirit, but I would listen to something like this, if I just wanted something that rock out to, and get me in a good mood. As for Smells like teen spirit. It's a great song as well, but something just puts me off choosing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkFH0KMO0G0

Mushy

Self Esteem for me. Maybe cost I got to see them live this year, but its just awesome and has a cool feel good vibe. Not saying SLtS is bad, but much prefer the groove.

nyarlothothep

Smells like Teen Spirit is such an overplayed song, it's so embedded in the popular imagination, but that doesn't affect my vote. I prefer this over Self Esteem as it's less linear and one dimensional. If you take it out of context and look at it on its own merits there is a tense atmosphere which is created through the use of quite and loud sections, the verse is conveys a melancholic dissolusioned soundscape and this builds up in the unleashing of frustrated energy in the chorus and it's uncompromising because at the end you have the metal semi tonal chord progression which brokers no argument. The solo is also quite cool in terms of the sound. Overall it's a more interesting song for me and appeals to me in terms of atmosphere and melody.

RayCon

SLTS for me .... white guys with dreads / platts are sh!tepipes

AaronPunk

Hard pick. Went for Self Esteem.
In my personal opinion, The Offspring went really unlistenable after Smash (which, again, in my opinion, was their best album).

Cruel Sun

Teen Spirit definitely for me, over played and over rated when compared to other Nirvana songs but still a great tune.

Joe_Dull

Smells Like Teen Spirit, overplayed as it is, has an electricity about it that Self Esteem just doesn't.

Samuri Suicide

Offspring = ****e, Drivel, Susan Boyle, Useless, Weak, Pretty Fly..THE list goes on..
Smash was an ok album at the time, SFX was a good gig (at the time)...but don't mention them in the same breath as Nirvana.

nyarlothothep...you are painful to read. pull your neck in and stop spouting cliched rubbish.

8 mins more than the offspring should've ever had

lord lucan

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but keep it civil please.

Nailz

I can't stand hearing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" anymore, so yes, it is overplayed; but that's not the only thing that it doesn't have going for it. It's not even up there with Nirvana's best songs, the melody hasn't aged well to my ears, the riff isn't very exciting, but all credit to it, it was the song of a particular era of music.

Frankly I always loved hearing "Self Esteem", it has an awesome attitude to it, and the lyrics are far superior to SLTS. Both songs come from terrific albums, but as the individual song goes "Self Esteem" is the best overall song in my opinion.

ush

Nirvana were overrated. All those Seattle bands were. None of it was revolutionary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-JaPIq0msc

Riddle101

ush wrote: »

Nirvana were overrated. All those Seattle bands were. None of it was revolutionary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-JaPIq0msc

Those Seattle bands brought about the rise of Grunge, and made it commercially successful. i would regard that as revolutionary.

ush

Riddle101 wrote: »

Those Seattle bands brought about the rise of Grunge, and made it commercially successful. i would regard that as revolutionary.

Grunge wasn't revolutionary. Being commercially successful isn't revolutionary either. Big hair metal had run its course. They just went back to were it all started.

Riddle101

ush wrote: »

Grunge wasn't revolutionary. Being commercially successful isn't revolutionary either. Big hair metal had run its course. They just went back to were it all started.

It changed the music scene though. Metal bands were finding it hard in the early 90's because grunge was killing them. Those bands did for grunge what Sex Pistols did for punk. Maybe it wasn't long term, but then again every genre runs it's course.

ush

Riddle101 wrote: »

It changed the music scene though. Metal bands were finding it hard in the early 90's because grunge was killing them. Those bands did for grunge what Sex Pistols did for punk. Maybe it wasn't long term, but then again every genre runs it's course.

Sorry, but I don't think they were particularly revolutionary. I grew up listening to Black Sabbath. When grunge came along I recognised that they'd just gone back a bit to the seventies and rejecting the all the poodle metal. The A&R men did the rest. Everything that came from Seattle and had flannel shirts got a deal. That many bands from one city? Thats MTV and record labels pushing it. You can sell anything with sufficient advertising.

I'm not saying Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains or Nirvana were bad. If you hadn't already heard any Sabbath in 1991 or had no understanding of rock history, I guess it could have sounded revolutionary.

120_Minutes

Teen spirit was a game changer, self esteem was not.

you can argue all you want, even if you dont like nirvana. but its a fact.


anyone who disagrees is the music lovers version of a holocaust denier.


thats right, i went full godwin.

Nailz

120_Minutes wrote: »

Teen spirit was a game changer, self esteem was not.

you can argue all you want, even if you dont like nirvana. but its a fact.


anyone who disagrees is the music lovers version of a holocaust denier.


thats right, i went full godwin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdd6_ZxX8c

I had a great big fecker of a rebuttal lined up, but my Internet fucked up, so that will have to do.

Banjo

SLTS. Easy. It's overplayed, over-hyped and wearing a bit thin, but it's still a great song. Can't see what would lead you to throw it in the ring against what I've always felt was an enjoyable rock novelty tune instead of another grunge heavyweight (Alive, Rusty Cage, Debonair etc)

Maybe if you'd put Self Esteem up against the Wierd Al "Smells Like Nirvana", or the Muppets' barbershop quartet version of Teen Spirit it would have been a fair fight ?

Malice

Interesting choice of songs. Smells Like Teen Spirit is easily the better song for me. Sure it's overplayed but I think for those of us of a certain age, the nostalgia factor wins it. Well, it does for me anyway .

Self Esteem is a catch pop-punk track which, like Smells Like Teen Spirit, isn't even the best track on its album. It's not a bad song at all but it just doesn't compare to the genre-defining Nirvana hit.

As for the lyrics, I'm not quite sure how simplistic stuff like

I wrote her off for the tenth time today
And practiced all the things I would say
But she came over
I lost my nerve
I took her back and made her dessert
Now I know I'm being used
That's okay man cause I like the abuse
I know she's playing with me
That's okay cause I got no self esteem

can be considered better than stuff like

Load up on guns, bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
She's overboard and self-assured
Oh no, I know a dirty word

buck65

No contest, Nirvana hands down.

cournioni

Self Esteem for me. Never liked Teen Spirit, too meh.

Napper Hawkins

"overplayed" is not a factor in how good or bad a song is.

Welsh Megaman

Even though there appeared to be a sea change the year before with bands like Faith No more and Jane's Addiction,'Teen Spirit' was seen as the catalyst for bringing alternative music into the mainstream, the type of music that remained underground on indie labels in the 80's. I would say it was revolutionary, in the way that major labels looked for bands...scouring the indie labels for talent. Had this not happened, I doubt 'Smash' would have sold anywhere near multi-platinum sales.

sxt

"Self esteem" a kind of homage to smells like teen spirit? , they even used the same kind of riff and smoke machine . That Nirvana song got into the entire conciousness of an entire generation , "Self esteem" seemed like a parody or trying to appeal to MTV . Vocals and lyrics are not great on the offspring track as well.