Alice Cooper headlined his annual Coopstock music festival in Mesa, Arizona, over the weekend, and attendees got a big surprise. While performing, Cooper and his band crushed a live cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana.
On Saturday night (April 11, 2026), Cooper held his 28th annual Coopstock at Las Sendas Golf Club, per Blabbermouth. He was joined on stage by Ryan Roxie, Glen Sobel, Chuck Garric, Tommy Henriksen, and Anna Cara. During their set, the band thrilled fans with the rousing grunge cover, which you can see footage of below.
A massive hit for Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released in 1991. It is the opening track and lead single from the band’s second album, Nevermind. The track was recorded with legendary producer Butch Vig, who previously revealed that it was one of the last songs written before the band recorded their iconic sophomore record.
“It was a boombox recording of a rehearsal,” Butch previously told Kerrang!. “Kurt introduced it by saying, ‘Hey, Butch, we got some new songs for you. And we also got Dave Grohl. He’s the best drummer in the world!’ Then they clicked into ‘Teen Spirit,’ with the scratchy guitar at the start. It was so f***ing distorted, I could barely hear anything. But underneath the fuzz, I could hear ‘Hello, Hello,’ melodies and chord structures. And even though the recording was terrible, I was super excited.”
Butch Vig said that hearing Nirvana play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Live for the first time ‘blew him away’
Vig went on to share that hearing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” live was a profoundly memorable experience. “It was the first time I heard Dave Grohl play live, and it sounded so amazing,” he explained. “I was floored when I heard it. I remember pacing around thinking, ‘Oh my God, this sounds crazy intense.’”
While he knew the song was already going to be huge, Vig went on to reveal that he had some recording tricks up his sleeve that he feels pushed it over the finish line.
“I said, ‘Kurt, I want you to double-track the guitars and vocals, to really make this jump out of the speakers.’ He thought it was ‘cheating,’ especially with his vocals,” Vig recalled. “So I had him do multiple vocal takes, and he sang them so consistently I could run them at the same time as a double track, and it really made the song sound powerful.”
The song was released as a single in September 1991 and went on to become one of the biggest—if not the biggest—grunge songs ever written.
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