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Watch Soundgarden Cover Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit At Lollapalooza 1992

Soundgarden

Just days into Soundgarden's stint on the second-ever Lollapalooza in 1992, the Seattle four-piece surprised fans with a cover of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

On July 22, 1992, the band played at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Bremerton, which is a short hop over the Puget Sound from their Washington hometown. The bill featured headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, Ice Cube, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pearl Jam and Lush. Temple of the Dog – the grunge supergroup for which Cornell sang on their self-titled debut – and Rage Against The Machine performed on the side stage throughout the tour.

Towards the end of their set, Soundgarden peeled out the grinding riff to Slaves and Bulldozers before giving the nod to their former Sub Pop label mates with a blast of Nirvana's 1991 game-changing single.

"I saw somebody throw their pants in the air," revealed late frontman Chris Cornell before singing a verse from Teen Spirit. "You can all take your pants off and throw them in the air. I think that would be fucking cool. Everybody, remember you've got to take your shoes off first."

Watch the clip below.

In an interview with Rick Beato on his YouTube channel Everything Music, guitarist Kim Thayil remembers the first time he heard Smells Like Teen Spirit after being given an advance copy of Nevermind. 

"We always believed in Nirvana," says Thayil. "I tried to get our A&R guys to pay attention. Loved it from the beginning. To this day, Bleach is probably still my favourite album. But, we had a pre-pre-release of Nevermind, and I think we were at Avast [studio] probably demoing something [and] someone brought it in.

"We just stopped," he adds. "I think the first thing we heard was Smells Like Teen Spirit. I mean we listened to the whole thing, but I sat there and kept rewinding the cassette and listening to [the single].

"Everyone went back to rehearsing. I had to hear this again. I had to hear those two notes- the arpeggios. It was kind of something that we loved doing from the onset. chorus... I heard [the chorus] and was like, 'this is so hypnotic'. It wasn't just visceral. It was hypnotic and visceral. They did it. It's in your heart. It's in your nuts. It's in your head. This song does it.

"And Ben [Shepherd, bassist] started laughing and said 'oh my god, that's their hit.' Those guys go back to jamming and I'm like, rewinding. I'm trying to hear this again, like, fuck! I wish I wrote that. That's so cool."

In other Soundgarden news, seven unheard tracks recorded in 2017 will now be released after a legal dispute has been resolved between Chris' widow Vicky and his bandmates

Cypress Hill's 10 Greatest Live Performances

Cypress Hill's Black Sunday: Track By Track

Cypress Hill has reigned as one of the west coast's greatest rap groups since forming in L.A. In the late '80s. With B-Real's distinctive nasal tone, Sen Dog's commanding bark, and thumping, sample-heavy beats by DJ Muggs, the trio bridged the gap between gangsta rap and laid-back stoner hip-hop celebrating the virtues of marijuana. Over the course of 10 studio albums, from 1991's self-titled debut to 2022's Back in Black, Cypress Hill built a broad and passionate fanbase by performing constantly, often with rock bands and with touring festivals like Lollapalooza and Smokin Grooves.

Cypress Hill's classic sophomore album, the triple platinum Black Sunday, turns 30 this summer. To commemorate three decades of hits from the bong, here's a look back at the group's ten best live performances, broadcast on TV or over the web:

More from Spin:

10. "(Rock) Superstar" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2000)

After years of touring with rock bands like Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cypress Hill decided to capitalize on the rising tide of rap metal with Skull & Bones, a double album featuring one disc of hip hop and one disc of heavy guitar-driven tracks. The album's lead single appeared on both discs as "(Rap) Superstar" and "(Rock) Superstar," and the group blew the roof off of 30 Rockefeller Plaza with the latter version, Cypress Hill's biggest alternative radio hit.

9. "What's Your Number?" / "Latin Thugs" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2004)

Cypress Hill promoted 2004's Till Death Do Us Part with a medley of both of the album's singles on The Tonight Show. B-Real rapped over a sample of "The Guns of Brixton" by The Clash on "What's Your Number?" while Sen Dog spit Spanglish bars from the group's Tego Calderón collaboration "Latin Thugs." At the end of the performance, the group presented host Jay Leno with a personalized Cypress Hill shirt.

8. "Grid" with Public Enemy and George Clinton on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2020)

CBS's usually pre-taped Late Show aired live on Sept. 29, 2020, following the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Public Enemy had just released the album What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? And were the episode's musical guest. Chuck D and Flava Flav closed the program with a suitably apocalyptic track for that tense moment in history, "Grid" featuring Cypress Hill and Parliament-Funkadelic legend George Clinton.

7. "Weed Medley" on MelodyVR (2021)

The British startup MelodyVR built its reputation on tapping popular touring acts to combine live music with virtual reality for a series of virtual concerts. Cypress Hill's 2021 MelodyVR concert featured a dazzling light display and a special medley of four of the group's biggest pot-themed anthems from across their catalog: 1993's "I Wanna Get High" and "Hits From The Bong," 1998's "Dr. Greenthumb," and 2010's "Light It Up." "Now is time for all you stoners to light it up if you haven't already," B-Real announced at the top of the nine-minute suite, rapping with a joint in hand.

6. "Rise Up" with Tom Morello, John Dolmayan and Sergio Vega on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2010)

Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello guested on the title track to Cypress Hill's 2010 album Rise Up. For the Jimmy Kimmel Live! Performance of the song, Cypress Hill was backed by a nü-metal supergroup that also included System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan and Deftones bassist Sergio Vega. And the song definitively rocks harder live than on record, thanks largely to how Dolmayan's kick drum locks in to B-Real's flow.

5. "Real Estate" on MTV's Live And Loud (1993)

MTV's Live And Loud concert special, taped on Dec. 13, 1993, and aired on New Year's Eve, was initially set to feature Nirvana and Pearl Jam in a grand burying-the-hatchet gesture between grunge's biggest bands. When Eddie Vedder got the flu and Pearl Jam canceled, the bill for the concert held on Pier 48 in Seattle wound up being Nirvana, Cypress Hill, and The Breeders. In between the corny comedy of host segments in which Anthony Kiedis and Flea dressed up as leprechauns and rabbis, the telecast featured performances of Cypress Hill bangers like the "Hand on the Pump" B-side "Real Estate."

4. "I Wanna Rock" / "Insane In The Brain" with Snoop Dogg on Lopez Tonight (2009)

Comedian George Lopez became the first Hispanic American to host an English-language late-night talk show with his TBS series Lopez Tonight. Cypress Hill also made history as the first platinum Latin rap group. The group appeared once on the late-night show, and it was an unexpected one at that. The night's official musical guest Snoop Dogg brought out B-Real and Sen Dog to perform their signature song at the end of his performance.

3. "So What'cha Want" with Beastie Boys and DJ Hurricane on The Arsenio Hall Show (1992)

Cypress Hill made another surprise appearance as a part of someone else's late-night performance in the early '90s when the Beastie Boys promoted Check Your Head on Arsenio. One of the remixes of the album's lead single, "So What'cha Want (Soul Assassin Remix)," featured a new beat by DJ Muggs and a verse by B-Real. DJ Hurricane joined the Beasties to spit a few bars on the song, followed by B-Real and Sen Dog storming the stage. Cypress Hill and Beastie Boys remained tight for years, with percussionist Eric Bobo and DJ Mixmaster Mike touring with both groups.

2. "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" on Saturday Night Live (1993)

Cypress Hill was already famous for sparking joints and hitting bongs onstage by the time they performed on Saturday Night Live with host Shannon Doherty in October 1992. After NBC warned the group not to light up on live TV, DJ Muggs decided to defy the network as openly as possible. Cypress Hill's second song opened with Muggs, lighter and spliff in hand, declaring, "They said I couldn't light my joint, you know what I'm sayin'? But we ain't goin' out like that." Muggs, stalking the stage as a hypeman for once instead of manning the turntables, knocked over Eric Bobo's congas during his drum solo, yelling "Legalize it!" as the group leaves the stage. Cypress Hill joined a long list of musical legends like Elvis Costello and Sinead O'Connor who had been banned from returning to SNL. Watch the performance here.

1. "How I Could Just Kill A Man" on Yo! MTV Raps (1992)

Throughout the '90s, MTV would throw a massive party on Daytona Beach every year for college students on spring break, complete with live performances from up-and-coming artists. In 1992, the MTV Spring Break edition of Yo! MTV Raps featured the unusual spectacle of Cypress Hill performing their gangsta rap classic "How I Could Just Kill A Man" on a sunny Florida afternoon, sweating it out in jackets and hoodies. Shouting out fellow Sping Break performers Naughty By Nature and Leaders of the New School, B-Real and Sen Dog made their tale of murder sound downright celebratory for a cheering audience of vacationing frat bros.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

The post Cypress Hill's <i>Black Sunday</i>: Track By Track appeared first on SPIN.

Sara Baras: 'In Classic Dance, I Wouldn't Still Be Going At 52 – But In Flamenco I'm Stronger Than Ever'

Sara Baras is not known as "the queen of flamenco" for nothing. Watching her dance – all elegance and power – you know you are in the presence of greatness. She is a singular mixture of artistry, masterful footwork and passion – and the most famous flamenco dancer in the world. 

Having captured national attention by her early 20s, her talents went global when she performed at the Seville Expo in 1992, which showed off Spanish culture to the world. Thirty years on, she has danced with the great guitarist Paco de Lucía and was close friends with the legendary cantaor Camarón de la Isla. Her private company Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, which is based in Puerto de Santa María in southern Spain, will mark its 25th anniversary this year.

It is about time, then, that she won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. When she performs at the Sadler's Wells Flamenco Festival in London this week – the star performer, naturally – she will finally be presented with the award, which she won in 2020 but could not pick up because of the pandemic. 

Sara Baras performing Alma at Sadler's Wells Flamenco Festival (Photo: Sofia Wittert)

The festival, a fiesta of dance, guitar and song now in its 18th year, has become an institution, showing Britain that this passionate art form is more than something tourists might enjoy while on holiday. It is something that reflects modern Spain and how it is continually changing, much like flamenco itself. It'll feature 122 singers, guitarists and dancers, showcasing the likes of young up-and-comer El Yiy alongside Manuel Liñán, the agent provocateur of flamenco, who performs wearing dresses to upset flamenco's rigidly defined gender roles. But it is Baras who is the star attraction, with her show Alma (which means "soul" in Spanish), a mix of flamenco and bolero in a tribute to her late father. 

"I come from a line [of performers] who represent our culture around half of the world," says the 52-year-old. "Perhaps I am one of the most important in the world of flamenco, I don't know," she adds, a little bemused after I've suggested that she is the most famous dancer alive today.

Baras was born in San Fernando, near Cádiz, in southern Spain. A prodigy, she grew up dancing flamenco and began her career in the dance school run by her mother, Concha Baras. As she toured around the world with guitarists like Enrique Morente and Paco de Lucía, and her fame grew, she never forgot the wise words of her friend Camarón: "Never forget where you come from."

Today, flamenco bailaors (dancers) or guitarists are feted in Spain like rock stars. Beyond those shores, they are also worshipped by an adoring and loyal public. But the art form that gave the world duende – that untranslatable sense of spirit and passion – is still changing. Baras, who is known these days as a classical flamenco dancer, not a "vanguardista" like Liñán, may represent the traditional side, but she retains an open-mindedness towards the new talents.

Sevillanas at the Place d'Espagne during the 1992 Universal Exhibition (Photo: David Lefranc/Kipa/Sygma via Getty Images)

"Flamenco is changing like life," Baras says. "It is changing in a positive way. The artist has the freedom to show off what they want to do. There are other artists who make flamenco more traditional and pure."

To tourists, flamenco is usually something to catch while on holiday in the south of Spain. But it is a passionate art form that prompts devotion among aficionados, and something crucial to Spain's national identity. It dates back hundreds of years, to when the Roma people travelled from India to Spain between the 9th and 14th centuries. From the machine-gun like zapateando – when dancers stamp their feet – to the flicks of their arms or the way they cock their heads, flamenco holds the audience transfixed. The cantaors sing mournful songs of love and loss. But its internal politics are as passionate as the music. 

The debate has raged since Camaron and Paco de Lucia mixed elements of pop with flamenco to bring it to a wider audience. At its heart is the constant battle between the conservatives, who want to preserve the traditional form of the art, and those who want to revolutionise the art by mixing it with other styles to bring it to a broader audience. These days, it's Rosalía who has drawn both admiration and ire from the world of flamenco. The Catalan popstar, who is now Spain's biggest pop talent, trained in flamenco for a decade before she became famous, and its influence is all over her biggest hits – but she has angered traditionalists by mixing flamenco and reggaeton.

Rosalia performs live at Lollapalooza Brazil (Photo by Mauricio Santana/Getty Images)

"Rosalía has a lot of talent," says Baras, somewhat diplomatically, when I ask for her thoughts on the matter. "Her style is fantastic, and [so is] her love and respect for the fact that flamenco can be something beautiful." 

Flamenco suffered during the pandemic. Many tablaos – or dance clubs – closed for good. But the art form has bounced back and is still very much alive among young people in Spain. Artists like Rosalía help to popularise it but other performers like Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, Bizarrap and Myke Towers are taking elements from flamenco. They are a long way from classical flamenco, but it might get young people listening to Paco de Lucia one day.

A live flamenco show assaults all the senses – the sheer intensity of the  dancers, the guitarists and the singers. Some people are lucky enough to get their first taste in a cramped, sweaty flamenco club. But today many people will have their first encounter with it via screens, mobile telephones or YouTube, rather than at a tiny tablao. Flamenco is not alone in being consumed secondhand, but it can help spread the word, making anyone crave seeing the real thing up close.  

Sara Baras performs Alma, a show dedicated to her late father (Photo: Sofia Wittert)

"Via your mobile or through screens or documentaries you can learn much," says Baras. "But there is a moment with flamenco in which you must feel it live, to see it live. If you can experience from a maestro then it is important. Really, it is very important to live it live." It doesn't matter where. "Flamenco does not have frontiers or passports."

In many art forms, a short dance career can be brutal, especially for women. Baras would be too old if she was a ballet dancer. "In classic dance with a certain age, it is hard to carry on dancing," she agrees. "[But in flamenco] an older woman can dance amazingly. Flamenco has more forms to allow you to dance, so a young girl can seem old." It is a reference to the fact young dancers may simulate the role of older women.

"In my case, I feel stronger than ever, especially because of my maturity. To be of an age in which you still have the technique, and your maturity, is a gift. I love connecting with such speed and heart."

The proof is Baras' current show Alma, which she has performed around the world. The theme mixes the complexity of flamenco with the melodies of bolero. It is devoted to and inspired by her late father Cayetano Pereira, who died in January.

"He was a man who loved boleros, so we have fused it with flamenco in this show," she explains. "In Sadler's Wells, it should be splendid, it should be magic. I want to leave my heart in this theatre, which has given me so much." 

Sara Baras' show 'Alma' is on at Sadler's Wells as part of Flamenco Festival from 5 to 9 July

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