Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ Covered 144 Times? Yikes!

A slew of bands scheduled to be at Canada's Scotiabank Nuit Blanche art festival next month will give Nirvana’s ultimate song the most ultimate of homages: covering ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ a staggering 144 times in a row.

No, that number was not a misprint. Nirvana-loving members of indie bands you may never have heard of like Tokyo Police Club, Woodhands, Gallows, Junior Battles and Buck 65 are among the musicians set to take part in the marathon ‘Spirit’ session, during which participants undoubtedly will be suffering from stiff little ‘Spirit’ fingers. Each group will take turns rotating through the tune during the scheduled 12-hour event, which is dubbed 'A Brief History of Rebellion.' Juicebox arts collective is putting on the event.

The festivities will take place Oct. 1 at the Toronto Underground Cinema, and in addition to the acts already on the bill, there's an open invite for anybody who is overcome with nostalgia for early-'90s Pacific Northwest-flavored grunge rock to participate in the music-playing experience. "Lyrics will be provided," reads a statement from Juicebox, "but no one will need them."

Why 144 times? Perhaps that was the number of times per day the video got played on MTV at the peak of its high-saturation, buzz bins days. We have no idea if that number is true, but it's probably not far off. Just saying.