"I was told by somebody from Nirvana’s label that they sold an extra million copies of Nevermind after my parody came out." How Nirvana rescued 'Weird Al' Yankovic from "the wilderness"

Comedian and musician 'Weird Al' Jankovic credits Nirvana with rescuing his career from "the wilderness" in the early '90s.

In April 1992, the Californian released Smells Like Nirvana, an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek parody of the Seattle band's game-changing breakthrough hit Smells Like Teen Spirit, the opening song, and first single, on the trio's major label debut Nevermind.

The song, sanctioned for release by Kurt Cobain, became Yankovic's second Top 40 hit in the US, eight years on from his Michael Jackson parody Eat It peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: its parent album, 1992's Off The Deep End, went on to sell one million copies in the US.

Looking back over his career in a new interview with Vulture, Yankovic singles out the Nirvana parody as his 'song with the highest stakes'.

"It was my first comeback, as it were," he reflects, "because my movie UHF came out in 1989 and it bombed pretty spectacularly at the box office. I went through about three years where I was sort of in the wilderness and not knowing if I’d ever come back. I almost did another Michael Jackson parody because I was reaching that point of desperation. And then Nirvana came along. I didn’t think when I first heard Nirvana that they would ever be big enough for me to do a parody of them, and then they hit No. 1. I thought, Oh my, this is perfect. I love this group, and I could have a lot of fun with this."

The parody song's popularity "changed everything around me at the time" the 65-year-old comedian acknowledges, as it put him back on MTV, and enabled him to tour successfully once more.

"That was the point where I realized that a good, long career has peaks and valleys, and you can’t get too depressed when you’re in a valley or too full of yourself when you’re at the peak," he tells writer Devon Ivie, "You just have to ride it out, and it was nice to be able to prove that in practice with the Nirvana song."

"I was told by somebody from Nirvana’s label that they sold an extra million copies of Nevermind after my parody came out," he adds. "I’ve run into [Nirvana drummer-turned- Foo Fighters frontman] Dave Grohl many times over the years, and he said that was one of the signs they knew they made it: getting a Weird Al parody. He saw me perform in Seattle once and said it was the loudest show he had ever heard, which kind of surprised me."

Yankovic released his 14th and final album, Mandatory Fun, back in 2014.

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Smells Like Nirvana (Official Video) - YouTube

Watch On