Tony Hawk Recalls the First Time He Heard Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’: ‘You Knew This Was It’

> “I was actually in New York interviewing a band for Thrasher Magazine. Someone from the label said, ‘Hey we have this new Nirvana,’ and put it on in the room,” he recalls.

> The room was filled with the punchy yet ethereal beginning to the grunge band’s biggest hit, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

> “Everyone stopped what they were doing and everyone looked around,” Hawk, 56, recalls. “And you just knew. You knew this was it.”