Mushmouthed enunciation in big hits (sang, song, radio, chorus)

[pikabike]

Hearing Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit come on the radio this morning, I again thought about how fewer than 20% of the words were actually discernable as being what was said.

I correctly identified “makes me smile,” “mosquito,” and a few others. But I heard the shouted chorus phrase “in denial” as “how to die young”. Could not tell if he sang “hello” or “how low”.

Maybe heroin addiction destroys ability to enunciate? Didn’t seem to have that effect on John Lennon...at least not in his songs.