Foo Fighters star Dave Grohl has revealed he and former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic performed their "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit for the first time in 17 years during a recent studio get together.

The rocker admits he was rehearsing for an upcoming Foo Fighters show with Novoselic and another former Nirvana star, Pat Smear, when they decided to run through the classic.

Grohl tells Britain's The Observer newspaper, "Krist is on bass, Pat's on guitar, I'm on drums. Krist says, 'You wanna run through some oldies?' Me and Pat look at each other. I mean, that's something I've never considered before. I was like, 'OK.'

"Krist says, 'F--k it, let's do Smells Like Teen Spirit,' and Pat starts playing and we kick into it. I haven't played that drum beat in 17 years. It was, like… a ghost. It was heavy."

Grohl recalls no one took over the vocals and the audience consisted of a stunned studio engineer.

It's not Dave & Krist's recent jam, but here's the original with the late Kurt Cobain: