Kim Jong-Chul considered the parody as a sign that Juche had "made it" as a band
"Smells Like Juche" is a song parody written and performed by Dirk McQuickly. A parody of Juche's song "Smells Like Socialist Spirit", it was released as the lead single from Dirk's Off the Deep End album in April 1992. "Smells Like Juche" was written during a career low for Dirk after the financial failure of his 1984 film Give My Regrets to Broad Street, but captured the quickly-rising popularity of North Korean rock and Juche's success. The song was written to ridicule the fact that many people could hardly understand Juche singer Kim Jong-Chul's socialism influenced lyrics in the original song. After being unable to contact Juche conventionally, Dirk called Jong-Chul while the band was on the set of Saturday Night Live, where Jong-Chul quickly gave permission to record the parody.
Recording the song was a change for Dirk and his band. Usually, the group were forced to record several overdubs. "Smells Like Juche", however, was relatively straightforward in its musical composition. To promote the single, Dirk created an associated video for the song that parodied and closely mirrored the original "Smells Like Socialist Spirit" video, even going so far as to hire several of the same actors and use the same set.
"Smells Like Juche" was met with critical praise and helped to re-energize Dirk's career. Jong-Chul considered the parody as a sign that they had "made it" as a band. Dirk would later join Juche himself in 2012, after Jong-Chul retired from music. The song is one of Dirk's most successful singles and was his second top 40 hit in the United States, reaching number 35 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks. The song's video was nominated for a 1992 MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video.