Smells Like Teen Spirit (Two Screens: Kurt Cobain's cut and Director's cut)

[@mircea1910]

it's funny that Kurt decided to do away with all unnecessary characters and just leave in the crowd, but also left in the janitor, there's something charming about that guy

[@kostanzu]

He left the janitor on purpose, his classmates were teasing him because he was behind, telling him the only job he is gonna get was a janitor. It was his way of saying to them, look who is laughing now…

[@Ohtoven]

​@@kostanzu He worked as a janitor at his former high school after dropping out before Nirvana got big

[@bugraaksu2503]

That's such a Kurt thing

[@kostanzu]

@@Ohtoventhank you!

[@rainbowbridge4766]

Might also be because at school most of the time the janitor is your only friend and the only schoolworker that is actually cool to you

[@HFWrestling]

Guy who played the teacher was probably pissed that he didn't make the final cut

[@DimaShirshkov1]

Actually he did. He's at the very end of the video

[@TheSickNeeds]

That guy is suppose to be the principal.

[@TheSickNeeds]

@@DimaShirshkov1 he meant the guy in grey not the nerd in the dunce cap.

[@FigFelix2009]

Ngl but that's a good Pink Floyd reference mate

[@DimaShirshkov1]

@@TheSickNeeds dude, it's the same person

[@chb3676]

It is funny when you look at both versions how clear it is that Kurt made the right changes, specially getting rid of the teacher, principal and nerd parts makes the video feel like they broke into the gym late at night instead of them just pissing off the school staff, and the janitor still being there alone cleaning and unbothered by it all says a lot

[@lorenfulghum2393]

I always loved that Kurt just wore whichever of his shirts was on the laundry rotation for that day. You can see him wearing it in lots of photos way before this was ever recorded. It's in a museum now.

[@bmla88]

Bayer did a great job with the look and different shots but kurt definitely saved the video with the edit. I feel like including the principle, teacher and nerd character’s felt like early to mid 90s mtv video cliche.

[@samp4368]

true the way kurt edited it made it more somber and creepy the director was going for a more goofy and angsty vibe.

[@95greenbug]

I agree the only 90s mtv video cliche missing was the lunch lady

[@nu385]

Kurt's cut has a much darker tone. It loses all the goofy, cliche shots of the nerd and principal, and makes the pep rally a bit more ambiguous and menacing. Even the shot at 3:10, Kurt chose the more serious take of himself.

[@theragingrodent__]

I agree completely! It's almost like in the original cut Nirvana are students playing at a talent show at the high school, but in Kurt's version they are like a sinister invisible spirit that exists in the frustration and desires of the students. That's how I see it at least!

[@ChuckLopez]

@@theragingrodent__ That's actually a really solid interpretation of the video.

[@theragingrodent__]

@@ChuckLopez Thanks dawg

[@poultonboys3108]

Yeah I feel like Kurt made a good decision to remove those parts

[@smiley3637]

Kurt left the janitor cuz he was a janitor himself

[@andrewglazer]

Good catch. Almost certainly the case.

[@TuongNguyen-hx3mh]

Fact

[@jlouis4407]

Right?

[@Varnicus]

seeing how he couldn't get clean, thath's pretty ironic :o

[@Retroholic]

​@@Varnicusclean from what? The bullet hole?

[@afterdinnercreations936]

The director's cut is a little too "Nickelodeon, kid's rule!"

[@melaniezetina2693]

[@LizordSword]

​@@melaniezetina2693dont do that wtf

[@ScaryKurru]

@@LizordSword

[@LizordSword]

@@ScaryKurru stop that

[@TsunamiX2]

@@LizordSword

[@JacksJunkDrawer]

I could definitely see what the director was going for, but Kurt deciding to have the focus be more on the band and cutting unnecessary characters brought a whole new energy that was kinda missing in the directors cut. Both are very good though.

[@radicalcat4942]

This is EXACTLY it! No other comment says what he was going for as good as this one.

[@Blisteryn]

Kurt saved the video, he was a great editor too.

[@NellyGandhella]

If the video wasn't changes you'd still like it 😂 you would probably think the real one was worse because its different. Kobain meat riders are hilarious 😂

[@Former_Employee]

​@@NellyGandhellayou sound stupid though

[@mafeuk]

@@NellyGandhella I would usually agree with you but imo removing the principal and the teacher was the right call, as with them in it the video feels more 80s

[@BlakeBlackstone]

How do you know he was a great editor?

[@s0n4r56]

@@BlakeBlackstonebecause he was directly involved in creating the most watched music videos of all time

[@LL-bl8hd]

Besides the obvious changes, I like how Kurt snuck in a couple more half-second shots of Kris. They don't really change anything about the tone or story but it feels like he was trying to make sure everyone got some screen time.

[@blueheadflame]

Kurt: "Yeah…I mean, although it worked, I mean, I like the video overall, but it wasn't what I pictured in my mind. When I come up with an idea for a video I want it to be translated exactly how I see it in my mind and it just wasn't that way. I mean, we didn't…We didn't take enough time, we didn't prepare ourselves enough to have as much control as we wanted to y'know? And I just remember walking in the day of the shoot and looking at the set - because I had had meetings with Sam Bayer and I told him what I wanted, I drew pictures of it, and I walked in and it wasn’t what I wanted. It just looked like a Time-Life commercial to me. With that backdrop. It just looked like such a contemporary - you know those commercials where people are sitting there y’know, trying to sell aspirin or something or an AT&T commercial? That's what it looked like to me, it looked too contemporary and…Still. The kids made the video y’know? And I had to, like, even after Sam had edited it - he edited it and sent it to me and I didn't like it and I flew down at the last minute to LA and edited it myself. I threw in a few extra things that pretty well saved it because, I don't want to toot my own horn, but I mean there was a lot of really good footage that wasn’t used. And if a lot of that wasn’t used it would have been a really bad video. (Laughs.)" Kurt about the director: "He's got a Napoleon complex. It was really funny because when we were doing our video we had a couple hundred kids in the bleachers. Everyone was tired and cranky, and we'd been there for hours. They (the kids) weren't doing exactly what he (the director) had wanted them to do, so he had said one time in a really violent manner, "All right if I don't get what I want - I'm losing this audience right now!" All the kids just sort of went ooohhh, oaahhh and heckled him. It was just like we were at a pep assembly. It was nice."

[@redadamearth]

Cobain's original idea was to basically re-create the 1979 film, "Over the Edge", with kids rioting and taking over a school. But the label wouldn't pay for an idea that big. This bleacher thing was the compromise. It wasn't what he wanted, but he at least made it better than the original cut.

[@Carotbee]

Hello halo yah. 🥳

[@blueheadflame]

@@redadamearth Yeah he really liked "Over the Edge". Kurt: "I moved to my dad's and hung around with these older stoner guys…sorta like right out of the movie 'Over the Edge.' Ever seen it? It's great! That's what these guys were like and they'd come over to our trailer and play Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. I was in the fourth grade at the time so I thought it was really neat. They mainly came over to use my house as a place to fuck their girlfriends and smoke dope but they really turned me on to some really neat music." Q: "Do you really think that a kid could be so impressed by a star's negative lifestyle that they'd take it up themselves?" Kurt: "Oh, they do, absolutely. I saw this movie, 'Over the Edge' [Tim Hunter's cold account of a group of suburban teenagers who trap their parents and teachers in a school hall and attempt to burn it down]. I remember leaving that theatre and almost everyone who was in there came running out screaming their heads off and breaking windows and vandalizing and wanting to get high. It totally affected them and influenced them. It may not have been the intention of the person who made the movie, and it is a great movie, but that's what happened. It happens a lot, with movies and music, and the people who are affected by it are usually not-very-evolved people in the first place." After he saw the film 'Over the Edge', Kurt entertained himself with vandalism, including spray-painting graffiti around town.

[@ufva8029]

@@blueheadflame "and the people who are affected by it are usually not-very-evolved people in the first place" that was amazing haha

[@Razzy_D9111]

Fr, the directors cut looks dated, smell like teen spirit could come out today the way kurt did it and it would be a hit just like it was back then

[@clancy76]

I had read that Kurt did the final edit of the video - I didn't realize there were so many cringey moments in the original cut (as others have mentioned, the cliche rock n' roll hating principal/teacher authority figures). Very savvy, particularly for a 24 year old kid from rural Washington. Nirvana didn't happen by accident. Thanks for uploading!

[@playnatethegreat]

very interesting to see the first version. The camera-angles & movement and the filmcuts matching the energy of the song. Big up to the director of this masterpiece! 🙌

[@rushmore92]

the best edit in KC’s version is the non edit at 3:06. 👏🤟

[@NotDingse]

Didn't even notice at first, but yeah, the flow goes much better with the guitar bleeding out from the chorus and staying silent in the verse.

[@giorgiogiacomelli6932]

Absolutely right! Don’t cut is the best cut

[@mikemurphy1208]

After so many years it's easy to forget how incredibly groundbreaking this was. This song and the video blew a hole right through the music scene and transformed it seemingly overnight.

[@atomeyes99]

the janitor sweeping past the nerd in the dunce cap finally makes sense!

[@memememe-if8zt]

Exactly...you dont see the dunce until that final scene

[@mushroomleg]

Shout out to all the janitors out there. In this world, you make the cut. ❤

[@koovshiki]

Janitors deserve all the respect in the world.

[@LongestComment829]

0:31 well hello there

[@RaposaCadela]

yeah lmao how did they leave that in

[@David_prod-eNGee]

LOL I actually would've guessed that'd be Kurt's edit, not the director, since it has a bit of quirkiness to it

[@Improvsalesman]

There is something so ethereal and unreal about this video. The Bayer cut has absolutely none of the mystique of the final version.

[@kskslslslsoooao]

Oh, come on.

[@heggy_69]

He got the ending right at least

[@livecoilarchive1458]

Kurt was right to remove all the shots of the principal and the dunce. His cut paints him more as the harbinger of rebellion and good times, since it focuses so much on him and the crowd. The director's cut feels more John Hughes, with the principal closing his ears to the noise and the dunce walking around. Irreverence to authority defined the 90s, with rock stars openly talking about how much the music industry sucks and the advent of satires like The Simpsons and South Park, but irreverence specifically to school would've been so passé by 1991. Kurt's cut saved a music video condemned to the 80s and thrust it into the edgier, more revolutionary 90s.

[@flukeDC4]

Exactly- Kurt's Version- Gritty tormented hormonal sarcastic youth, the reason all of us who saw/heard it as teens loved it. Editors cut- Hot For Teacher. I'm surprised there wasn't a reel at the end explaining what happened to all the characters.

[@guilhermevideira1]

Good analysis!

[@TheRubberStudiosASMR]

It felt like Max Headroom was playing the principal or something.

[@davidfartinez]

the "denial" part being identical is chefs kiss 🎉

[@biloca7124]

This demonstrates Kurt's dedication to his work. He turned what seemed like a generic Twisted Sister music video into something iconic, simply by showing characters without any purpose or reason, moving randomly like NPCs, while he ironically mocks everything in the music

[@JohnSmith-gh3kp]

Wtf was the director thinking lmao. Thank god kurt edited this .

[@Oi_Guilherme]

One of them is a typical 90's music video. Very good, but clearly a product of it's time. The other is a timeless masterpiece. Kurt was a freaking genius, omg.

[@neoczy3249]

Doesn't surprised me that this video made a huge hit...the acting of Kurt is just amazing...the video really have this 90s ambient before the era even happened

[@marlonmersey8215]

1:58 OMG MY DAD WUZ IN THIS VIDEO

[@Seetheren]

The music video that saved a generation from hair bands and glam bands of the 80’s.

[@randall9000]

That scene was already finished anyway. New decade, no choice but for something else to come along. Jane’s Addiction deserves more credit than they got

[@mafeuk]

@@randall9000 And RHCP and Faith No More and Alice in Chains

[@randall9000]

@@mafeuk good call with RHCP and FNM. But AIC, along with Pearl Jam (mother love bone), Pantera and others started off still pretty glammed up, saw the writing on the wall and changed

[@amandylyn3881]

So glad the Janitor made the cut. Dude is a vibe.

[@Timecapsule96]

Can tell how Kurt’s vision was a more driving force of the 90s. He intentionally left out the 80s silliness in rock lol.

[@grantcarro8721]

Everyone likes the janitor

[@AngelSL_1955]

1:04 Anthony Kiedis

[@xavier_l_l]

Anthony was not there and I'm glad Kurt did not edit me and my friends out.

[@roddmol]

@@xavier_l_l were you really there? what timestamp?

[@xavier_l_l]

@@roddmol 00:34 guy all the way to the left in the blue and white striped shirt. The 2 guys to my right are my friends

[@roddmol]

@@xavier_l_l that's awesome. Anything you would share about the experience being there with Kurt?

[@seanmcken4697]

Lucky you ​@@xavier_l_l

[@ericke8038]

Que bueno que kurt quitó a los 2 maestros del video, la versión del director lucia como un video de punk genérico de los 2000

[@SimonMas]

thanks, this is really interesting. :)

[@katamaspram]

Thank KZbin algorithm had bringing me here to the youth anthem of the 90s

[@whoevertheheckiam]

Sesac hasn’t taken this down 😅

[@RenzoEr]

Those shots he removed felt like they don't belong there, there's no explanation for those, further than the cliche

[@krisfrederick5001]

Our little video has always been and always will until the end...

[@redadamearth]

Neither version, unfortunately, was what Cobain originally wanted - they just didn't have the budget for it. There's a film called, "Over the Edge", from 1979, about kids taking over a school and locking the faculty inside while they basically turn the place into chaos and riot. It's a great movie and one of Cobain's favorites. His vision for the video he wanted was to basically recreate that - which would have been a much bigger video in terms of scale - but the label didn't have the budget to do it, so they ended up just doing this "sports rally" idea in a single location, which was a compromise, basically, giving the impression of it. Unfortunately, it just ended up looking like kids on bleachers moshing to the song, which wasn't what he wanted. That said, he at least made it better than the first version.

[@da1mz328]

Kurt saved his child

[@Foxiz]

What I personally realized was that I must have heard this song hundreds of times (if not more), and it still slaps AF -:)

[@Jjuarez799]

for sure kurt would be a great rock star and movie director

[@kommissar.murphy]

Honestly the dunce cap kid and the snooty dean are more like something from a motley crue video from 1987,or a foo fighters video from 2007. Dave Grohl would probably have asked if he could play them both!

[@inb4thekill]

lol

[@Ed_Lima777]

The teachers add levity to a rather dark video overall, so I do prefer the version that we all saw.

[@sirako]

feeling mad respect for Kurt right now

[@DreamingTurtle]

I’ll tell you with no doubt, I saw this alternative cut on MTV. 😮

[@foxysky014]

They banned EVERYTHING

[@eluis95]

Maybe those “crazy” conservatives were on to something when they said there was censorship.

[@underscorejojo]

Next show the Weird Al cut! Fun fact: they got the same actor to play the janitor in the Weird Al video 😋

[@BundaDestroyer590]

I enjoy the camera work on the directors cut minus the character changes.

[@xephyrxero]

Looks like they just removed the absurd stereotype nerd guy. Probably for the best

[@gl3nnium]

I'm so glad they cut that stupid stuff out. If I wanted to see inserts of old people doing irrelevant stuff I'd go watch the Ratt 'Round and Round' video and I hate that video (but the song is still good).

[@jaedu860212]

Director’s cut looks even creepier than Kurt’s version.

[@dr.zoidberg4313]

He also cut the cowbell from the mix. He was a wise old duck for his age.

[@popunkid]

Best music video ever made. Anarchy Cheerleaders are still pique hotness.

[@iliveonatropicalisland6086]

I feel like both can work, just serve different purposes. Directors cut works for its time, very fun and mainstream, albeit cliche. Kurts version is very stylized and unique, which in turn makes it timeless

[@Crow5537]

Kurt vision was definitely the correct way here

[@lippi2171]

Haha recently I re-edited my music video myself, basically did the same thing on a smaller scale, edited out all the "story" elements and left in the pure rocking. Sometimes the intended funny things look cringe and have to edit them out to save the project. Kurt had a sense for this thing

[@mafeuk]

Ironically if Dave Grohl was the one in charge of editing probably the video would have more of the "funny" parts

[@PrettyboyAshtun]

yeah his version was the right pick for the official release.

[@arkadiuszborowczyk1670]

Love this tune forever 😎

[@ketorolac4276]

I don't know if it's because we're used to it, but Kurt's version seems somewhat darker and it fits better with the song...

[@MagicToenail]

Forget the scenes that got removed! my god, they did a phenomenal job of fixing the terrible video quality.

[@Musicin1Minute]

Kurt definitely saved the whole video and song

[@JJKoester]

All right, now to find the Smells Like Nirvana directors cut with even more even wackier characters.

[@MemesvilleShenanigans]

1:05 IM THE STUPID AND VAGINAS

[@startervisions]

he improved it

[@umitanonymous3400]

Kurt didnt cut the cleaning guy part, he is still famous

[@georgwalt7978]

the director was stoned while cutting

[@MyComedyStore]

Kurt didn't like the teacher and liked the janitor. The janitor moved better with the music.

[@Black-lq2pb]

I would kill to see the alleged walking-through-the-mall video

[@hebertomedinasousa4724]

Imagine being cut from one of the most famous music videos in the world

[@yutopia7]

Director’s cut has somewhat of In Utero vibe to it. It’s sarcastic and there is a humor, but Kurt Cobain transformed the video into “Pep rally in hell” and it works so much better with the theme of the song.

[@odiumimbues]

cobain had an eye for product.

[@ev14304]

weird Al and official release video would be fun too.

[@Farfarawai]

I understand Kurts vision here, the teacher shots looks like they dont really belong to it, maybe if it was a different type of angle it could work? idk, both are sick

[@eboy2953]

I think both still earns them an award no matter what but kurts version is definitely better

[@rafafranceschini]

I never saw this clip with the same eyes after watching Weird Al's version...😁

[@SomeKindOfDood]

Rest in peace

[@AvoidingHumanSociety]

I see everyone shitting on the directors cut version, but if you were around for 90s MTV, this fit perfectly. I agree Kurts edit is obviously superior but in no way was the original not in style with what was going on.

[@taqedog3717]

Yea im 16 , big chunk of nirvana fandom is teenagers. We don't know what the typical tmz shit look like

[@AvoidingHumanSociety]

@taqedog3717 good for you for getting into real music and not the horrible trash that is currently popular. Luckily we are slowly but surely headed towards better music being popular again.

[@Warnerchild]

2:51 slapping the guitar vs tuning would have been the only edit i'd have made to kurts

[@JBrooksNYS]

It was a good idea to cut out the "pissing off the square adults" aspect of it. It's corny

[@10100rsn]

Yeah, people might get the wrong idea on what the song was about with all those other characters in there.

[@jellyboy123]

why been good if kurt played the part of the janitor as he was a janitor before he made it as a musician.

[@XxStonedImmaculatexX]

I really feel like the director's cut looked too much like a typical 80's music video, so I think it was a wise choice to leave those parts out especially since we were just beginning a new decade, and of course, with new things/ideas in mind!

[@ftheworlds]

You're going to make me go into debt for a music video? I'm editing it.

[@Frogga-016b10]

Why are all these comedians in 2024 when this video was uploaded in 2021?

[@boneappletea3858]

0:27 I wish they'd kept the one on the right for the first verse it's so much better. Imo. Everything's better on the right minus the nerd and principal shots along with the end of the second verse, imo The third verse is better on the left, though .Imo

[@rsyrsyrsy]

绝对是个天才

[@TupaSoko]

And then they call it the Mandela effect.

[@JasonCampbell-v1t]

On my way

[@Carotbee]

I think the song "school" would be appropriate for this video😂

[@matthewlamothemusic9041]

Kurt’s version is artsy and dark the director made a campy mtv video. I almost get hot for teacher vibes.

[@douglaspearch3813]

The director is doing a typical ‘Live band performance with a contrasting narrative’. Curt by just concentrating on the janitor - makes it more like a surreal nightmare (Eraser Head). The other narrative characters are too comic and break the energy release of the chorus. Keeping the Dunce shot for the final bumper now becomes a stronger image. Using the close-up image burnout of Curt just for the ending is much more climatic. Director 7/10 - Curt 11/10

[@STRAIGHTEDGEJAKE]

That was the dunce at the end

[@sammy-punk]

the teacher got some moves

[@dannycolverson6944]

Directors cut is mostly nonsense, but there are a couple of shots of Kurt that I prefer in the directors version. Maybe 5 seconds worth. Other than that the changes are pretty bad and probably would have slightly lessened the impact of the band had they been left in. Maybe that would have been a good thing. Who knows. It's great to see these alternate versions of things that would have resulted in a slightly different reality.

[@VICIOUSX888]

Kurt a 🐐

[@iamcase1245]

The Director's cut was more of a typical cliche'd 90s rock video.

[@TheRubberStudiosASMR]

Kurt really saved it. I don't think it would have nearly had the same impact with all the cheesy other crap.

[@NewWhirledSlacker42]

Kurt cut is superior. Fight Me