10 Best Music Videos Of The 90s
5. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Directed by Samuel Bayer initially, the music for Nirvana's most famous song was itself something of a controversy in its time. Depicting the apathy of the students in the video, leading to an anarchist riot, the video was among the first to truly capture the grunge movement.
Kurt Cobain disliked Bayer's first version of the video and re-edited some of it himself. He removed some scenes, like a principal being sprayed with confetti and cut much of the footage of a teacher in a dunce's cap, leaving only the last shot. He added the final shot, a close up on his face after it being obscured for most of the video.
However, Bayer had no hard feelings about this. In fact, he said this was anything but vanity. He said that Cobain clearly wanted the video to be representative of what the band was all about.
The final scene that depicts the student body rioting was, in Cobain's opinion, a very real rebellion by these extras. They had endured a full day of shooting, standing on those bleachers while the song was played repeatedly over and over. He persuaded Bayer to allow them to mosh at the end, leading to them erupting all around the band and capturing the crazed spirit that the video was trying to portray.