Smells Like Nirvana - Music Video

Music Video

The music video, directed by Yankovic's manager Jay Levey, is a near shot-for-shot parody of the original video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which depicts the band playing at a high school concert while it descends into riot. Yankovic is present on guitar and vocals as Kurt Cobain with Steve Jay on bass as Krist Novoselic and Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz on drums as Dave Grohl. All three wear clothing and long-haired wigs to imitate the look of Nirvana in "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Yankovic's video uses many of the same props, actors and camera angles; in particular, the video was shot in the same Culver City, California sound stage as Nirvana's video, several of the cheerleaders and audience members were from the original video, and Rudy Larosa reprises his role as the janitor. Levey stated that they were able to recreate much of the same setting with help of the producers of the original Nirvana video once they were aware that the song had Cobain's blessing. The video also includes actor Dick Van Patten in a guest role in the video; Van Patten was a last-minute addition by the band, recognizing they wanted a random celebrity in the video, with the actor being one of the few they could get through immediate contacts. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk also appears as one of the many extras on the set as part of a request for the Birdhouse Skateboards team to provide "skater/punks" for the video, though Yankovic was not aware of this fact until 2009 when Hawk revealed this via Twitter. Schwartz attempted to recreate Grohl's wild headbanging during the film, leaving him with a stiff neck several days after filming. Yankovic had a brief conversation with Samuel Bayer, the original director of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in preparation for the video shoot. Although Yankovic noted that "he was certainly going along with it", he felt that Bayer was "the least enthused" because "he was a true artiste " and was reluctant to see his work parodied.