When Weird Al Yankovic asked Kurt Cobain for permission to parody this, Kurt asked him if it would be about food. Al said it would be about how no one could understand his lyrics. Kurt found that hilarious, and said absolutely.
That whole sequence is my favorite part of any music video ever, right from the very first moment I saw it. Al gargling water, the doofus in the background getting hit in the head with the ball, and the guy on fire nonchalantly walking into the frame. Absolute pinnacle of parody, the whole history of comedic acting distilled into a single scene.
Fun fact: Even though he's allowed to parody whatever, under the protection of fair use, Weird Al almost always asks permission first. Absolute legend.
Not all his parodies are actually fair use. Unless it's critical or a review (like this) then it's probably not. You can't just take someone's song, change the lyrics to something unrelated, then claim fair use.
If it takes one induction for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to gain some much needed credibility, it's Weird Al as far as I'm concerned. Single handily proved to be the measuring stick of the music industry.
Al Yankovic's parents died of CO poisoning before a show, he got the news and went on stage anyways because "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well" The guy is probably the best dude in the industry
I think Walt Disney's parents died of that too. He bought them a new house which had a problem with the heating system leading to the accident. I could be wrong however.
Lyrics; What is this song all about? Can't figure any lyrics out How do the words to it go I wish you'd tell me, I don't know Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no Don't know, don't know, don't know Now I'm mumblin', and I'm screamin' And I don't know what I'm singin' Crank the volume, ears are bleedin' I still don't know what I'm singin' We're so loud and incoherent Boy, this oughta bug your parents Yeah Blergh Haai It's unintelligible I just can't get it through my skull It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss With all these marbles in my mouth Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no Don't know, don't know, don't know Well, we don't sound like Madonna Here we are now, we're Nirvana Sing distinctly, we don't wanna Buy our album, we're Nirvana A garage band from Seattle Well, it sure beats raisin' cattle Yeah And I forgot the next verse Oh, well, I guess it pays to rehearse The lyric sheet's so hard to find What are the words? Oh, never mind Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no Don't know, don't know, don't know Well, I'm yellin', and we're playin' But I don't know what I'm sayin' What's the message I'm conveyin'? Can you tell me what I'm sayin'? So, have you got some idea? Didn't think so, well, I'll see ya Sayonara, sayonara Ayonawa, hodinawa Odinaya, yodinaya Yadda-yadda, yah-yah Aye-yaah
Here's a fun fact. You can see it by watching both videos and it was said in an interview with Mr. Yankovic. He's using the exact same set... More so. The chearleaders, janitor, and audiance extras are made up of many of the exact same people from the original video. He didn't just make a parody. He mirrored the entire video and got just about the entire original crew to help him do it.
@Josh Tiger Actually no. When he saw the video, he was honored (as he said being parodied by Al means "you've made it" in the music business), and thought it was absolutely hilarious and apparently fell over laughing.
Cobain: "Ok sure you can make a parody, but it's not going to be about food is it?" Weird Al: "No it's going to be about how nobody can understand your lyrics."
This has got to be my favorite Weird Al music video, and probably the funniest music video of all time. All the background gags make this feel like it was made by the guys who made Airplane. Weird Al is so good.
It is the same set and some of the same extras, ya. And Al did that when he filmed some Michael Jackson parodies as well, as Jackson let him use the same sets and stuff, too, like the subway in "Fat".
At the end of the Nirvana song, I swear I hear Kurt repeating "Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga". I know Kurt isn't saying that, but that's what I hear every time.
I find the "this outta bug your parents" line funny because the generation that made this IS my generations parents. So if they heard us playing this full volume they'd prolly join in on the head banging.
It's actually "Don't want you (to) buy our album..." -- A jab at grunge which was a response against going with the labels and "getting popular, and rich" was the biggest offense you could do, you have to stay like a garage band.
Ich Chee Kok Weird Al is trying to be heavy or a better singer. His style is to make fun of and make a joke of songs. It would take an absolute idiot to not understand that.
"ur merely making fun of all the poor littel kiddies in africa who have to bargle all the nawdle zouss every day for a living uv neever bargled nawdle zouss so you're merely here to disinform people and laugh at their struggles ppl like yuo disgust meeeeeeeeeee"
I've seen AL perform this live and he is an impressive singer and gargler! He throws the cup of water into the audience after he gargles, it's hilarious!
I just read today on Facebook that Smells Like Teen Spirit was recently scientifically calculated to be the most iconic rock song ever written. I don't know about you lot, but I prefer Smells Like Nirvana myself.
Why are people butthurt about Weird Al making fun of Nirvana? Quit being major fanboys. Weird Al personally asked Kurt if he could parody the song. No, the song wasn't created in 2009 like many people seem to think, that's simply an upload date because if you didn't know, RU-vid didn't exist in 1992 when this song was created, but you'd have to do the impossible task of reading the description to solve that mystery. Plus, you cant deny that Weird Al did a wonderful job of mocking the original song. I've known the original song since long before I heard Weird Al's version. Its been around 20 years yet I still cant decipher a word Kurt was saying. Weird Al portrayed that perfectly with "bargle nawdle zouss" as it doesn't get much closer to the original than that. For those who actually read all of that, here is a fish with no relevance. >
My favorite band is Nirvana and I love this parody because when this song came out, people really couldn't understand the lyrics and I believe they only included a few lyrics in the cd cover so you really had to guess what he was saying (Internet was in it's infancy as well). And Kurt said he liked it....
Fun Fact: 1:17 is such an impossible guitar bend that many artists, even kurt himself, could not replicate, making weird al the absolute MOST underrated guitar player of ALL TIME
yeah thank god they did that just wouldn't have known what he was maybe the pianist, guitarist or just someone nodding his head and playing with sticks!
This music video was my introduction to Weird Al as a kid. Loved it then, still love it now. Al’s stuff always manages to be as timeless as the songs he does parodies of.
I love this parody, too. I makes me sad, though, that 80% of Al's songs are his amazing originals, and hardly anyone even knows about them. I was over the moon, though, to go to 3 of his originals only tours, and hear the crowd go crazyy for these incredible songs. His band is unbelievable!!!
Too bad his real genius is overlooked. Less than half of the songs on Al's 14 studio albums are parodies. 80% of Al's songs are originals. I've been to 3 of his Vanity Tours and he only performs his amazing origina songs. Al and his band of over 40 years are incredible!!
O forgot about the part of Nirvana where the entire audience spontaneously pulls out their kazoos that they all brought and played them in a perfect solo
@@slappy8941 Hey Slappy. It's actually the bridge of the song, not the chorus, and they're playing kurt's guitar solo with kazoos, which he plays during the bridge. The arrangement goes...Intro Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Bridge Verse Chorus (Outro).
This brings me back to my childhood. Not sure I ever heard it during my childhood but being a swedish kid that doesn't know english I definitely didn't know what they were singing in the original but I still wanted to sing along.
This has to be one of the greatest music videos ever created, surely? The amount of visual gags and jokes is unmatched here. Weird Al on top of his game.
Personally i didnt understand the joke about tearing off the head and hand and the part with the children, where their tray flies away and then they are dragged. Is this a reference or kind of absurd?
only the staple ones, you didn't want to mention the fat cheerleader dude or the dude with a braided ponytail on the top of his head with all of his head shaved except for the patch above his ears.
I was SOOO happy when this came out!! Having been a Weird Al fan since he first came out, then being a new Nirvana fan when they broke out, it was such a lovely thing to see him do this! Then, to know the story behind how he got permission...Al is such a cut above the rest!! 😄
Fun fact: At 1:46 in this music video, Tony Hawk is seen next to the cow! (The guy wearing the white t-shirt) I didn’t know this until watching a previous video where Weird Al mentioned he was in this video!!
Fun fact: Kurt loved this parody and even said that he felt he & Nirvana had ''made it'' once he'd heard it. So, shut the *fuck* up about how this is offensive to Nirvana or some shit, and enjoy the music.
+Film Producer the thing is that these 3 dudes came from nothing (Kurt was still living in his car while nevermind was made). They wanted to be rock stars and one way to get recognized was to have a parody done by wierd al and release nevermind
+TheGamingMonkeys. that's why i liked this version and video so much because I'm a HUGE nirvana fan and they liked it too ... they said you know you made it when someone makes a parody of your work..
3:06 Holy fuck the kid was stage diving and he was holding its nose as in actual diving. The little details on weird aI parodies is what makes it so perfect
My favourite parts: 0:13: The cheerleader (also donut) 1:06: The head getting yeeted 1:16: The guitar 1:36: More yeeting of body parts (pretty much throughout the whole thing) 1:49: Chicken dance 1:55: Guy with banana (imo best part) 1:58: Old man's food being yeeted 2:11: Sheep 2:16: Everything happening here (+ Kazoos afterwards) 2:36: Guitarist go bye 2:41: The delayed shot 2:50: Bootiful ballerina 2:59: More yeeting of food 3:07: The girl guide crowdsurfing 3:14: Guy stealing symbal 3:21: Smashing stuff on someone's head 3:24: Whatever's happening with this guy's nose 3:26: Blowing up building (+ same guy holding symbal) 3:32: Drummer go bye 3:40: Weird Al go bye Ok basically the whole video
So many great little gems in this that Weird Al talks about - including getting the same janitor as in the original video, and the fact that Dick Van Patten was randomly hanging out, and someone said - wanna be in the video? Unreal.
@@JohnnyShagbot Al himself said it was all an overblown misunderstanding (TL;DR, Coolio's producers gave the okay without clearing it with Coolio, it all worked out). If anyone could be said to have feuded with Weird Al, it was Prince who actually had his minders give Al a telegram not to even look at him when they were seated in the same row at the Grammys.
So many great things i never noticed on the first watch. The dude on fire randomly running through the shot, the basketball team playing since its a gym, "kurts" swish right afterward, Tony Hawk, the dummy being thrown around that gets dropped, and the drummer absolutely nailing Dave Grohl behind all the hair. Gold.
I love how Al loves getting personal permission from the original artists like he did for Kurt Cobain and Michael Jackson. He even said these two were the most difficult to track down and he could barely understand anything Cobain said to him so he took it as a yes.
Yeah, he's a stand-up guy like that. :) I heard Kurt was cool with Weird Al doing a parody but asked him if it was going to involve food like so many of Weird Al's other parodies, lol.
At 1:42 the song switches from being a parody of Nirvana to being a promotion; telling the listeners about what kind of band Nirvana is, where they're from, what their music sounds like (or rather, who they don't sound like) and telling everyone to buy their album. It's no wonder Kurt enjoyed it so much!
I dunno if you were alive when Smells like Teen Spirit hit the charts, but EVERYONE knew who Nirvana is back then. EVERYONE. From the poppers to the hair metal fans. This record was number 1 for like an eternity.
