CGC Grades Smells Like Teen Spirit and Two Other Nirvana Music Videocassettes

Music videos have delighted audiences for decades, since even before MTV debuted in 1981 with “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Although what’s left of MTV has changed its focus, the music videos it helped popularize continue to thrive on streaming and social platforms such as YouTube and TikTok.

But musicians today have it much easier than their predecessors. Creating a music video wasn’t as easy as pressing the record button on your phone camera in the ’80s and ‘90s! Back then, videos were produced on videocassettes, which were then sent to TV studios to (hopefully) be played.

CGC recently certified some really cool examples of these promotional tapes. All three are from one of the most popular American rock bands of the ’90s — Nirvana! These three videocassettes showcase the music videos for three of Nirvana’s most popular singles: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium and In Bloom.

All three of these songs were released on Nirvana’s breakthrough 1990 album, Nevermind, with the first single, Smells Like Teen Spirit, becoming an unexpected hit and earning them mainstream success. Nevermind was certified 13x Platinum and has been credited with ushering in the age of alternative rock.

To further promote the album and its singles, Nirvana released several music videos such as the ones CGC certified. Most of these videocassettes were likely sent to TV studios, independent theaters, electronic stores and other venues, who would play them in a rotation with other bands’ videos. The idea was for the televised performance or dramatization of the song to captivate audiences, who would then go and buy the song on an album. It was clever marketing that contributed to many album sales, along with popularizing a whole new art form combining music and short films.

As technology continues to evolve and shift past physical media production, it is more important than ever to preserve and protect home video collectibles, such as these rare Nirvana music videos. If you have a rare or valuable videocassette, DVD or other home video collectible in your possession, consider sending it to CGC for expert authentication, grading and encapsulation. Each submission goes through a proven certification process, which includes authentication and evaluation of condition by CGC’s expert graders, encapsulation in the industry’s best holder and high-resolution imaging. Click here to submit today!

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray and more. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services.