Nirvana — 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' Music Video, GMT Studios, Culver City

The music video for Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was filmed on August 17, 1991, at GMT Studios (also known as Stage 6) at 8660 Hayden Place in Culver City, California. Directed by Samuel Bayer, the video depicts a pep rally in a high school gymnasium descending into anarchy — cheerleaders with anarchy symbols on their uniforms, a janitor moshing, and an audience of extras (recruited from local punk shows) destroying the set. The clip cost approximately $50,000 to make and went on to become the defining visual of the grunge movement.

Bayer shot the video in a single day with a young, inexperienced crew. Kurt Cobain had conceived the concept — the corrupted pep rally, the subversion of American high school culture — and the extras were encouraged to go wild during takes. By the final takes, the crowd had genuinely lost control, and Cobain was smashing his guitar in what appeared to be genuine frustration and release. The video premiered on MTV's late-night alternative show 120 Minutes and quickly moved into heavy rotation, driving Nevermind to number one on the Billboard 200 in January 1992.

GMT Studios in Culver City was a standard film and television soundstage. The 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' video is regarded as one of the most culturally significant music videos ever made — the moment when alternative rock broke through to the mainstream and the 1980s were officially over. The gymnasium set was temporary, but the video's impact was permanent.