The golden hue of the music video fades in the light of brighter chords.
The golden hue of the music video fades in the light of brighter chords. Youtube Screenshot

Someone on the internet auto-tuned Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" so that the song's in a major key instead of a minor key. They also added a few guitar flourishes to make it sound like a pop punk song. Right from the very beginning it's a shock to the soul.

Scattered thoughts:

• Pop punk would have been slightly more interesting if it evolved in rainier climes.

• This version of the song is inarguably worse...but I still kinda like it? It makes me feel like a Midwestern youth group leader whose earnest struggle with God has been recently sidelined by a surprisingly flirtatious encounter with a barista.

• I am just now realizing that Kurt Cobain has his shirt tucked into his jeans in this video, and I find this fashion move somehow strangely affecting.

• Michael Martin, the director for Master P's "Make 'Em Say Uhh!" owes some debt to Samuel Bayer, the director of Nirvana's video. The basketball court setting, the gold wash aesthetic, the artists mean-mugging the camera all the time—it's not the same video, but the similarities are undeniable.

• After some very light digging, I found another, earlier version of the same major key treatment but without all the pop punk FX. The key change makes the song sound like any other 1990s "alt-rock" radio jam, and while it's not as bad as the other version, I still find it extremely disorienting.

I am sorry for ruining your Friday.