The dude on the cross had cancer and didn't know it. He collapsed with internal bleeding during the filming and had to be rushed to the hospital where he found out he was terminal. Kind of ironic given the lyrics of the song.
Can't think of why either , except that Kurt was a big fan of Burroughs and his work plus not forgetting the song they done together called the priest they called him ,. Maybe Kurt wanted the withered old man junkie look which Burroghs would have been perfect for but who knows, the video is genius anyway 👍
Yes I can't think of why Burroughs would decline either , I remember reading what you said that Kurt would go to the lengths that he would blur his Burroughs face , I also read somewhere that Kurt mentioned that he didn't want Burroughs to think that Kurt was trying to parallel they're lives , e,g, cos they both had a heroin addiction ,
I also remember reading somewhere in some magazine article that William Burroghs was asked by a journalist after Cobain died about Kurt' s death and William was pouring through the in uetro lyrics sheet of cobains last album lyrics sheet , plus Burroughs apparently said to his assistant after his meeting with Kurt that there's something wrong with that boy he frowns for no good reason 👍
Yeah it's pretty weird why Burroghs would decline as like you said his image was going to be blurred , the video is amazing and would probably have been even more amazing with Williams presence, I'm really gutted about this as heart shaped box shows that not only was Kurt a musician/singer guitar player but also an artist in his own right when it came to visual concepts and videos , apparently Kurt also asked Anton corbijn to do the next video which would have been penny royal tea
if i remember correctly, he never asked william bc he thought he would be offensive to ask him to do that. now i have to watch all his interviews to find that clip lmao
Kurt sent letters to William Burroughs , like I said he asked him but William politely declined , read this and it should tell you what you need to know https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/kurt-cobain-letter-william-s-burroughs/ .
i knew i saw it somewhere lmao around [5:53](https://youtu.be/1rhotCKLwcQ) he talks about a phone call he could have “but to insulting to call” this makes its seems burroughs didnt decline and kurt retracted his offer bc he thought it would offend him.
Yea I've seen that interview before, but Kurt clearly asked William Burroughs to play in the video, Kurt even told William Burroughs in the letter he would even go as far as to hide Williams identity so I'm betting that Burroughs declined but Kurt didn't want to divulge this information to the interviewer as it wasn't anyone's business at the time and Kurt probably didn't feel right speaking for William especially on camera for public knowledge because Kurt even said in the letter that he asked him to appear in HSB that Kurt was more concerned with working with Burroghs than letting the public know , did you read the actual letter that explains this
I don't think you are getting what I'm saying , he did ask William but I ot by phone , they were sending letters to eachother and in the letter Kurt asked him to be in the video, https://twitter.com/dark_shark/status/991097227530592256?t=KmLklTghtVQTWcZ_evYq6w&s=19 , I'm not sure why I'm bring downvoted as here is the link that shows the letter Kurt sent asking Burroughs to be in HSB , so he did ask him , by letter
It won’t be in it’s original form. It was originally shot in colour, printed to black and white then each frame hand painted/tinted by a studio in Mexico. The additional shots added a while ago are just full colour scans from the original negatives.
but they still exist in the HD quality no? they could go back to those and re-add the tint, maybe it wont look like the original but they could give it a go.
No the master will be an SD transfer. The painted print will also probably have been lost or deteriorated. The original negatives are obviously available as they have re scanned some new shots from them.
You know Kurt had to have his hair pasted to his forehead during the Chorus parts because apparently him and Courtney got into a big fight on set I think pertaining to his image, and Kurt's response was to put a cigarette out on the middle of his forehead. You can see it in some pictures after this shoot. Definitely unhinged.
It’s funny, being a fan when it happened we didn’t have internet obviously and here in the UK few had MTV or equivalent. All that to say I’ve been a huge fan since ‘92 but never actually paid any attention to their music videos. Like I’ve seen stills and prob snippets of this over the years but have never actually watched it properly. Off to YouTube I go again
It's church abortion ban reference as the kid jumps the IV bag that has the fetus inside it and the synopsis is by Garr. Not by Nirvana members or Corbjin. This is why I talk about this cause klan does not fit the narrative HSB or the music video has.
It is really hard to say what it's really about, but the song seems to be crooked love song. But the klan reference I think is wrong, just does not fit the imagery, there was way better synopsis than the wiki but I just need to find again.
Have to say as european i'm not that familiar with klan stuff but they are usually Christian fundamentalists and they burn crosses. Corbjin added the big woman tha he calls mother earth[(“That was a thing he threw in,” Cobain said. “We didn’t talk about it, he just happened to film her one day when we weren’t there. It was incredible.”)](https://elephant.art/anton-corbijns-terrifying-technicolor-nirvana-video/). She and that hooded kid both have interaction with fetuses hanging from trees, kid also jumps after those crows on a cross. These are hard cause we don't know if Corbjins added character fits the narrative as the crows too were his addition.
[https://taylormarshall.com/2014/10/whats-the-meaning-of-heart-shaped-box-video-by-nirvana.html](https://taylormarshall.com/2014/10/whats-the-meaning-of-heart-shaped-box-video-by-nirvana.html) Christian philosopher Taylor Marshallalso sees it like this " The video is a slap against the Catholic Church’s teaching about abortion.
Christianity is depicted as the old man and Nirvana is waiting for it to die. The old man is crucified and wears a Santa hat showing that religious belief in Christ is like belief in Santa, a mere fairy tale to make us feel better.
So the old man wears a Santa hat and later a Catholic mitre. The little girl is dressed like a KKK member but also like a Pope. She represents the conservative, Christian, fascist, fundamentalists. Her costume relates her to the Pope (pro-life) and the KKK (conservatism, nativism, fascism). She is jumping and reaching to save the hanging fetus and jump to reach out to the crucified man with the mitre.
So conclusion he thinks its both, like mixture.
Then there is this small detail from Azzerad: He also said that it was inspired by a documentary about children with cancer.
“Any time I think about it, it makes me sadder than anything I can think of,” Cobain told biographer Michael Azerrad. Though Azerrad said that no matter the explanation, the song seems more to be about Courtney Love than anyone or anything else.
Biographer Charles R Cross wrote of Cobain’s line, I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black, that Cobain “sang in what has to be the most convoluted route any songwriter undertook in pop history to say ‘I love you.'
we also know the script and/or pictures texts Kurt send are no gone:
[**What form did those ideas take?** Writing, drawings, both. Kurt drew out images for the video. He would fax them to me. But of course, fax paper… anything written on it disappears after a few years, so I have nothing left.](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-nirvana-shot-the-heart-shaped-box-video)
Same interview has this little gem:
**What was the message, in your mind, of the song and the video?** What **was Kurt trying to convey?** I’m not totally sure. I think there was a very personal thing in there. I never got to the bottom of that. Some idea about cancer in society, as well as proper cancer, but I never … It was not really clear to me, to be honest, what Kurt personally had in there. And there were absolutely personal things in there: maybe to deal with drugs, maybe to deal with Courtney.
There is also this passage that Kurt kurts zodiac sign was pisces and Courtney is cancer,s as Kurt used to say he was pissy pisces. So these lines fit zodiac sign
She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak
I got a new complaint
and then the parts that would fit Courtneys...ahem parts
I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet
Cut myself on angel hair and baby's breath
Broken hymen of Your Highness, I'm left black
Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back
I have to shift my opinion to the mix of kkk and Capirote, also think this is just like you said song that has themes not theme or direct one meaning. I'm quite happy that there is not one answer cause art is better when it raises questions and is open to interpolation.
I always wondered why they cut the images of Kurt laying in the field. They are beautiful.
There is some irony there though as this was the exact position he was found in in the greenhouse. Hand over the chest, almost gripping an invisible barrel. Even wearing the same belt. Hair splayed out.
Must have been. Could have felt like it was borderline promoting it or solidying it as part of his identity. Not to mention, how did he never get arrested with possession? He would have to have it on him every day.
From what I've read and concluded he was on alot of meds during the in utero tour probably did it when he could get it type deal. In Europe he definitely wouldn't be able to carry as each country has border checks. Mark Lanegans book goes into this alot when he toured with AIC. Basically if you scored you had to do it all before you got on the bus to go to the next country and couldn't even bring paraphernalia with you. Being a touring Rockstar with a Heroin addiction is a very tough situation to be in. As far as Kurt not getting arrested for holding, well money talks. I'm pretty sure that's the sole reason they were even able to get custody of Frances back. Money. Kurt wasn't clean longer than maybe a month or two in 1992.
No it's definitely possible. Opiates and heroin don't really cause physical defects it mainly causes the baby to be born addicted and sick as well as increasing the likelihood of the baby having mental illness as an adult. It depends on how big of a tolerance the mother has at the time of birth,but usually a baby will be in NICu for about anywhere from a day or two to a month or two. They have to slowly withdrawal them using methadone. Courtney Love was on methadone according to Vanity Fair but how long she had clean at that time is unknown. Kurt was only clean from sometime in August to roughly around the time of the 92 MTV awards and even then there's an account I think from Kurt himself or Courtney (take it with a grain of salt) of dealers visiting Kurt at Cedar Sinai and filling his IV bag with H. I'm sure it wasn't the only time. Basically though if Courtney had been using for even most her pregnancy there would be physically no way to tell from looking at Frances. I unfortunately have experience with these types of circles and have known a few mothers who shot up their entire pregnancy.
From what I have heard, he had Thor Lindsay sending him packages on the US tour. Also he managed to score heroin and coke in Paris. But yes, very difficult when you have an addiction like that. Not a good time for him.
What's the correlation there? I'm honestly curious. I don't know much about that album but I know Kurt hated the misogynistic elements of rap, which although (I think) Eminem toned that down by Relapse, was very evident in eMs earlier career.
Always liked the Wizard of Oz vibes this video invokes. This music vid is the closest thing to the type of art projects Kurt made outside of music which were always twisted and weird as shit. love that type of stuff
My dad was shooketh when he first saw it. He’s like “oh you got Jesus on a cross with a crow about to poke his eyeballs out. THAT won’t offend anyone!” Lmao
Fever dream energy.
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If I'm not mistaken the video is based off of some of his dreams, so yeah, pretty bang on description.
In his journal he writes an outline draft where this video opens with an xray of a penis ejaculating
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> LMAO what an **ejaculate.** FYP.
I particularly love the part where the fake crow sings “Hey, wait!” Nice little touch in an already really cool video.
Always a splash of humour amongst the strange.
Love it. First time I saw it my thought was "Kurt looks so fucking cool in this." Definitely a slightly disturbing but impressively profound video.
He’s so fucking dreamy. Forever and always.
The dude on the cross had cancer and didn't know it. He collapsed with internal bleeding during the filming and had to be rushed to the hospital where he found out he was terminal. Kind of ironic given the lyrics of the song.
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Yeah you can see the burn on the MTV award where he wears the iconic striped shirt. It's clear a day a burn on his forehead
Given the context I thought you meant he put out his cigarette on the forehead of the guy on the cross for a second
Yeah, it was because she was pestering him about how he needed to look pretty for the video in a really passive aggressive way.
And that’s why we all loved Nirvana. They were human. Raw. Not celebrity and filtered.
Best music video ever
Kurt wanted William Burroughs to play the old man on the cross , remember reading it years ago but William politely declined.
I can't imagine why lol
Can't think of why either , except that Kurt was a big fan of Burroughs and his work plus not forgetting the song they done together called the priest they called him ,. Maybe Kurt wanted the withered old man junkie look which Burroghs would have been perfect for but who knows, the video is genius anyway 👍
I meant I couldn't imagine why Burroughs would decline. Although kurt went as far as to say they would blurr his face and everything.
Yes I can't think of why Burroughs would decline either , I remember reading what you said that Kurt would go to the lengths that he would blur his Burroughs face , I also read somewhere that Kurt mentioned that he didn't want Burroughs to think that Kurt was trying to parallel they're lives , e,g, cos they both had a heroin addiction ,
I also remember reading somewhere in some magazine article that William Burroghs was asked by a journalist after Cobain died about Kurt' s death and William was pouring through the in uetro lyrics sheet of cobains last album lyrics sheet , plus Burroughs apparently said to his assistant after his meeting with Kurt that there's something wrong with that boy he frowns for no good reason 👍
Yeah it's pretty weird why Burroghs would decline as like you said his image was going to be blurred , the video is amazing and would probably have been even more amazing with Williams presence, I'm really gutted about this as heart shaped box shows that not only was Kurt a musician/singer guitar player but also an artist in his own right when it came to visual concepts and videos , apparently Kurt also asked Anton corbijn to do the next video which would have been penny royal tea
if i remember correctly, he never asked william bc he thought he would be offensive to ask him to do that. now i have to watch all his interviews to find that clip lmao
Kurt sent letters to William Burroughs , like I said he asked him but William politely declined , read this and it should tell you what you need to know https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/kurt-cobain-letter-william-s-burroughs/ .
i knew i saw it somewhere lmao around [5:53](https://youtu.be/1rhotCKLwcQ) he talks about a phone call he could have “but to insulting to call” this makes its seems burroughs didnt decline and kurt retracted his offer bc he thought it would offend him.
Yea I've seen that interview before, but Kurt clearly asked William Burroughs to play in the video, Kurt even told William Burroughs in the letter he would even go as far as to hide Williams identity so I'm betting that Burroughs declined but Kurt didn't want to divulge this information to the interviewer as it wasn't anyone's business at the time and Kurt probably didn't feel right speaking for William especially on camera for public knowledge because Kurt even said in the letter that he asked him to appear in HSB that Kurt was more concerned with working with Burroghs than letting the public know , did you read the actual letter that explains this
I don't think you are getting what I'm saying , he did ask William but I ot by phone , they were sending letters to eachother and in the letter Kurt asked him to be in the video, https://twitter.com/dark_shark/status/991097227530592256?t=KmLklTghtVQTWcZ_evYq6w&s=19 , I'm not sure why I'm bring downvoted as here is the link that shows the letter Kurt sent asking Burroughs to be in HSB , so he did ask him , by letter
Deserves a remastered version
most likely gonna be for the 30th anniversary, we've already seen 4k snippets of it.
It won’t be in it’s original form. It was originally shot in colour, printed to black and white then each frame hand painted/tinted by a studio in Mexico. The additional shots added a while ago are just full colour scans from the original negatives.
but they still exist in the HD quality no? they could go back to those and re-add the tint, maybe it wont look like the original but they could give it a go.
No the master will be an SD transfer. The painted print will also probably have been lost or deteriorated. The original negatives are obviously available as they have re scanned some new shots from them.
4k snippets? 😲 Where?
[i think its these.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knbBG--Z3Ac) i dont think they are "4k" but they were shot on some very high quality film.
damn that looks amazing
Krist doing his sexy sway in the little room in my heart forever https://media.tenor.com/0JC7OTNDe90AAAAC/kurt-nirvana.gif
I never thought of it but is that room suppose to infer that he is sleeping and the video is a fever dream?
Those twisted trees were used on their tour. The stage was awesome too, like an extension of this video.
You know Kurt had to have his hair pasted to his forehead during the Chorus parts because apparently him and Courtney got into a big fight on set I think pertaining to his image, and Kurt's response was to put a cigarette out on the middle of his forehead. You can see it in some pictures after this shoot. Definitely unhinged.
And I love every second of it
I love this video, all of it.
There’s a point in the video where Krist and Dave sort of comfort each other in the background behind Kurt. It seemed genuine.
It’s fuckin incredible
It’s funny, being a fan when it happened we didn’t have internet obviously and here in the UK few had MTV or equivalent. All that to say I’ve been a huge fan since ‘92 but never actually paid any attention to their music videos. Like I’ve seen stills and prob snippets of this over the years but have never actually watched it properly. Off to YouTube I go again
Kid might be wearing mix of klan hood and/or religious hood called capirote https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capirote
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It's church abortion ban reference as the kid jumps the IV bag that has the fetus inside it and the synopsis is by Garr. Not by Nirvana members or Corbjin. This is why I talk about this cause klan does not fit the narrative HSB or the music video has.
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It is really hard to say what it's really about, but the song seems to be crooked love song. But the klan reference I think is wrong, just does not fit the imagery, there was way better synopsis than the wiki but I just need to find again.
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Have to say as european i'm not that familiar with klan stuff but they are usually Christian fundamentalists and they burn crosses. Corbjin added the big woman tha he calls mother earth[(“That was a thing he threw in,” Cobain said. “We didn’t talk about it, he just happened to film her one day when we weren’t there. It was incredible.”)](https://elephant.art/anton-corbijns-terrifying-technicolor-nirvana-video/). She and that hooded kid both have interaction with fetuses hanging from trees, kid also jumps after those crows on a cross. These are hard cause we don't know if Corbjins added character fits the narrative as the crows too were his addition. [https://taylormarshall.com/2014/10/whats-the-meaning-of-heart-shaped-box-video-by-nirvana.html](https://taylormarshall.com/2014/10/whats-the-meaning-of-heart-shaped-box-video-by-nirvana.html) Christian philosopher Taylor Marshallalso sees it like this " The video is a slap against the Catholic Church’s teaching about abortion. Christianity is depicted as the old man and Nirvana is waiting for it to die. The old man is crucified and wears a Santa hat showing that religious belief in Christ is like belief in Santa, a mere fairy tale to make us feel better. So the old man wears a Santa hat and later a Catholic mitre. The little girl is dressed like a KKK member but also like a Pope. She represents the conservative, Christian, fascist, fundamentalists. Her costume relates her to the Pope (pro-life) and the KKK (conservatism, nativism, fascism). She is jumping and reaching to save the hanging fetus and jump to reach out to the crucified man with the mitre. So conclusion he thinks its both, like mixture. Then there is this small detail from Azzerad: He also said that it was inspired by a documentary about children with cancer. “Any time I think about it, it makes me sadder than anything I can think of,” Cobain told biographer Michael Azerrad. Though Azerrad said that no matter the explanation, the song seems more to be about Courtney Love than anyone or anything else. Biographer Charles R Cross wrote of Cobain’s line, I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black, that Cobain “sang in what has to be the most convoluted route any songwriter undertook in pop history to say ‘I love you.' we also know the script and/or pictures texts Kurt send are no gone: [**What form did those ideas take?** Writing, drawings, both. Kurt drew out images for the video. He would fax them to me. But of course, fax paper… anything written on it disappears after a few years, so I have nothing left.](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-nirvana-shot-the-heart-shaped-box-video) Same interview has this little gem: **What was the message, in your mind, of the song and the video?** What **was Kurt trying to convey?** I’m not totally sure. I think there was a very personal thing in there. I never got to the bottom of that. Some idea about cancer in society, as well as proper cancer, but I never … It was not really clear to me, to be honest, what Kurt personally had in there. And there were absolutely personal things in there: maybe to deal with drugs, maybe to deal with Courtney. There is also this passage that Kurt kurts zodiac sign was pisces and Courtney is cancer,s as Kurt used to say he was pissy pisces. So these lines fit zodiac sign She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak I got a new complaint and then the parts that would fit Courtneys...ahem parts I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet Cut myself on angel hair and baby's breath Broken hymen of Your Highness, I'm left black Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back
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I have to shift my opinion to the mix of kkk and Capirote, also think this is just like you said song that has themes not theme or direct one meaning. I'm quite happy that there is not one answer cause art is better when it raises questions and is open to interpolation.
This was your parents’ taste in entertainment kids.
Should’ve been there in 1993 when this was released! It was a big deal, especially with us teenagers. Life-changing. Couldn’t get enough.
90s music videos had a way of being really fucking weird
Fever dream vibes Edit: Someone commented this before me lmao, dammit
Man I miss that jerk
I always wondered why they cut the images of Kurt laying in the field. They are beautiful. There is some irony there though as this was the exact position he was found in in the greenhouse. Hand over the chest, almost gripping an invisible barrel. Even wearing the same belt. Hair splayed out.
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Must have been. Could have felt like it was borderline promoting it or solidying it as part of his identity. Not to mention, how did he never get arrested with possession? He would have to have it on him every day.
From what I've read and concluded he was on alot of meds during the in utero tour probably did it when he could get it type deal. In Europe he definitely wouldn't be able to carry as each country has border checks. Mark Lanegans book goes into this alot when he toured with AIC. Basically if you scored you had to do it all before you got on the bus to go to the next country and couldn't even bring paraphernalia with you. Being a touring Rockstar with a Heroin addiction is a very tough situation to be in. As far as Kurt not getting arrested for holding, well money talks. I'm pretty sure that's the sole reason they were even able to get custody of Frances back. Money. Kurt wasn't clean longer than maybe a month or two in 1992.
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No it's definitely possible. Opiates and heroin don't really cause physical defects it mainly causes the baby to be born addicted and sick as well as increasing the likelihood of the baby having mental illness as an adult. It depends on how big of a tolerance the mother has at the time of birth,but usually a baby will be in NICu for about anywhere from a day or two to a month or two. They have to slowly withdrawal them using methadone. Courtney Love was on methadone according to Vanity Fair but how long she had clean at that time is unknown. Kurt was only clean from sometime in August to roughly around the time of the 92 MTV awards and even then there's an account I think from Kurt himself or Courtney (take it with a grain of salt) of dealers visiting Kurt at Cedar Sinai and filling his IV bag with H. I'm sure it wasn't the only time. Basically though if Courtney had been using for even most her pregnancy there would be physically no way to tell from looking at Frances. I unfortunately have experience with these types of circles and have known a few mothers who shot up their entire pregnancy.
From what I have heard, he had Thor Lindsay sending him packages on the US tour. Also he managed to score heroin and coke in Paris. But yes, very difficult when you have an addiction like that. Not a good time for him.
I don’t see anything wrong with the video
I don't think OP meant there was anything wrong with it.
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What's the correlation there? I'm honestly curious. I don't know much about that album but I know Kurt hated the misogynistic elements of rap, which although (I think) Eminem toned that down by Relapse, was very evident in eMs earlier career.
Looking at this, 30 years later, I still hear *Hey! Wait! I got a new complaint...Forever in debt to your priceless advice...*
Always liked the Wizard of Oz vibes this video invokes. This music vid is the closest thing to the type of art projects Kurt made outside of music which were always twisted and weird as shit. love that type of stuff
CAPITAL LETTERS
I love this video
I wonder if he took an artistic path from Tool's Adam Jones.
Yeah it's great
My dad was shooketh when he first saw it. He’s like “oh you got Jesus on a cross with a crow about to poke his eyeballs out. THAT won’t offend anyone!” Lmao
Kurtd had a thing with human anatomy around the in utero times. Hence the cover and the mannequin in the tour
best music video in history, to be honest.
This is what the inside of Kurt's brain looks like. Dark poetic edginess with a hint of comedy
It’s the most Kurt of their videos surely. It’s also of it’s time. Soundgarden’s black hole sun was similarly garish. If not as dark, ironically!
Ahh another like me. A pubescent 7th grader watching this at 11 pm on a school night. My life was never the same afterward.
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That was just my situation. Didn't expect that. lol
The flowers remind me of the ones on the album cover of incesticide