California-based director and editor Chris Hafner received a proposal a few weeks back that first would have made many in his generation sick with envy, then subsequently bewildered: direct the Nirvana video. Guaranteed heavy rotation on MTV, if only because of the inherent saleability of nostalgia, Nirvana's "You Know You're Right" video hails Cobain's retail return from the grave with a new album. Or so Geffen would hope. Eight and a half years after the mercurial front-man cut his gig short, the music lives on through a new generation of fans. And though they may not have been there or done that, they most likely bought the t-shirt - something the label is probably banking on.

Created from what Hafner has described as "a million sources" of stock concert and interview footage, as well as stills, the video is comprised entirely of film pre-dating Cobain's suicide in April of 1994. Asked why he opted for a grainy aesthetic and a nostalgic feel, Hafner seems surprised: "The nostalgia wasn't intentional, but I guess it happened because I wanted to give the video a voyeuristic, TV feel."

Hafner along with editors from his own company, Venice's Brass Knuckles Editorial, went through hundreds of hours of band footage and pared down a
3:42-minute montage. Hafner looked for shots that exemplified what the legendary power-pop idol did best, which was "rocking out and smashing shit," and to convey Cobain's "pensive side." After compiling the edit, Hafner reshot much of the footage off a monitor, giving the video a decidedly thrift-store appeal that speaks volumes about the era.

The result, produced by Alissa Walker and commissioned by Geffen's Kathy Angstadt, is somewhat unsettling, but perhaps that's a residual sense of generational propriety talking. Only a few of the shots feature the entire band, and the majority of the video views like a maximum rock-and-roll fashion shoot. Still, the end product - however cheesy - jives with Hafner's goal, which was to put Cobain back into the medium through which most of us came to know the music: television.