After an 11-year hiatus, Mike Judge’s classic animated series Beavis & Butt-head has made a return. Following the debut of the well-received Beavis & Butt-head Do The Universe in June, the dull-witted duo premiered an all-new season on Paramount+ on August 4.
Yet, in the minds of some old-school fans, Beavis & Butt-head just don’t jell with the era of K-pop and TikToks quite as well as they did with the MTV-dominated alt-rock era. Fortunately, remastered versions of the show’s older seasons will also be appearing on Paramount’s streaming service complete with the titular teen’s hugely popular music video commentaries.
Smells Like Teen Spirit By Nirvana
The ’90s were, for the most part, ruled by alternative music; out was the glitz of hair bands and the chaos of thrash metal and in was the flannel shirts and sardonic songwriting of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana.
Much like most teens at the time, Beavis and Butt-head loved Nirvana, although Butt-head repeatedly referred to them as “Navarna” and thought they were a part of the “grudge” music movement. He also referred to lead singer Kurt Cobain as “Beavis’ dad,” which is hilarious.
Possum Kingdom By Toadies
Unlike Nirvana, Toadies are mostly known as a one-hit wonder that was rocketed to fame on the back of their 1994 single “Possum Kingdom.” A quintessential alternative rock track, its success came in spite of the opinions of Butt-head, who, just a few seconds into the video, mocked the song’s opening vocal lines by saying “I’ve already made up my mind. This sucks.”
The two then go on to mostly ignore the track while discussing the inevitability of aging. The best bit comes at the very end when Beavis asks what Butt-head would do if he were to die, which earns the nonchalant response of “I’d probably, like, move over to the middle of the couch.”
I Love It Loud By Kiss
The 1980 record “Unmasked” would mark the beginning of a period of decline for pop rock outfit Kiss, and the trend would continue with 1981’s “Music From ‘The Elder'” and 1982’s “Creatures of the Night.” Kiss was not nearly as relevant in the ’90s as they had been in previous decades, but Beavis and Butthead still saw fit to offer their thoughts on the music video for the “Creatures of the Night” single “I Love It Loud.”
The two demand to see singer Gene Simmons’ iconic blood-spitting stage gimmick and cheer when he sticks out his tongue. They also remark that “these guys are pretty cool for a bunch of mimes.”
All I Had (I Gave) By Crowbar
Beavis & Butt-head may have aired during a time in which alternative music was king, but they reacted to all sorts of music ranging from hip-hop to heavy metal. An excellent example of the latter is their take on the New Orleans-based sludge metal band Crowbar’s “All I Had (I Gave).”
The video is a pretty basic series of clips of the band playing in an empty room, but it’s made all the more entertaining by the two quipping about how the singer looks like an assistant football coach who is “having trouble defecating.”
Real Love By Slaughter
As part of their totally rad rocker dude personas, Beavis and Butt-head hated hair metal and routinely lampooned the likes of KIX and Tesla. Their funniest false metal takedown, however, has to be their reaction to Slaughter’s “Real Love.”
Butt-head makes his opinion known right away by flatly asking “oh no, how did this ever happen? This is, like, just a bunch of bungholes.” Beavis tries to join in but is quickly distracted by “that Brenda b**** from ‘Beverly Hills 902357812345678265210.'”
This Love By Pantera
Texas-based groove metal outfit Pantera was at the forefront of a waning metal scene in the mid-’90s, and Beavis and Butt-head absolutely loved them. That said, they also loved to mock lead singer Phil Anselmo, whom they assumed went by “Pantera” and not his actual name.
Midway through the video, the two joke about the source of the singer’s anger stemming from adolescent disagreements with his dad. “Dammit, Pantera, I told you to get out there and mow that lawn,” shouts Beavis, while Butt-head joins in with “you treat your stepmother with respect, Pantera, or you’ll be sleeping in the street.”
Just A Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody by David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is best known as the singer for the legendary hard rock band Van Halen, but he was shown the door in 1985 and replaced by Sammy Hagar. That same year, Roth released a music video for his cover of the Louis Prima song “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Go Nobody,” which, despite being a parody of then-current industry trends, was torn apart by Beavis and Butt-head.
At the time, Van Halen had a single out called “Right Now,” and Beavis and Butt-head used that to mock Roth’s weird on-screen antics by stating that “right now David wishes he had his old job back” and “right now David is planning to kill Sammy Hagar.”
Cool Kids by KIX
Right as the music video for KIX’s “Cool Kids” begins, Butt-head immediately blurts out “what the hell is this crap?” followed by “I think it’s safe to say that this sucks.” Boasting an overbearing hair metal aesthetic, it’s not hard to see why Beavis and Butt-head weren’t fans of the Maryland-based glam rockers.
The best part comes when the band launches into the chorus which features a titular refrain of “cool kids.” Butt-head mishears the lyrics and follows up with “you think it’s supposed to be ‘cool kids?’ I’d hate to see the uncool kids.”
God of Emptiness by Morbid Angel
Beavis and Butt-head were known for their incessant giggling, and that permeates just bout every second of their reaction to Morbid Angel’s creepy “God of Emptiness.” The two don’t have a particular penchant for death metal, so most of the video consists of the pair attempting to imitate the vocalist’s harsh growls.
The most memorable line can be heard right at the start when Butt-head observes that “it’s another one of those heavy metal videos with a naked dude all curled up on the floor.” Oddly enough, Morbid Angel actually gained a ton of fame after appearing on Beavis & Butt-head.
Blind by Korn
While death and groove metal would hold sway in the early ’90s, nu-metal would establish itself as the pre-eminent metal subgenre as the decade went on. By the turn of the century, bands like Coal Chamber, Limp Bizkit, and Korn would rule the scene, and Beavis and Butt-head got in on the ground floor of the movement.
The two begin the video by remarking that it might be better to watch if they were “dizzy in the head.” Beavis then tries to make himself dizzy and launches into a strange stretch of lucidity in which he pontificates on how Korn is “highly derivative of many popular bands within the genre,” prompting a slap from Butt-head.
