Cut Your Hair

Kannberg said Malkmus first played it to him at his parents' house. Bryce Goggin recalled arguing with Kannberg, who found the wordless hook too weird, and insisting it stay. Malkmus told SPIN in 1994 that it was just a playful look at different sides of being in a band, not a scathing attack on careerism. Matador's Chris Lombardi thought it the most radio-friendly track on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and West called it definitely the catchiest. Released as a single in February 1994 with an R.E.M. cover, Camera, on the B-side, it went to 10 on the US Alternative chart and 52 in the UK.

Dan Koretzky of Drag City and Rian Murphy directed the video, the band's first proper one, over a long, rainy day in a New York barbershop. Each member takes an odd turn in the chair: Ibold sneezes out a cat, Kannberg wears a gorilla suit, and West, in a frog costume, is turned away. Gerard Cosloy admitted it did not do what Matador hoped on MTV. The band played it on 120 Minutes and on The Tonight Show, where Kannberg was a little embarrassed by Malkmus's squealing intro.

Live and after

It is Pavement's most played song, more than 330 times since its debut in Sacramento on 10 May 1993, most recently at the Ryman Auditorium in July 2026. On the reunion tours Rebecca Cole helped Kannberg find the key for the high part. Motion City Soundtrack, Midtown, Superorganism and Wilco have covered it, it turns up in films from A Very Brady Sequel to Jackass: Number Two, and NME placed it 28th among the greatest indie anthems. The upload in the hypersongs web is the official video.