Skeletal Family - Promised Land

What this video is

Skeletal Family emerged from Keighley, West Yorkshire in 1982 as part of a dense northern English independent music ecosystem that included Red Rhino Records, The Sisters of Mercy, and The March Violets. 'Promised Land' was released as a single in 1985 on Red Rhino, reaching UK Indie Chart #2, and was paired with their album 'Futile Combat'. The band were contemporaries of and collaborators with key gothic punk…

Why it matters

A canonical document of UK gothic rock at its most commercially viable indie moment, 'Promised Land' reached UK Indie #2, reflecting the genre's mainstream indie penetration in 1985. The video preserves the period's performance promo aesthetic — the dominant format for independent UK acts on…

The director

Jarvis Cocker (born 19 September 1963, Sheffield) is best known as frontman of Pulp, but was also an active video director. He later directed videos for Warp Records artists including Aphex Twin ('On'), Erlend Øye, and Nightmares on Wax, all co-directed with…