Green Day - Longview

What this video is

Released in early 1994 as Green Day's debut major-label single from Dookie (Reprise Records), 'Longview' arrived during the final years of grunge's commercial dominance. The video received heavy MTV rotation and is widely credited as the primary vehicle for breaking Green Day into mainstream popularity, catalysating the commercial punk revival of 1994-1996. Its themes of slacker boredom, sexual frustration, and…

Why it matters

Longview's video represents the definitive visual statement of East Bay punk's mainstream crossover moment. Its refusal of grunge's heavy atmospheric darkness, glam's spectacle, and metal's theatrics in favour of raw domestic realism created a new template for punk-inflected alternative rock…

The director

Bay Area-based music video director who began directing in the late 1980s and founded San Francisco production company Fire Ball Films. Studied fine art photography and business at San Francisco State University. Worked as a lighting camera assistant on The…