Tom Waits - ＂Goin' Out West＂

What this video is

Released in 1992 concurrent with Bone Machine, Tom Waits' eleventh studio album on Island Records — itself a Grammy winner for Best Alternative Music Album — 'Goin' Out West' sits at the intersection of avant-blues, junkyard percussion, and the early-90s alternative mainstream moment opened by Nirvana, R.E.M., and U2. The video's uncompromising black-and-white, high-contrast aesthetic rejects the glossy production…

Why it matters

A defining artifact of avant-blues and experimental rock music video production in the early 1990s. The video's refusal of color, narrative, and conventional glamour positions it as a counter-programming statement within MTV's visual economy. Jesse Dylan's monochrome performance-film approach —…

The director

Jesse Byron Dylan (born January 6, 1966) is an American film director and production executive who attended NYU film school. Son of Bob Dylan, he built his early career directing music videos for Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, Lita Ford, Public Image…