No Doubt - Spiderwebs

What this video is

Released in April 1996 against the backdrop of No Doubt's slow-burn commercial ascent on the Tragic Kingdom album cycle, 'Spiderwebs' arrived at a pivotal moment when third-wave ska was transitioning from SoCal underground clubs to mainstream radio and MTV airplay. The video's wedding-reception setting and surreal phone-wire entrapment imagery visually literalized a song about pre-cell-phone-era obsessive calling…

Why it matters

A defining artifact of the third-wave ska revival, 'Spiderwebs' and its music video demonstrated that ska-punk could command mainstream MTV Buzz Bin placement and sustained radio airplay. The video's theatrical performance-narrative hybrid format reinforced the genre's irreverent, high-energy…

The director

German-born director Marcus Nispel came to the US on a Fulbright Scholarship at age 20 and began his career as an art director for Young & Rubicam in Frankfurt before making his directing debut with C&C Music Factory music videos in 1989. He built one of the…