Mr. Big - Just Take My Heart (1992) (Dial MTV)

What this video is

Released April 1992 — the fourth and final single from Lean into It — 'Just Take My Heart' arrived at a cultural inflection point: grunge and alternative rock (Nevermind, September 1991) were already fracturing the commercial hard-rock consensus that had sustained Mr. Big's Atlantic Records success. The Dial MTV suffix on this archive copy directly evidences the video's circulation through MTV's viewer-request…

Why it matters

Represents the commercial apex and stylistic transition point of the American hard-rock power ballad on MTV, where Atlantic Records arena rock crossed over to adult contemporary audiences. The video's restrained, warehouse-gothic aesthetic illustrates the genre's attempted repositioning against…

The director

Nancy Bennett is a director, cinematographer, and producer who began her career in music videos and commercials in the early 1980s. Between 1990 and 1994 she served as head of production for the music video department at Atlantic Records. Her directing…