Primus - My Name Is Mud

What this video is

Released in 1993 as the lead promotional single from Primus's third album Pork Soda, 'My Name Is Mud' arrived at a moment when hip-hop, grunge, and metal were colliding in the mainstream, and Primus's genre-defying identity — funk-metal, avant-garde, psychobilly grotesque — proved an asset rather than a liability. The video's three-part structure — outdoor murder-and-burial narrative, silhouette band performance,…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of early-1990s funk-metal and alt-rock crossover culture. The video's low-budget, anti-glamour ethos and literary narrative structure (Claypool as confessional murderer-narrator) distinguished Primus from contemporaneous grunge and metal peers, influencing subsequent…

The director

American music video director and cinematographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Started directing music videos in the late 1980s and founded production company Fire Ball Films. Worked as a lighting camera assistant on The Nightmare Before Christmas…