Soul Asylum - Cartoon

What this video is

Released in 1988, 'Cartoon' arrived at a pivotal transitional moment for Soul Asylum — their first single cycle on a major label (A&M Records) after years on Twin/Tone Records in the Minneapolis underground. The band joined a peer cohort of Minneapolis acts including Hüsker Dü and The Replacements who were navigating the same indie-to-major pipeline. The video's use of repurposed public-domain animation — including…

Why it matters

A key artifact of the pre-grunge alternative rock moment, 'Cartoon' represents the Minneapolis sound's collision with major-label infrastructure. The video's found-footage collage method anticipates the lo-fi, culturally ironic aesthetic that would define early 90s alternative video production.…