Bryan Adams - I'm Ready

What this video is

Released in 1998 as the commercial single vehicle for Bryan Adams' 1997 MTV Unplugged performance, this video sits at the intersection of two late-1990s cultural currents: the enduring commercial viability of the MTV Unplugged format (pioneered earlier that decade) and the adult-contemporary radio landscape that rewarded acoustic reworkings of rock catalog. The song, originally written by Adams and Jim Vallance and…

Why it matters

Represents a canonical example of the late-1990s legacy-rock MTV Unplugged promotional cycle, in which stripped acoustic live performances were commercially repackaged as singles. The video's rapid editorial pace (1.82s avg shot length) applied to acoustic source material illustrates the tension…

The director

Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953, Catterick, North Yorkshire, England) is a British-American music video director and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He studied architecture at the University of Bath before working at Stiff Records and co-founding Propaganda…