Dishwalla - Counting Blue Cars

What this video is

Released in 1996 at the height of alternative rock's commercial peak, 'Counting Blue Cars' emerged from the same radio landscape as Collective Soul and Stone Temple Pilots. The video's choice of the Dome Village — a real Los Angeles encampment for homeless people comprising 18 fiberglass domes — grounds the song's existential, child's-perspective spiritual inquiry in social-realist geography rarely seen in…

Why it matters

Represents the apex of mid-90s alternative rock crossover, blending post-grunge sonic textures with introspective, spiritually themed lyricism. The video's social-realist location shooting and rapid kinetic editing anticipate the grittier visual language that would define late-90s rock video…

The director

Born 1970 in Los Angeles, CA; studied film at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. Began directing music videos while in college for indie alternative rock bands. At age 21, became the youngest director signed to Satellite Films (a division of Propaganda Films),…