Pavement - Painted Soldiers

What this video is

Produced in 1996 during the twilight of Pavement's peak commercial visibility, 'Painted Soldiers' exists as a curiosity in the band's video catalog — made but never released as a standalone single, and tied instead to the Kids in the Hall film 'Brain Candy.' The video reflects the Matador Records / Drag City underground ethos: self-deprecating, comedic, anti-MTV-glamour, and built around personality rather than…

Why it matters

An artifact of the Noise Pop / Indie Rock video tradition at its most self-aware. 'Painted Soldiers' exemplifies the Matador-era approach to music video: narrative-comedic rather than performance-based, deliberately low-budget, and authored by label insiders rather than commercial directors. Its…

The director

Dan Koretzky is co-founder of Drag City Records, Pavement's early label, who co-directed their music videos as an extension of the label's DIY creative infrastructure. Rian Murphy is an American director known for collaborating with Pavement on 'Cut Your…