Cowboy Junkies - A Common Disaster

What this video is

Released in early 1996 on Geffen Records — the band's first major-label album following their departure from RCA — 'A Common Disaster' arrived at the apex of MTV's alternative programming dominance. The Cowboy Junkies occupied a unique niche: a Canadian alt-country band with critical prestige (built on 'The Trinity Session,' 1988) being repositioned for commercial breakthrough. Geffen's promotional investment in a…

Why it matters

Represents a rare intersection of alt-country intimacy and major-label MTV-era visual ambition. The video's hyper-edited, symbolically dense approach to a slowcore alt-country track illustrates the tension between artist identity and commercial video production norms in the mid-1990s. Historically…

The director

Born 1970, Los Angeles. Studied film at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. Began directing indie rock videos while in college; first video released 1992 for Material Issue. Became youngest director signed to Satellite Films (Propaganda division) at age 21,…