SNFU - Big Thumbs

What this video is

Released in May 1995 at the apex of the third wave of punk rock, 'Big Thumbs' and its music video emerged from a highly competitive moment on the Epitaph Records roster, when labelmates The Offspring and Rancid were achieving mainstream crossover success. SNFU, formed in Edmonton, Alberta in the early 1980s, were Canadian hardcore veterans navigating the tension between underground credibility and commercial…

Why it matters

As a promotional artifact from SNFU's fifth studio album, this video documents the aesthetic and commercial strategies of mid-90s Canadian hardcore punk operating within a major independent label framework. The rapid editing pace (avg shot length 1.50s across 124 cuts) is a formal marker of punk…

The director

Eric Matthies is a Chicago-born filmmaker and self-described skate punk who began his career directing and shooting music videos in the late 1980s and early 1990s, working with artists including Nine Inch Nails, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Ministry, and…