Fretblanket - Into The Ocean

What this video is

Released in 1997, 'Into The Ocean' represents the transatlantic ambitions of the post-Britpop British guitar scene. Fretblanket, a Stourbridge power-pop quartet, found greater traction in the United States than in Britain, where they were largely overlooked by the music press. The video's MTV exposure — particularly its record-setting performance on '12 Angry Viewers' — positioned the band within the dwindling…

Why it matters

Documents the late-wave British alt-rock push into the American MTV market (1996–1998), a historically narrow window when post-Britpop UK bands with melodic, hook-driven songwriting could still earn US airplay. The video's 60s pop-cinema visual language prefigures the wider late-90s Mod and…

The director

Ted Crittenden is a music video director active in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Verified credits include 'Into The Ocean' by Fretblanket (1997) and 'Boss Of Me' by They Might Be Giants (2000). No further verified biographical details are available from…