Damn Yankees - High Enough

What this video is

Released in 1990 at the apex of MTV's influence over rock music, 'High Enough' exemplifies the supergroup power ballad format that dominated rock radio and video rotation at the turn of the decade. Damn Yankees united members of Night Ranger (Jack Blades), Styx (Tommy Shaw), and Ted Nugent into a chart-viable hard rock vehicle, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on Mainstream Rock Tracks. The video's…

Why it matters

A landmark power ballad music video of the 1990 hard rock canon, 'High Enough' demonstrates how supergroup marketing, cinematic narrative ambition, and MTV rotation combined to elevate a single to mainstream pop crossover status. Its mixed performance/narrative format, rural film-noir aesthetic,…

The director

San Francisco-born director; Harvard-educated after scholarship to Tamalpais High School, where he shifted from science to film after discovering Eisenstein. Active in music video and concert film direction from the late 1980s through 2000s. Grammy winner…