The Replacements - Merry Go Round (Video)

What this video is

Released in 1990 as the lead single from All Shook Down, 'Merry Go Round' arrived at a precise cultural hinge point: album-oriented rock radio was fading and alternative radio was ascending as a commercial force. The Replacements — champions of punk-informed, deliberately uncommercial indie rock since 1979 — found themselves, paradoxically, atop the Modern Rock Tracks chart for four weeks with their most…

Why it matters

As the Replacements' second and final number-one alternative single, this video documents a foundational band of American indie and post-punk at their commercial apex and simultaneous creative dissolution. The video's deliberately sedate, performance-only format contrasts sharply with the MTV-era…

The director

Jesse Byron Dylan (born January 6, 1966) is an American film director and production executive, son of Bob Dylan and Sara Lownds. He attended NYU film school and launched his career directing music videos for artists including Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Tom…