R.E.M. - Crush With Eyeliner

What this video is

Released in early 1995, 'Crush With Eyeliner' sits at the intersection of R.E.M.'s most commercially aggressive era — the distortion-heavy Monster period — and a broader mid-90s MTV culture defined by rapid visual editing and alternative rock's mainstream ascendancy. Jonze's choice to foreground Japanese youth as the video's protagonists was a conceptually bold move that implicitly engaged with global fandom,…

Why it matters

A key artifact of the R.E.M. Monster campaign, demonstrating the band's deliberate pivot from jangly college-rock introspection toward distorted glam-influenced electric rock. The video, as a Spike Jonze work, is equally significant as a document of his early-peak MTV period — one of over 60 music…

The director

Born Adam Spiegel on October 22, 1969, in Rockville, Maryland. Began career photographing BMX and skate culture for Freestylin' Magazine and Transworld Skateboarding. Co-founded youth magazine Dirt and skateboard company Girl Skateboards (1993). Became a…