1990: directed by Dave Balfe

How appropriate that their first video opens with a shot of Graham's beautiful guitar; slowmotion swirlies signal the Viewer that they are now in effects pedal fairyland. This impression only increases at the first appearance of the whole band, too well-dressed and -groomed for grunge, hanging out in a big sculpture made of pink neon rings. The Author wonders who owns this highly desirable collectors' item now?...

Everyone gets the center of the "ring of rings" to himself for a moment so the viewer can get a good eyeful and decide whether or not they're shaggable. Alex, with ill-advised Prince Valiant haircut and 1990 Essential Fashion Item Bobby-Brady stripy T-shirt, looks a bit pale and unwell and freaked out. Perhaps his cliff-like cheekbones are sucking all his energy away and shunting it into space. Graham, who's twelve at most and wears a red T-shirt with "365" printed on it, does a seriously mean Harry-Potter-goes-indie impersonation. Dave is in black-and-white vertical stripes, and he looks a bit referee and quite tall. Sometimes you see Dave's silhouette behind a screen, teaching those drums a thing or two. Damon, who's seven, or maybe even eight, but closer to seven and a half and very excited about his new model railway set and just got top marks in spelling, sports a longish fringe which really works for him. Certainly, he seems to think so, delighting in swinging his greasy hair around as he mimes by opening his mouth really wide. He's also famously wearing a vivid green-and-white Penguin Books "The Thin Man" T-shirt. A nation of bookish girls ovulates simultaneously.

Occasional cheap video effects try to distract the viewer from the fact that we're watching a couple of guys standing in a neon sculpture, pretending to play or else just standing there and demonstrating that they know the words to their own song. Ah, cheap video effects. It reminds me of the olden days when every video looked like shit, and we loved them that way. This brings to mind the afternoon I spent watching My Bloody Valentine videos, which are totally cheap but look spectacular and are the most psychadelic visions I think I've ever seen. This video doesn't even come close to the video for "Only Shallow". Then again, how many videos did Dave Balfe direct before this? How many after? He took some pretty pictures of his band, fucked with them a little bit, and put it out there. Videos didn't use to have to be masterpieces. And a band's first video very rarely is.

But oh, they're so YOUNG.

CUTE FACTOR: extremely high.
VIDEO QUALITY: general style of Brit indie videos at the time. It suffers only by comparison.
FUCKED UP FACTOR: extremely probable.
OVERALL GRADE: B