I picked this one partially because earlier this week I woke up with the song lodged in my head, and partially because, having done some research (i.e. consulted Wikipedia) I learned that, post-Columbine, MTV stopped playing it. Also interesting: the video below is the official video, but it isn’t the original one.
The first video for the song was made by photographer Chris Cuffaro, largely at his own expense, and was summarily rejected by Pearl Jam‘s label, who were none too keen on releasing the song as a single.
Later, however, the label came around, and a new video was made, directed by Mark Pellington. The result is – strange. The inherent darkness of the topic of the song – a boy killing himself at school, loosely based on two true stories – is only amplified by the violent imagery, and also, Eddie Vedder at his most demonic. And, too, I had forgotten Vedder wrote the song from the POV of a bully. It won four VMAs, including Video of the Year, in 1993.
http://youtu.be/MS91knuzoOA