The Connells — Slackjawed

JUL 01 1993 · 12:00

The Connells — Slackjawed (1993) Director: Peyton Reed Era: Post-Grunge Alternative/College Radio Era (1993) - Peak of early-90s American indie alternative, preceding the Britpop crossover that would later break the band internationally via 'Ring' High value as a confirmed early directorial work by Peyton Reed — now a major Hollywood feature director — made in his home region before his industry transition. The video also documents The Connells at a pivotal career juncture: a band disappointed by domestic reception who would soon achieve surprise European platinum success. The zero-saturation, high-contrast film aesthetic and moderate editorial pace are textbook examples of the early-90s American indie performance video mode, making it valuable for both director-career retrospectives and genre-history research. Context: Released in 1993 as the lead single from The Connells' fifth album Ring (TVT Records), 'Slackjawed' arrived at a moment when American college radio alternative was at peak cultural visibility, with Nirvana's post-Nevermind aftershocks still reverberating. The Connells — a Raleigh, NC band formed in 1984 — occupied a distinctly Southern, melodic-jangly corner of the alt-rock spectrum, drawing comparisons to R.E.M. and The Smiths rather than the heavier Seattle sound. While 'Slackjawed' was a college radio hit domestically, Ring's breakthrough came later in Europe via follow-up single '74–'75, which reached the UK Top 20 and topped charts in Sweden and Norway — making this video an artifact of the last moment before the band's unexpected transatlantic transformation. Director notes: Reed directed multiple music videos for The Connells, including 'Slackjawed' (1993) and 'New Boy' (1993), both from the album Ring. His shared Raleigh, NC roots with the band formed a natural early-career creative partnership. The video's black-and-white production and understated performance aesthetic align with Reed's pre-Hollywood style — grounded, low-budget, band-focused work that predates the kinetic visual energy he would later bring to feature films. This video represents Reed's work in the formative period between his UNC graduation (1987) and his television breakthrough with the Back to the Future CBS series, situating it as a document of the North Carolina indie-to-Hollywood pipeline of the early 1990s.