Possum Dixon - Radio Comets

JUL 01 1996 · 12:00

Possum Dixon - Radio Comets (1996) Era: Mid-90s Alternative Rock / Post-Grunge Transition (1996) - Peak era of Interscope-signed indie-adjacent acts navigating MTV alternative programming alongside neo-new wave revival High archival value as a rare extant music video artifact from a critically respected but commercially marginal mid-90s LA alternative act. The video's informal circulation history, uploaded to YouTube outside official label channels, per Popdose, makes it a candidate for preservation documentation. Its aesthetic fingerprint (warm, underlit, moderate-paced, surrealist-leaning) is characteristic of a specific stratum of 1996 Interscope alternative video production that sits between major-label polish and DIY indie austerity, offering researchers a calibration point for mid-decade production norms. Context: Released in 1996 as the second single from Possum Dixon's second album *Star Maps* on Interscope Records, 'Radio Comets' represents the band's attempt to consolidate a cult following built in the LA indie coffeehouse and art-rock underground into mainstream alternative radio traction. The band, fronted by Rob Zabrecky, with Celso Chavez on guitar and Robert O'Sullivan on electric piano, embodied a neo-new wave, post-punk aesthetic that critics described as updating acts like the Attractions and Wall of Voodoo for 90s slacker culture. The song, characterized by critics as carrying a 'Duane Eddy-meets-Devo twang,' sat within a mid-90s landscape increasingly crowded by grunge's commercial peak and the emerging dominance of nu-metal, leaving Possum Dixon critically admired but commercially overlooked. Neither single from *Star Maps* charted, and the album's reception, while positive in outlets like Spin, did not translate to sales. Director notes: No director credit for the 'Radio Comets' music video was found in any indexed source, including Discogs, AllMusic, Apple Music, Wikipedia, or music press archives. The Discogs VHS single release (catalogued as 'Radio Comet', 1996) does not list production credits. The video was noted by Popdose as having been uploaded to YouTube informally, suggesting limited official archival documentation.