Erasure — Am I Right？

JUL 01 1991 · 12:00

Erasure — Am I Right？ (1991) Director: Angela Conway Era: Synth-Pop Maturity / Early 90s UK Electronic (1991) - The post-rave, pre-Britpop moment when UK synth acts shifted from colourful spectacle toward introspective, art-inflected video aesthetics; Erasure's 'Chorus' album cycle bridging glossy 80s pop with a sombre, emotionally literate sensibility. Exceptionally high. One of the most visually and culturally significant videos in Erasure's catalogue, and a rare example of an early-1990s mainstream pop video explicitly engaging with LGBTQ+ grief and the AIDS crisis through a formally inventive, art-cinema-inflected visual language. The use of expired film stock gives the video an unrepeatable photochemical texture. Essential viewing for research into queer popular culture, 1990s UK synth-pop, and the Mute Records visual ecosystem. Context: Released in November 1991 on Mute Records as a single from the 'Chorus' album, 'Am I Right?' arrived at a pivotal moment for LGBTQ+ visibility in mainstream pop. The video's location at Amsterdam's Homomonument — an AIDS memorial — positioned the song's ambiguous emotional narrative within the lived reality of the early-90s AIDS crisis, a subject rarely addressed with such directness in a major-label pop promo. The choice of Amsterdam reflected the city's status as a centre of European LGBTQ+ culture and coincided with Vince Clarke's then-residence there. The video's deliberate rejection of spectacle, in favour of solitary urban wandering shot in degraded monochrome, marked a significant aesthetic departure from the duo's earlier, more exuberant promotional films and aligned Erasure's visual identity with the introspective mood of the European art-film tradition. Director notes: Conway directed both 'Am I Right?' and 'Breath of Life' for Erasure's 'Chorus' campaign. She has cited her background in 'moody' rather than mainstream pop visuals as unexpected preparation for the assignment. The video was shot on location in Amsterdam using extremely old, expired film stock at the suggestion of the cinematographer — reportedly WWII-era material — resulting in grain so severe it was physically flaking from the film. Post-production added a warm tint to the black-and-white footage. The production company listed on IMDB is The State. Conway has described having 'lovely memories' of the shoot.