Havana 3AM — Reach The Rock

JUL 01 1991 · 12:00

Havana 3AM — Reach The Rock (1991) Era: Post-Punk Supergroup Crossover Era (1991) - British-American alternative rock scene at the cusp of grunge's mainstream breakthrough; IRS Records indie-major infrastructure supporting roots-inflected post-Clash acts High archival value as a rare surviving music video document of one of rock's most pedigreed yet commercially overlooked supergroups. The video bridges the Clash's cultural legacy with a 1991 American alternative-roots context, and its technical fingerprint — rapid editing, warm saturation, high contrast, kinetic motion — serves as an ideal time-capsule specimen of the early-digital-90s performance video format at the IRS Records tier. Essential for any collection mapping the post-punk to alternative rock transition. Context: Released in 1991 on I.R.S. Records, 'Reach the Rock' is the lead single from Havana 3am's self-titled debut — a British-American supergroup formed in 1986 by Paul Simonon (The Clash), vocalist Nigel Dixon (Whirlwind), guitarist Gary Myrick, and drummer Travis Williams. The band fused rockabilly, reggae, and Latin influences, recording their album in Tokyo with engineer Masahiko Yamazaki. The video arrived as grunge was about to eclipse roots-rock on the alternative landscape, placing it at a cultural crossroads between post-punk's inheritance and the incoming Seattle wave. The song's lyrical address to urban gang violence and restless youth aligned with a socially conscious strand of early-90s alternative rock also visible in contemporaries on IRS and Slash Records. Director notes: The video is confirmed as a 1991 US release (IMDb tt22938542, runtime 4m) tied to the single 'Reach the Rock' from the self-titled Havana 3am debut album on I.R.S. Records. The video received airplay exposure via MTV and Night Flight, with the latter featuring clips of the video in a May 1991 profile of the band. No production company, director, or cinematographer is named in any publicly accessible source.