The Rolling Stones - Like A Rolling Stone (Music Video)

JUL 01 1995 · 12:00

The Rolling Stones - Like A Rolling Stone (Music Video) (1995) Director: Michel Gondry Era: Mid-90s Alt-Rock/Classic Rock Crossover (1995) - The Rolling Stones cover Bob Dylan during the Voodoo Lounge/Stripped era; dark, sepia-tinged narrative filmmaking at the height of MTV's prestige commissioning period. High curatorial value as a confluence of major cultural actors: one of rock's most iconic bands covering one of rock's most canonical songs, directed by a filmmaker who would become one of the defining visual artists of his generation. The video bridges the Dylan folk-rock literary tradition and 1990s MTV narrative filmmaking, is preserved in the Directors Label archive (The Work of Director Michel Gondry, 2003), and offers a rare instance of The Rolling Stones ceding the spotlight to a protagonist-driven narrative. The dark, sepia aesthetic and fast editorial rhythm make it a textbook example of mood-driven, non-performance music video craft from the mid-90s. Context: Released in October 1995 as a promotional clip for The Rolling Stones' Stripped album, this video marks a historically resonant moment: the band that took its very name from the Muddy Waters blues tradition adjacent to Dylan's song finally committing a full cover of 'Like a Rolling Stone' to record and video. The Stones had long played it privately in warm-ups but resisted performing it live, partly due to the name overlap, only debuting it publicly at Brixton Academy on July 19, 1995. Gondry channels the song's 1960s literary bleakness into a 1990s naturalist visual register, sepia tones, dark brightness levels, and a fast editorial pace create an emotional document of displacement that bridges two generations of rock mythology. The Partizan co-production situates the clip squarely within the mid-90s European auteur music video movement. Director notes: Directed in 1995 for The Rolling Stones' cover of Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone,' released as part of the Stripped album campaign (Voodoo Lounge Tour). Produced by Georges Bermann, edited by Russell Icke, with cinematography by Emmanuel Carlier and Harris Savides. A France-United States co-production through Partizan Entertainment and Partizan Midi-Minuit, released in the United States in October 1995, distributed via MTV. The video was later included in the 2003 compilation The Work of Director Michel Gondry (Directors Label/Palm Pictures). The video follows a narrative centered on a woman navigating displacement and alienation, directly mirroring the Dylan lyric's themes. It received 1 award nomination per IMDb.