4 Non Blondes — What's Up

JUL 01 1993 · 12:00

4 Non Blondes — What's Up (1993) Director: Morgan Lawley Era: Post-Grunge Alternative Mainstream (1993) - Peak MTV alternative rotation era; San Francisco underground breaks into global pop consciousness via Interscope Records High curatorial value as one of the most-viewed 1990s music videos in streaming history and a defining artifact of early-90s alternative rock's MTV era. The video encapsulates the visual grammar of its moment — lo-fi warmth, performance-driven simplicity, subcultural fashion — while serving as a documented milestone for LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream music video. Essential for any archive covering 1990s MTV culture, alternative rock, or queer music history. Context: Released in March 1993, 'What's Up?' emerged at a pivotal crossroads in American alternative culture — grunge was at its commercial apex following Nirvana's 'Nevermind' (1991) and MTV was still the dominant arbiter of pop music visibility. 4 Non Blondes, formed in San Francisco's lesbian bar scene in 1989, brought a distinctly West Coast queer, punk-inflected bohemian identity to mainstream pop radio. The song's politically ambiguous anthemic quality — influenced by the George H.W. Bush-era political climate but containing no explicit political lyrics — gave it broad cross-demographic appeal. The video's heavy MTV rotation helped propel the single to #14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and to #1 in multiple international markets, making it one of the defining alternative crossover moments of the era. Director notes: Lawley directed the 1993 official music video for 4 Non Blondes' 'What's Up?', released on Interscope Records. The video features the band performing in a living room set decorated with paintings, intercut with outdoor park footage. The video received an MTV VMA nomination for Best Alternative Rock Video and received heavy MTV rotation. Lawley subsequently directed videos for Jill Sobule ('I Kissed A Girl') and Digable Planets ('Rebirth of Slick'), both of which also received MTV VMA nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Editorial, and Best Hip Hop Video respectively.