Synopsis

Set in an imagined 1950s America, the video follows a teenage couple as they drive to a private fallout shelter for an evening of dancing, flirtation, and pop-culture fantasy. Live-action scenes are intercut with brightly colored animation, turning the bunker into a strange, stylish refuge from the threat of nuclear war. The visual world combines suburban romance, Cold War imagery, jazz references, and surreal cartoon movement, reflecting the song's mixture of nostalgia, youthful desire, and unease about the future.

Factoids & Trivia

• "New Frontier" was released as the second single from Donald Fagen's 1982 debut solo album, The Nightfly, in January 1983.

• The clip combines live-action footage with animation, a format that helped make it distinctive during the early MTV era.

• Fagen does not appear as a conventional on-screen performer. His presence is reduced to a poster for The Nightfly hanging inside the fallout shelter.

• The shelter setting directly visualizes the song's Cold War atmosphere, while the teenage party gives the nuclear-age imagery an intentionally playful and erotic contrast.

• The video includes prominent period references, including Dave Brubeck's Time Out and Pablo Picasso's painting Three Musicians.

• The clip was shown in rotation on early MTV and HBO's Video Jukebox.

• Although the single reached only No. 70 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the video developed a stronger long-term reputation and is frequently remembered as one of the standout clips of the early MTV period.

• The video was later included as a bonus feature on the DVD-Audio reissue of The Nightfly.