Synopsis

Yo La Tengo begin with a deliberately uneventful performance, appearing to play "Sugarcube" in the detached, low-key style associated with indie rock. Their record-company handlers are unimpressed and send the trio to the President McKinley Academy of Rock, where instructors Bob Odenkirk and David Cross attempt to transform them into arena-ready stars. The lessons cover exaggerated stage moves, rock mythology, and commercial showmanship. After graduating, Yo La Tengo return to perform the song again, only to reveal that their supposedly improved version is almost exactly the same.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video's central joke came from a concept developed by Yo La Tengo: the band makes an intentionally "bad" video, the record company reacts by sending them to rock school, and the graduates perform the same video again - this time to the executives' approval.

• Bob Odenkirk and David Cross appear as the rock-school instructors, with John Ennis playing the record-company figure. The three performers were associated with the comedy series "Mr. Show" around the time of the video's 1997 release.

• The lessons parody familiar hard-rock cliches, including exaggerated stage behavior, arena-rock ambition, and the notion that a band's career can be reduced to a set of commercial rules.

• Yo La Tengo members said that much of the comedy was improvised, particularly Odenkirk and Cross' material. The band knew the basic storyline but had limited involvement in the video's day-to-day execution.

• A previously unseen director's cut was released online in 2022 as part of the 25th-anniversary campaign for "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One."