Letters To Cleo - Dangerous Type (no movie clips)

1996

Letters To Cleo - Dangerous Type (no movie clips) (1996) Era: Mid-90s Alternative Rock / Soundtrack Era (1996) - Peak of post-grunge female-fronted alt-rock, with the track commissioned as a cover for Columbia Pictures' The Craft (1996) soundtrack, situating it at the nexus of teen cinema and alternative radio culture. High curatorial value as a standalone performance document of a commercially and culturally significant 1996 mid-90s alt-rock artifact. The 'no movie clips' designation makes this version a rare clean record of the band's visual identity, distinct from the widely circulated film-intercut version. Its technical fingerprint, rapid editing, warm contrast, early-digital quality, is emblematic of the transitional mid-90s MTV production aesthetic. Essential for any archive covering 90s alternative rock, female-fronted bands, or the film-music crossover culture of the era. Context: Released in 1996 as part of The Craft: Music From The Motion Picture soundtrack on Columbia Records, this video documents Letters to Cleo at their commercial peak, a Boston alternative rock band that had signed to Giant Records (a Warner Bros. subsidiary) in 1994 and gained national visibility. The song is a cover of The Cars' 1979 track 'Dangerous Type,' recorded in Los Angeles with producer Ralph Sall, and featuring original Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes. The Craft became a defining cult film for 1990s teen subcultural identity, and the soundtrack's eclectic mix of alt-rock covers, alongside tracks from Our Lady Peace, Love Spit Love, and Juliana Hatfield, embodied the era's tendency to reframe classic rock through a 90s alternative lens for cinematic crossover audiences. Director notes: This is the standalone performance-only cut ('no movie clips') of the official music video for 'Dangerous Type,' released in 1996 in conjunction with The Craft: Music From The Motion Picture soundtrack on Columbia/Sony. A separate version incorporating clips from The Craft (1996) also circulated. The song is a cover of The Cars' original, recorded in Los Angeles with producer Ralph Sall, and notably features Greg Hawkes of The Cars on keyboards. The video was released to coincide with the soundtrack's April 1996 release.