The Get Up Kids - Action & Action

SEP 21 1999 · 12:00

The Get Up Kids - Action & Action (1999) Era: Second-Wave Emo / Late-90s Indie Underground (1999) - Peak era of Midwest emo's breakthrough into indie consciousness, concurrent with Vagrant Records' rise as a genre-defining label and the pre-mainstream emo moment before third-wave commercialization. This video holds exceptional curatorial value as a rare surviving visual document of The Get Up Kids performing at the precise historical moment their most acclaimed album was entering public consciousness. Its internet-first distribution via Insound in December 1999 makes it an early artifact of the shift from broadcast-dependent music video culture to online indie distribution, predating YouTube by six years. The rapid editing pace, naturalistic venue aesthetic, and warm low-budget visual grammar are defining hallmarks of the second-wave emo visual canon, making this an irreplaceable primary source for researchers studying the genre's visual culture. Context: Released in December 1999, the 'Action & Action' video arrived at a pivotal inflection point for emo music: Something to Write Home About had just been released on September 28, 1999 through Vagrant Records, and was beginning to demonstrate that pop-leaning emo could achieve genuine commercial traction outside the hardcore underground. The video's distribution via Insound, an early online music retailer, rather than through traditional broadcast TV channels reflects the genre's grassroots, internet-first community infrastructure, predating the mainstream emo explosion of the early 2000s by several years. The album and its singles would go on to establish Vagrant Records as a genre powerhouse, directly attracting acts like Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day, and Alkaline Trio to the label. 'Action & Action' itself was later cited on Vulture's best-of emo songs list, cementing its canonical status in the second-wave emo canon. Director notes: The music video for 'Action & Action' was released in December 1999 through music retailer Insound, making it one of the earlier examples of an official indie-label music video distributed via the internet rather than through traditional MTV/broadcast channels. This distribution method is consistent with Vagrant Records' independent, community-rooted approach during this period. No production company, director, or crew credits have been found in any verified source. The video's quantitative profile, 159 scene changes in 4:20 runtime, avg shot length of ~1.64 seconds, low-moderate brightness, vibrant but naturally warm saturation, is consistent with a performance-style shoot at a small club or rehearsal venue, typical of emo/indie label videos at the time. The Fader (2018) noted that the 'Better This Way' video (2018) contains an easter egg referencing visual elements from this specific video, suggesting it held iconic status within the band's visual identity.