Oleander - Boys Don't Cry

2000

Oleander - Boys Don't Cry (2000) Director: Michael Alperowitz Era: Post-Grunge / Late Alternative Boom (2000) - UK single release tied to the tail end of the February Son campaign; MTV2-era cover culture at peak saturation Moderate-high. Represents a concrete artifact of post-grunge cover culture at the genre's commercial apex, with a documented UK single release and gold-certified parent album. The director attribution (Alperowitz) connects this clip to a small but identifiable body of late-90s/early-2000s alternative and rock video work. Valuable for cross-referencing with the original Cure video and for studying how American post-grunge acts packaged themselves for British audiences. Context: Oleander's cover of The Cure's 1979 post-punk classic 'Boys Don't Cry' appeared on their 1999 Universal Records major-label debut February Son, which was certified gold by May 2000. The cover was released as a UK single in summer 2000, representing the band's bid for international crossover at a moment when post-grunge acts routinely leveraged new wave and alternative classics to signal taste-credibility. The choice of a Cure song also aligned with the late-90s cultural rehabilitation of Robert Smith's catalog, boosted by the 1999 Hilary Swank film of the same name. This video sits at the intersection of Sacramento regional rock breaking nationally via Universal's promotional machinery and the UK alternative market's appetite for American post-grunge. Director notes: The Music Video Fandom Wiki credits Michael Alperowitz as director of Oleander's 'Boys Don't Cry' with a listed release year of 2000, consistent with its documented release as a UK single in summer 2000 to support the February Son album campaign. IMVDb lists the video as released 1999/AlternativePop but carries no credited director. No additional production details (production company, shoot location, budget tier) have been independently confirmed for this specific video.