Jimmie's Chicken Shack ＂High＂ Official video circa 1997 - Jimmie's Chicken Shack ＂High＂ Official video circa 1997

JUL 01 1997 · 12:00

Jimmie's Chicken Shack ＂High＂ Official video circa 1997 - Jimmie's Chicken Shack ＂High＂ Official video circa 1997 (1997) Director: Peri Lawnes Era: Post-Grunge / Alt-Rock Boom (1997) - Major-label debut era for Annapolis, MD funk-metal hybrids riding Rocket Records' MTV pipeline into the tail end of alternative's commercial peak A well-preserved official promo document of a critically underrated but culturally significant 1997 release. The video's fast-cut realist aesthetic, warm palette, and performance-forward structure typify the mid-budget MTV alternative promo of its era. As a 120 Minutes-rotation artifact from the final years of MTV's alternative programming dominance, it holds archival value for scholars of 1990s music television, East Coast underground rock, and the funk-metal genre's commercial moment. Context: Released in 1997 as the lead single from Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope, 'High' represented Jimmie's Chicken Shack's entry into major-label alternative rock via Elton John's Rocket Records, a subsidiary of PolyGram/A&M. The band emerged from the Annapolis/Baltimore club circuit, blending funk-metal, reggae, ska, and grunge into a hybrid sound that critics compared to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bad Brains, Living Colour, and Soundgarden. Placement on MTV's 120 Minutes, the network's flagship late-night alternative block, positioned the video within the final commercial wave of the alt-rock boom. The song's lyrical ambiguity around drug use added a degree of cultural tension reflective of mid-90s youth culture debates. The video's warm, kinetic aesthetic mirrors the lived-in energy of the East Coast bar and festival circuit from which the band came. Director notes: The video for 'High' was shot in support of the band's 1997 Rocket Records major-label debut, Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope, recorded at OZ Studios in Baltimore. The single reached #10 on the Active Rock chart in Billboard Magazine. The video received airplay on MTV's 120 Minutes, the network's dedicated late-night alternative programming block, which ran from 1986 to 2000. Director credit for Peri Lawnes appears on the Music Video Wiki (Fandom) but is not corroborated by a second independent primary source; confidence is therefore marked 'likely' rather than 'confirmed.'