Donald Fagen Has A Wingding On The ‘New Frontier’
Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen had a pretty good 1982. His debut solo album, The Nightfly, charted decently enough around the world, but received seven Grammy nominations. In the years since, it has become a calling card for Fagen and the crystal clear, smooth tones of his particular brand of Pop-Jazz.
This unique tone is evident in the album’s big music video for the single ‘New Frontier.’
Directed by Rocky Morton, the inventive video plays off the slick pop songcraft and ironic storytelling that had been Steely Dan’s calling card, but was now being reconfigured into a more direct and pointed critique of Fagen’s 1950s nostalgia.
A young couple, dressed in school dance attire, sneak off to the young man’s home. Instead of going inside, they open up a nuclear dugout shelter and head on down.
The bulk of the action involves these two lovesick teens dancing around their own “will they/won’t they” tension as they rummage through Jazz LPs, drink champagne, and attempt to slow dance. All the while, their journey into their personal new frontier is juxtaposed over the more macro reality of America being in the midst of a Cold War. Both in the 50s & then-contemporary 80s.
Neat touches like the digitized map of suburban houses near the start of the video, as well as a short animation of a giant red finger pushing the nuclear button help to undercut this otherwise romantic vignette with a biting sense of dread.
Fans still argue to this day about the level of sincerity Fagen was writing with. That he seemed to be writing from a genuinely optimistic place. This may be true. But it’s hard to take anything he’s presenting as pure saccharine, even in 1982, due to his own fixations.
What does it say about a man who sees fallout shelters as romantic enclaves? Who would use the threat of a nuclear winter and doomsday preparation as their leadoff for a teenage love motif?
Donald Fagen, that’s who.
The fact that people are still reading into his work all these years later speaks to the idea that his instincts have not betrayed him. ‘New Frontier’ shows this to be true by treating its character moments with sincerity and playing them straight. It’s everything around these two teens that hints at something being askew.
Even the final scene provides a sharp fakeout. The teenage boy climbs out of the shelter, only to come face to face with someone in a hazmat suit. Except, surprise! The helmet is removed and it’s revealed that it was just the teenage woman playing around. Oh, those crazy kids!
‘New Frontier’ is an inventive little video that does a great job of playing off past and then-current Cold War paranoia. Whether the intent was supposed to contain more optimism than irony is up for debate. But what’s not up for debate is the detail and care taken to work those ideas into a music video that still impresses all these years later.
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