Why Alton Brown Credits A Music Video For Making Him A TV Star

Whether you know him as the zany, energetic host of "Good Eats" or as the diabolical mastermind of "Cutthroat Kitchen," chances are you know Alton Brown. "Good Eats" remains one of the most well-loved and longest-running shows in Food Network history, along with Rachael Ray's "30 Minute Meals" and noted butter enthusiast Ina Garten's "The Barefoot Contessa." Brown was instrumental in making food science mainstream and accessible. He didn't just show viewers how to cook delicious food he explained exactly what chemical processes made it delicious, from browning your meat to brining your holiday turkey. It's possible we wouldn't have J. Kenji López-Alt or Andrew "Babish" Rea without the influence of Alton Brown — but if we really wanted to go back to the source, we'd have to thank R.E.M.

That's right: Before he was a television personality, Brown worked behind the camera as a director of photography, also known as a cinematographer. His work on the music video for R.E.M. hit "The One I Love" set into motion events that would one day lead to him making a guy cook gnocchi with a potato masher duct taped to his hand.

Nirvana gets all the credit for kicking off the alternative rock boom of the early '90s, but R.E.M. managed to break out from the underground almost five years earlier. In the early '80s, R.E.M. made a name for themselves on college radio by making enigmatic pop-rock: always pleasant and frequently beautiful, but with a curious remoteness that inspired a certain cult fascination, especially around their home base of Athens, Georgia. Starting with the kudzu-wreathed strangeness of their 1983 debut album "Murmur" (which remains their best album, argue with the wall), R.E.M. gained a steady following, eventually crossing over into the mainstream with their song "The One I Love" in 1987. (You know, the one that sometimes gets played at weddings even though the verse describes the titular loved one as "a simple prop to occupy my time.")

As it happened, Alton Brown had just taken up a position at a production company as a director of photography, and he was attached to film the video for "The One I Love" with director Robert Longo. From there, doors opened: He filmed more videos and more commercials, eventually moving to Chicago before getting the idea to make his own cooking show. He enrolled at the New England Culinary Institute, an experience he likened to medical school, before starting "Good Eats" — and the rest, as they say, is history.