Radiohead's Music Videos

Radiohead are known for their strange and artistic videos which usually have Thom Yorke in them as the main person.

Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)



This song is from Raidohead's second album 'The Bends' which was released in 1995. The music video was directed by Jonathan Glazer and premiered in february 1996. The whole video is in black and white and involves a number of characters. Parts of the video are in slow motion where one character is slow and the other is at normal speed. This technique is interesting and quite unique as the audience is left intrigued and interested. Close up shots of Thom Yorke's face are used and they fade fade into one another (fade transitions) symbolising thoughts and dreams fading out. Overall, I really like this music video as it's unique and original and it also matches the mood and atmosphere of the music perfectly.

Radiohead - Pyramid Song



This song was their first single from their 2001 album 'Amnesiac'. The video was directed by a group of collective artists called Shynola. It features a combination of computer 3D and hand-drawn animation. The narrative is of someone who seems to be the last person in the world and has survived a flood. This was based on a dream that Thom Yorke had. The video has won several awards, including NME Carling's best video of the year. I really like this video as at first it seems strange and don't know what's happening but when he finds the city and the people dead, it's quite hard hitting.

Radiohead - Karma Police



This music video was directed by Jonathan Glazer, previously responsible for Radiohead's 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)'. The video premiered in August 1997 and featured Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke as well as Hungarian actor Lajos Kovács. Glazer won MTV's Director of the Year award in 1997 for his work on this. This video is very interesting as it puts the audience in the driver's perspective using point of view shots and it is filmed mostly through the windscreen. It shows a figure running in front of the car trying not to get run over, then the camera turns to the back seat of the car where Thom Yorke is sitting lip syncing the lyrics. It shows how people run away from things that they have done in the past and represents the idea of Karma. However, towards the end, the man collapses on the floor and the car reverses as if it is getting ready for a 'run up'. The man then realises that there is petrol leaking form the car and get out some matches. He manages to light a match and sets the car on fire as it frantically reverses. The camera suggests that the driver is trapped alone in the car.

Radiohead - Go To Sleep



This was directed by Alex Rutterford, the CGI-animated video shows a full-blossom red rose swaying in the wind, and proceeds to show Yorke sitting on a park bench singing the song while around him men and women in business suits walk by rapidly. In the middle of the video, the buildings, in classical architecture style, spontaneously crumble into pieces, while the people keep walking, unaware, and moments later they reassemble themselves, only to have become modern buildings such as offices. The shot returns to the rose shown in the beginning, which is now closed in a bud. In my opinion, this video symbolises how man-kind is changing a lot of the world without realising how drastic the change is. The rose closing at the end could mean that perhaps things used to be better in the past.



Radiohead - No Surprises



The music video for 'No Surprises' was directed by Grant Gee. The video consists solely of a single close-up shot of Thom Yorke's head inside an astronaut-style dome helmet. The lyrics are shown throughout the entire song slowly scrolling upwards but mirrored, as they are being reflected off of the dome. After the first verse, the helmet begins to fill with water. Yorke continues singing as he attempts to lift his head above the rising water. Once the bubble completely fills, Yorke is motionless for over a minute, after which the water is released and he resumes singing. For Yorke's safety, the video was filmed at high-speed and played back in slow-motion. These type of videos break typical conventions of music videos such as having a story-line.