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Radiohead - Palo Alto

Music Video | 1999
ArtistRadiohead
SongPalo Alto
AlbumAirbag
AlbumHow Am I Driving?/ Meeting People Is Easy
DirectorGrant Gee
IntroNo
OutroNo
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown
Release date

Wiki

Synopsis

Radiohead are shown in a restless collage of life on the road during the OK Computer era. Concert performances, backstage moments, hurried travel, interviews, crowds, and fragments of the band's day-to-day routine pass by in quick, sometimes disorienting succession. Rather than presenting a conventional storyline, the video captures the fatigue, repetition, and emotional distance surrounding a major world tour. Its stark documentary-style images suit the song's uneasy portrait of modern life and impersonal technological culture.

Factoids & Trivia

  • The video was assembled from footage used in the documentary *Meeting People Is Easy*, which followed Radiohead during their world tour supporting *OK Computer*.
  • It premiered on MTV's *120 Minutes* on April 5, 1999, more than a year after the song first appeared as a B-side.
  • "Palo Alto" was released on the 1998 EP *Airbag/How Am I Driving?* and was also included as a B-side to "No Surprises."
  • The song was reportedly first titled "OK Computer." It was recorded with the album in mind but ultimately left off the final sequence.
  • The video runs for roughly four minutes and functions more like a concentrated excerpt from the tour documentary than a separately staged narrative.
  • The footage reinforces the song's association with alienation and automation by placing the band inside a cycle of airports, vehicles, venues, interviews, and anonymous public spaces.
  • "Palo Alto" later gained wider visibility through the band's online archival releases, helping turn an obscure B-side into a recognized part of the *OK Computer* era.

Lyrics

In a city of the future
It is difficult to concentrate
Meet the boss, meet the wife
Everybody's happy
Everyone is made for life

In a city of the future
It is difficult to find a space
I'm too busy to see you
You're too busy to wait

But I'm okay, how are you?
Thanks for asking, thanks for asking
...
© Radiohead - Palo Alto. This is an excerpt, provided as citation under fair-use.
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