Synopsis

Bush perform in a stark Los Angeles alley beside a towering white monolith, which becomes the gateway to a series of surreal, highly stylized spaces. Gavin Rossdale appears within a white void surrounded by a Japanese-inspired landscape, while scenes of blindfolded karate and martial arts create a dreamlike sense of conflict and isolation. The band eventually moves into the monolith, giving the video an enigmatic ending that mirrors the song's themes of emotional distance, miscommunication, and the forces separating people.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in Los Angeles over several studio dates in late August 1999 and was released in September of that year.

• Its central visual device is the large white monolith, which functions less like a literal object than a symbolic passage between the band's performance setting and the video's abstract imagery.

• Gavin Rossdale later described the production as the most extravagant video Bush had made up to that point, joking that he might eventually burn a pile of money instead.

• The martial arts material was incorporated into the video's surreal visual language, including Rossdale performing karate while blindfolded and bassist Dave Parsons appearing in similar action-oriented scenes.

• "The Chemicals Between Us" was the lead single from Bush's third album, "The Science of Things," a record that introduced more electronic and dance-influenced textures into the band's hard-rock sound.

• The song spent five non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and reached No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100.

• The single was issued with a CD-ROM version of the music video, reflecting the late-1990s transition toward including digital video content in physical releases.