Synopsis

The video turns "Volcano" into a surreal breaking-news broadcast about an impending apocalypse. Archival images of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption are mixed with mock television coverage, including Dan Rather seemingly singing along to Johnny Whitney's vocals. As ash clouds, falling figures, and disaster imagery fill the screen, the presentation grows increasingly absurd, balancing genuine catastrophe footage with deadpan comedy and a deliberately low-budget visual style.

Factoids & Trivia

• The concept was inspired partly by Ace Norton's childhood habit of watching the CBS Evening News with his family. He described the video as a farewell to Dan Rather and a news report about "the biggest news story of all time" - the apocalypse.

• The video's release in May 2010 coincided with extensive coverage of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in Iceland, making its volcano-centered premise unexpectedly topical.

• Much of the disaster imagery comes from footage of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption.

• The apparent lip-syncing by Dan Rather was created from archival television footage, matched to Johnny Whitney's vocal performance.

• The production was made on a shoestring budget and relied heavily on favors from friends and family.

• Chuck Church, Norton's neighbor, worked as a set production assistant and also appeared as the man in the Hawaiian shirt.

• Brad Golden, Norton's writing partner, played the character wearing oversized glasses.

• The singing mouths seen throughout the video are actually Norton's. He said he was the only person involved who knew the lyrics well enough to perform the lip-syncing.

• The video was presented as a deliberately strange meeting of disaster cinema, television news satire, and supernatural horror, with references described by Norton as combining the spirit of "Dante's Peak," "Anchorman," and "Poltergeist."