Synopsis

Flat Eric goes about his strange office routine while "Flat Beat" pounds in the background. He makes phone calls, handles paperwork, listens to the track and repeatedly breaks into violent, floppy headbanging. The deadpan office setting contrasts with his exaggerated movements, turning the mute puppet into the video's main performer. Built around repetition rather than a conventional narrative, the clip treats Flat Eric as a bizarre little professional whose everyday business is inseparable from the beat.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video grew out of a Levi's Sta-Prest advertising campaign in which Flat Eric appeared alongside the track. The commercials became so popular that the song was released as a single, followed by a dedicated music video.

• Flat Eric was developed from Stephane, a puppet created for the video to Mr. Oizo's earlier track "M-Seq." Jim Henson's Creature Shop helped build the new character for the Levi's campaign.

• Quentin Dupieux said the original bass-and-drum loop took about two hours to make, with the rest of the track finished in roughly a day.

• The track's warped bassline was made with a Korg MS-20. Its compact, abrasive rhythm also uses a Roland TR-606 sound and a sample from the Fatback Band's "Put Your Love (In My Tender Care)."

• "Flat Beat" became an unlikely European chart success, reaching No. 1 in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, Finland and Flanders.

• The video was initially issued on VHS, an unusual format for a music video that helped preserve its eccentric, pre-digital character.

• Flat Eric became more famous than many conventional pop stars of the period, appearing in merchandise, later advertising campaigns and an episode of the BBC comedy series "The Office."