Synopsis

A solitary newcomer enters a strange nightclub where Live perform in matching red shirts and tuxedos. The patrons appear united by an unsettling ritual: everyone drinks milk, while the newcomer sticks to black coffee and rejects repeated offers to join in. Tensions rise into a scuffle, and when he attempts to leave, the crowd overpowers him. In the disturbing finale, they force milk down his throat from a champagne bottle, turning the bar's apparently harmless custom into an act of coercion.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Freaks" was released in 1997 as the second single from Live's album "Secret Samadhi."

• British actor Peter Guinness plays the nightclub newcomer, making the video unusual among Live's clips for placing a professional actor at the center of its narrative.

• The video's recurring milk motif gives the otherwise formal club setting an eerie, surreal quality. The contrast between milk, black coffee, champagne service, and the patrons' behavior is central to its unsettling tone.

• The cover artwork for the single was taken from an image in the music video.

• Although "Freaks" was not released as a US single, it received MTV exposure and reached No. 5 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 13 on its Modern Rock Tracks chart.