Synopsis

Set in a stark desert trailer park at night, the video presents Radiohead in a series of eerie, disconnected tableaux. Thom Yorke and the other band members appear to fall, stumble, or drift through the landscape in extreme slow motion, while shadowy figures and surreal fragments add to the sense of unease. The stark black-and-white imagery, empty surroundings, and dreamlike pacing mirror the song's themes of alienation, mortality, and emotional surrender.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed over two nights in a desert outside Los Angeles, with the trailer park constructed as an imaginary setting rather than a normal location.

• Its unusual slow-motion sequences were captured with a Photosonics high-speed camera, filming at roughly 300 to 500 frames per second. The camera was typically locked in place while footage recorded at different speeds was combined in post-production.

• The shoot initially produced plenty of striking material, including images of breaking glass and nuns jumping from trampolines, but not enough usable footage of Thom Yorke performing. Additional singing shots were filmed in Germany several weeks later.

• The band reportedly spent much of the nighttime shoot sleeping between takes, with the crew waking them when a new falling or collapsing action needed to be filmed.

• Yorke has linked the song's mood to R.E.M. and Ben Okri's novel "The Famished Road." The video's dream logic complements that source of inspiration without attempting to illustrate it literally.

• Released in January 1996, "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" reached No. 5 in the UK, making it Radiohead's highest-charting single there at that point.