Synopsis

A troubled adolescent drifts through a hostile small-town environment, smashing an antique-store window before being chased away by adults, strangers, older youths, and a barking dog. He escapes into the woods and discovers a small wooden structure that opens into a large, empty room. There, he arranges found objects such as keys, glass fragments, and a feather on a shelf, then retreats into the room. Intercut with the story, Days of the New perform among similarly curious objects in a rustic setting.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in 1998 as the third and final single from Days of the New's self-titled debut album.

• Its rural locations, muted colors, wooden structures, and handmade props echo the visual style of the album's artwork.

• The shelf is stocked with deliberately eccentric objects, including old photographs, a gold Buddha figure, billiard balls, an insect anatomy chart, and a porcelain doll arm making a hand gesture.

• Travis Meeks uses a telephone-like device during the chorus to create the song's distorted vocal effect.

• Meeks scripted the video, making it one of the early visual extensions of the isolated, inward-looking persona associated with the band's debut era.

• "Shelf in the Room" reached No. 3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 22 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1998.

• The video was later included on the band's 1998 VHS release, "Days of the New: Live," alongside concert footage and the video for "Touch, Peel and Stand."