Synopsis

The video places the Manic Street Preachers inside an unnervingly pristine futuristic home, where a seemingly content nuclear family sits in a sterile living room and garden. Their eyes, ears, and mouths are covered with flesh-colored patches, suggesting a society insulated from violence and uncomfortable truths. As the band perform nearby, the artificial calm begins to fracture, with blood entering the family's immaculate world. James Dean Bradfield is eventually subjected to the same treatment, linking the performers to the censored family.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in London in 1998, shortly before the single's release on August 24, 1998.

• A music-box version of "The Internationale" plays at the beginning and end. The socialist anthem was strongly associated with the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, the historical subject behind the song.

• The sealed eyes, ears, and mouth of the family turn the song's warning about political indifference into a visual metaphor for choosing not to see, hear, or speak about injustice.

• Nicky Wire described the finished video as surreal and mildly disturbing, emphasizing its bright, clean appearance and its suffocating atmosphere.

• The blood running through a Hot Wheels track was an idea that initially seemed difficult to visualize but became one of the video's most memorable images.

• The video won Best Music Video at the 1999 NME Awards.