British alternative rock band, Radiohead released a song in 1995 called "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" and the music video made its debut in February 1996. The music video was filmed over two nights in a desert near Los Angeles. The black-and-white music video was directed by Johnathan Glazer.
- Radiohead's "Street Spirit" is a heavily edited music video which is of typical Radiohead style.
- The video is in black-and-white possibly due to the song being about life and death, which is simplistic, as are the black-and-white visuals.
- The colour illustrates the sad lyrics.
- The sky can be seen lighting up with lightening. This image shows the turbulent nature of the song and illustrates the emotion which Yorke feels.
- At the beginning when Yorke is falling from the camper van, the video jump cuts to him laying on a car roof, this creates a disorientating effect.
- Near the beginning of the video Thom Yorke can be seen missing an arm and you cannot see his other hand. This is disjunctive of the lyrics, "I can feel their blue hands touching me", as it references colour and the video is without colour and the video references hands and you cannot see his hands in that shot.
- There are many close ups of the lead singer, Thom Yorke which helps create a star image through the prevalence of Yorke.
- The video is layered and textured when Yorke is on camera to give the video an unnerving feel.
- The music video features several ballet dancers wearing black. The dancers all leap at the same time, linking to a flock of birds taking off. The fact that the dancers and the birds are linked shows how Yorke is trying to express that everything in the end, eventually, ends the same.
- As the song continues in length, Yorke's lip syncing becomes out of time with the visuals. This is done deliberately and creates disjuncture which helps enhance the unnerving quality of the music video.
- The song is illustrative of its lyrics when the birds are referenced in the lyrics and feathers can be seen in the video. Yorke is also seen at the start laying spread-eagled on a car roof, his hands look to be touching the doors which makes him look like he has wings.
- The only other time where the music video is illustrative of its lyrics when the video fades to the lyrics of "And fade out again and fade out."
- In the music video there's a shot where a mosquito is bearing down upon Thom Yorke. First of all, this is a generally unnerving and uncomfortable experience. However, within 24 hours of a bite, a female mosquito will give birth to her brood and then die. So this could also possibly be an image reflecting upon self-sacrifice and willingness to make an ultimate sacrifice. The music video has themes which present to us the life cycle.
- Toward the end of the music video, the video features more cuts and at a faster rate. This shows intensity and exemplifies Yorke's emotions.
