It’s been said that music videos are a forgotten art form. To some they are merely a visual representation of the music industry’s bygone days when the business model was as simple as producing a record, filming videos and touring, not setting up Twitter accounts, viral marketing campaigns and leaking music weeks before an album’s release in hopes of moving a few precious physical units.
Well, don’t tell that to Radiohead because the U.K. five-piece is still delivering the goods when it comes to making videos. Case and point the wacky dance clip for “Lotus Flower” released last week. Anyone who has seen Radiohead live knows Thom Yorke is a bit of a spastic dancer (I once wrote in a review “(Yorke’s) erratic and robotic movements consisted mostly of bouncing up and down like a human jumping bean while flailing his arms as if he were a young bird attempting to fly.”) so it’s natural that the band finally showcases Yorke’s moves in a video.
As of last night the “Lotus Flower” video has received more than 3.3 million views on YouTube and almost instantly upon its release it was transformed into a meme where Yorke dances to Beyonce, Maroon 5 and songs by other pop acts that are very un-Radiohead. No one from the Radiohead camp has flat out said whether the video was made in order to be created into a meme, but one has to wonder whether that is the case considering Yorke’s erratic movements match up to a variety of music. Regardless of whether it was intentional it definitely is a stroke of viral marketing genius that will likely sell quite a few copies of The King of Limbs.
Hopefully the brilliance that is the “Lotus Flower” clip will lead to more videos from Radiohead and possibly usher in a new era of greatness for music videos. Well, okay so maybe it’s asking for too much out of Radiohead to expect them to bring the music video back to its former glory, but a guy can dream can’t he?
In celebration of Radiohead Day here’s a look at 10 of Radiohead’s best clips.
10. Lotus Flower (see above)
9. House of Cards
Computerized Thom Yorke is some pretty cool stuff.
8. Karma Police
As Beavis would say “Fire. Fire. Fire.”
7. Creep
MTV meet Radiohead. Radiohead meet MTV.
6. No Surprises
There’s probably some sort of metaphor about living life in a fishbowl hidden somewhere in this clip but I just can’t seem to find it.
5. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
A great clip for a beautiful song
4. High and Dry
One word: BOOM!
3. Knives Out
Michel Gondry gives this song a typical Michel Gondry treatment.
2. Paranoid Android
A crudely animated Radiohead video? Yes please.
Radiohead – Paranoid Android from João Barreiros on Vimeo.
1. Just
What the hell does he say at the end of the video?
Radiohead – Just from Viinyscrib on Vimeo.
