Photographer Hollie Fernando on Radiohead’s Street Spirit

Pretty much all of Radiohead’s videos would be classed as my favourites, but Street Spirit sticks out for me the most. The song, being extremely dark and haunting on its own, is somehow pushed to another level when you have Jonathan Glazer’s imagery to watch alongside it. For me, the song and the imagery are on exactly the same wavelength and I have yet to see another music video that has this connection better.

I first watched the video after seeing Radiohead live at Reading Festival when I was about 15/16 and absolutely fell in love with them. I came home to learn everything about them and watching this video years after brought back the euphoria of being young, drunk and in a huge crowd watching a band you knew was going to be your new favourite.

However, not long after I read an interview with Thom Yorke where he explained the meaning behind the song and it completely changed my view on things saying: “Street Spirit has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a way of dealing with that song. It’s called detachment. Especially me; I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn’t play it…I can’t believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song. That’s why I’m convinced that they don’t know what it’s about. It’s why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you’re going to have your dog put down and it’s wagging its tail on the way there. That’s what they all look like, and it breaks my heart.”

When I first heard the song/saw the video, I was definitely one of those cheering smiling, tail wagging people Thom Yorke mentions but now when I watch it, it actually terrifies me a bit. It makes me feel nervous and alone. So if one music video can move me this much, it has to be down as my favourite!