New Radiohead Video - "All I Need"
The first night the entire internet took a group listen to In Rainbows, "All I Need" pulled ahead as an early favorite for its Boards Of Canada-inspired "Roy G. Biv"ing and its apparently lovelorn lyrics: "i am a moth / who just wants to share your light / i'm just an insect / trying to get out of the night." That's romance and desperation Thom Yorke style, or at least so it seemed in context of the most human Radiohead album yet, and when backed by that babymaking drum/keyboard vamp.
Turns out "All I Need" may be speaking to a lot more than babymaking, though, at least in Radiohead's eyes, and now also in ours.
This comes via Hollywood Reporter:
Under the music broadcaster's EXIT (end exploitation and trafficking) campaign, MTV and Radiohead have jointly produced a video for the "In Rainbows" track "All I Need"...Yorke said the band linked with MTV to highlight such issues as child slavery, enforced servitude and sex trafficking because it was "about exploiting a situation while you have the chance."
"All power to MTV for taking this on because its obviously going to be difficult for them in terms of the advertisers," he said. "With the ('All I Need') video, their lawyers had to beg to make sure there wasn't a single white trainer with a logo on it because the implication would be a little too close. But the implication is still there."
It's a day in the life, in two very different hemispheres, for two children playing very different hands -- and its deeply inspiring.
That extended look at the sneakers at the end there, with Phil's crash cymbal ringing out, is one of the more emotionally charged moments in a music video that we can remember. And really, "All I Need" works well accompanying any footage with gravitas. See also: this fan vid pairing the song with footage from 1996 French film Microcosmos, which will make you sign up for Greenpeace immediately after you the official one above has made you a large scale donor to UNICEF.
Also worth mentioning: don't expect the In Rainbows follow-up to be UP TO YOU NO REALLY IT'S UP TO YOU. And we quote:
"I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation," Yorke said of the band's downloading policy for the album "In Rainbows.""It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do," he said. "I don't think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time."
You know what was the most exciting part about this whole bit? Typing the words In, Rainbows, and follow-up.
Posted at 10:11 AM in Video
Tags: Radiohead
'You know what was the most exciting part about this whole bit? Typing the words In, Rainbows, and follow-up." WORD!
Posted by: Del Griffith at April 30, 2008 11:19 AM | ReplyScore = 0
This website costs more than you realise.
Posted by: yomomma at April 30, 2008 12:33 PM | ReplyScore = 1
I guess we should all be paying $800 for artisan made shoes.
Damn us.
Posted by: yermommy at April 30, 2008 12:36 PM | ReplyScore = -2
my shoes were made in a no-sweat, fair trade shop in Indonesia, they cost $40, yes, I have a sense of humor, no I don't think you're funny
Posted by: jdub at April 30, 2008 2:24 PM | ReplyScore = 1
The best video i've ever seen on the lack of quality in shoes these days.
Posted by: g'd up from the feet up at April 30, 2008 3:30 PM | ReplyScore = 2
kudos to Radiohead for pointing out why China is on its way to surpassing America as an economic superpower - their children don't sit on their asses all day, they produce dammit!
Posted by: W at April 30, 2008 4:22 PM | ReplyScore = 1
....as Sting put it so well, all those years ago, "I hope the Chinese love their children too"
Posted by: StewartC at April 30, 2008 4:24 PM | ReplyScore = 0
They're turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers. But what's the real cost because the sneakers don't seem that much cheaper? Why are we still paying so much for sneakers when we have them being made by little slave kids? What are your overheads?
Posted by: banana stand at April 30, 2008 11:16 PM | ReplyScore = 1
Flight of the Concords does make a point.
Posted by: Calliwell at May 1, 2008 11:37 AM | ReplyScore = 0
The question we should be asking is, do these children have a choice? I'm not saying the companies are making their lives better, but what are their other options? It's good to be aware of what's going on, but another to blindly seek to blame without understanding the big picture though word up to Radiohead regardless.
Posted by: Jules at May 1, 2008 12:00 PM | ReplyScore = 0
I don't know what effect this video may have on human trafficing and such. I guess it's better that one knows it's going on, so someone more passionate about this than me can make a difference; and if it takes Radiohead to do it, then that's just fine.
Posted by: Alex at May 9, 2008 5:50 PM | ReplyScore = 0
Hurray for Globalization and Free Trade!!!!
Posted by: Mark at May 21, 2008 2:07 PM | ReplyScore = 0