The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

What this video is

Released at the cusp of the post-big beat transition, 'Star Guitar' arrived as The Chemical Brothers — and UK electronic music broadly — were moving away from the aggressive, sample-heavy sound of the late 1990s toward more melodic, house-influenced territory. The music video became as culturally significant as the track itself, widely cited in film schools and music video criticism as a canonical example of…

Why it matters

A landmark in electronic music video history, 'Star Guitar' formalises the idea that rhythm and visual editing are structurally interchangeable. By mapping every sonic element — beats, bass hits, melodic phrases — onto a corresponding visual object in a continuous landscape, Gondry created a video…

The director

Michel Gondry (b. 1964, Versailles, France) is a French filmmaker and music video director. His career began directing videos for French rock band Oui Oui, before Björk recruited him to direct 'Human Behaviour' (1993). He became one of the most celebrated…