Simple Minds - Glitterball

What this video is

Released in March 1998, Glitterball represents Simple Minds' attempt to reclaim critical relevance by embracing electronic pop influences — echoing Kraftwerk and Hansa-era Bowie — following their release from Virgin Records. The decision to film inside the newly opened Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (inaugurated October 1997) aligned the band with the global conversation around the 'Bilbao Effect': Frank Gehry's titanium…

Why it matters

Glitterball marks a significant genre pivot for Simple Minds — abandoning mid-80s anthemic stadium rock for a sleek electronic-art-pop sound. The video's architecture-as-protagonist approach anticipated the art-directed location videos of the early 2000s, and its status as the first film…

The director

Andy Earl (b. 1955, Sussex) is a British photographer and music video director who studied art at Trent Polytechnic and won a scholarship to study in Baltimore, where he was influenced by American colour photography. He represented Britain at the Venice…