Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter 1998

What this video is

Released in December 1998 against the backdrop of the Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon world tour, this video re-frames one of rock's most canonical and politically charged songs — originally written in 1969 amid Vietnam War anxiety and civil unrest — through an intimate, contemporaneous American social realism lens. Gondry's decision to excise the band entirely from the visual frame and construct an autonomous…

Why it matters

A landmark example of the late-1990s 'director's cinema' approach to music video, in which narrative autonomy is prioritized over artist exposure. Gondry's treatment of 'Gimme Shelter' — stripping performance entirely and constructing a realist social drama — anticipates the…

The director

French filmmaker born in Versailles, 1963. Began career as drummer and video director for French band Oui Oui in the late 1980s. Rose to international prominence directing videos for Björk beginning with 'Human Behaviour' (1993). Won the Academy Award for…