The The - Gravitate to Me

What this video is

Released in mid-1989, 'Gravitate to Me' emerged from The The's Mind Bomb album — a record widely understood as a response to the political and spiritual anxieties of the late Thatcher era and Cold War endgame. Mind Bomb debuted at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and was praised for its ambitious thematic scope addressing politics, religion, and personal mortality. The single's music video, directed by Tim Pope —…

Why it matters

This video is a key artefact of the late-80s UK alternative rock video canon. Tim Pope's direction situates it within a lineage of theatrically lit, performer-centred promos that prioritised atmosphere over spectacle — distinct from the synth-pop video grammar of the earlier decade. The song…

The director

Timothy Michael Pope (born 12 February 1956, Hackney, London) is an award-winning British film and music video director. He studied at Ravensbourne College of Art and became one of the defining video directors of the 1980s MTV era, working with Talk Talk,…