Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

What this video is

Released May 1995 as the lead UK single from The Bends, 'Fake Plastic Trees' arrived at a pivotal moment: Britpop was at peak cultural saturation (Blur vs. Oasis dominated headlines), yet Radiohead consciously resisted its laddish triumphalism in favour of emotional fragility and anti-consumerist critique. The supermarket setting—a space of mass production, artificiality, and numbing routine—literalized the song's…

Why it matters

A canonical artifact of mid-90s British alternative rock's emotional-vulnerability turn. Alongside peers such as Suede and Portishead, the video helped codify a post-grunge British visual language—fluorescent alienation, lo-fi intimacy, anti-spectacle performance—that directly influenced the…

The director

Jake Scott (born 1965, London) is a British film and music video director. Son of director Ridley Scott, he co-founded Black Dog Films and is a partner in Ridley Scott Associates (RSA). An Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated director, his music video work spans…