# What was this animated music video from the 90s (Radiohead?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045 "2006-09-25T08:38:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045/1 "2006-09-25T08:38:41Z")
When I was a kid (11 or 12) I saw a video on MTV that I just now remembered. It was animated, and the song was a rock instrumental with no words. The animation featured a guy driving a car, near a river, and if I recall correctly there was a mermaid in the river. I forget what actually happens, but the guy ends up at the bottom of the river, and the video ends with an image of a naked woman sitting in a tree. I think the guy might also have something bad happen to his legs - I want to say they get ripped off by a shark, but I may be making that up. I think it may have been for a Radiohead song. I definitely remember that it was an animation and that the song was a minor, distortion-heavy instrumental with no words. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045/2 "2006-09-25T08:48:52Z")
You’re right that it was Radiohead: [_Paranoid Android_](http://www.muchmusic.com/insidemuch/stuff/videoyearbook_radiohead_02.asp). IIRC, Thom Yorke saw the animation and liked it, then realised it was the same length as the song, so paid to use it for the video. It therefore has no relation at all to the song - which does have [lyrics](http://www.purelyrics.com/index.php?lyrics=pdzpgvti). ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045/3 "2006-09-25T08:51:39Z")
Weird. Why did I think that it had no lyrics? Is there some chance that I saw a version of it without lyrics? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045/4 "2006-09-25T08:56:47Z")
Well the lyrics are quite laconic, and there is a very long instrumental break in the middle which might have confused you. I don’t _think_ they made an instrumental version, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045/5 "2006-09-25T08:59:28Z")
God, that is a ridiculous video! It fits perfectly with the music. Is there some way of watching the original cartoon with the dialog? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045/6 "2006-09-25T09:02:16Z")
Wikipedia says that the video was specifically commissioned by Radiohead. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045/7 "2006-09-25T09:03:37Z")
OK, seems I was totally wrong about the video: [it was commissioned](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_Android#Promotional_video) according to Wikipedia. So there you go. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-animated-music-video-from-the-90s-radiohead/374045/8 "2006-09-25T10:18:44Z")
The cartoon show that features the characters seen in the video is called [Robin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_%28cartoon%29). It is one of the reasons that I cannot yet give up on the VHS: a VHS compilation was released in 1997, and it features all Robin sequences produced. It’s lost on the English speaking crowd, but the animation was and is genius.