"You don't want to know, please believe me."
If the guitar crunch and self-loathing of "Creep" broke Radiohead in America, then the soaring and lash-out loud anthem "Just" was a big driver in in blasting away at the now ludicrous charge that they were just a one hit wonder.
"Just" also finds the band and director Jamie Thraves pushing the traditional rock video structure — band performance mixed with storyline — to dizzying heights, both structurally and metaphorically. The band is up high in a loft, the video's protaganist is in the fetal position on the ground below. Subtitles fill in the story with passersby asking the obvious whats and whys as the song crescendos and the big reveal is... Well, take a look:
Does it matter what it is? Study things all you want, but sometimes there are no answers. And even if there is one here, you're not gonna get it from the band:
"We all decided that we would never tell anybody about the 'meaning' of the end of the clip" — Thom Yorke
Maybe you're ok not knowing. Or maybe it crushes you even more. As the song says, "You do it to yourself."
Either way, it's a classic music video cliffhanger and the point at which Radiohead jumped off the ledge and began an insanely great and creative run.
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