
For 17 years now, director Spike Jonze has been to music videos what Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night, Help) was to '60s rock 'n' roll cinema: a pioneer.
Having co-directed (with Ty Evans) the acclaimed skateboarding film Fully Flaired which utilized the ethereal track Heaven by the British electronica duo UNKLE, Jonze recently re-edited footage from the movie to produce a stand-alone music video for the band's song.
The results are, quite simply, explosive.
'Switch-flips' and napalm
The Lakai skateboarding team's sills are considerable, but with Spike Jonze putting the boarders through their paces - bursting through walls, 'switch-flipping' down staircases that disintegrate from blasts of napalm - all without the benefit of CGI, their dangerous feats are both poetic and shocking.
Check out the clip below. A hypnotic song is given a visual treatment that will soon be considered a classic.
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Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar World, Guitar Player, MusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.

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