Radiohead, Commericals, and the NBA

Radiohead donated one of their tracks, “Videotape”, for use in a commercial by Leo Burnett designed to raise awareness of the fragile UK housing situation. Samantha Morton, who was homeless for a time before becoming famous, does the voiceover (also donated).

According to Luerzer, this is the first-ever commercial Radiohead has allowed their music to be used for, but a quick search turned up this Steve Nash/Jason Kidd commercial for the NBA (there are a bunch of those There Can Only Be One spots; I like the Shaq/Kobe one). Maybe this is the first one they’ve donated rather than sold. Doesn’t matter, great commercial.