Feeder - Buck Rogers

JAN 08 2001 · 12:00

Feeder - Buck Rogers (2001) Director: Markus Walter Era: Post-Grunge / Early-2000s British Alternative Rock (2001) - Peak era of UK guitar-band crossover into mainstream pop charts, contemporaneous with nu-metal dominance and a resurgence of melodic rock on daytime radio High. 'Buck Rogers' represents a pivotal cultural and commercial moment for Feeder and for UK alternative rock more broadly. The video's eccentric concept, performance inside a giant elephant prop combined with crowd-sourced fan footage, makes it a unique artefact of pre-social-media participatory media culture. Its rapid-cut editing, underground aesthetic, and warm practical lighting are textbook examples of early-2000s British rock promo style. As one of the most-aired UK rock videos of its decade, it holds strong educational, historical, and archival value. Context: Released on 8 January 2001, 'Buck Rogers' arrived at a fraught moment for British guitar music: nu-metal acts such as Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach dominated the rock landscape, while manufactured pop acts dominated UK chart peaks. Against this backdrop, Feeder's melodic, hook-driven single cut through daytime radio and entered the UK Singles Chart at number five, the band's first top-10 entry, dramatically expanding their audience beyond their cult following. The song was originally written by frontman Grant Nicholas for American band SR-71, but producer Gil Norton persuaded Feeder to retain it. Its platinum certification (600,000 UK units, awarded 2024) underscores its enduring cultural resonance. The video's fan-participation element was innovatively ahead of its time, anticipating participatory media culture years before YouTube normalised user-generated content in music promotion. Director notes: Directed 'Buck Rogers' for Feeder in 2001. The video was shot inside a large elephant prop named 'Daisy', situated in an underground car park, an idea the director reportedly conceived after watching the UK television programme 'You've Been Framed'. The production also incorporated footage from fan video auditions, with participants unaware their submissions would appear in the final cut. The result was a low-budget, high-concept promo that frontman Grant Nicholas described as either 'the best video we have ever made or the worst' upon first viewing. It subsequently became one of the most-aired UK rock videos of the early 2000s. IMVDb also credits Walter with directing HIM's 'Wicked Game' (1998) and Modern Talking's 'You Are Not Alone' (1999), indicating an active European music video career around this period.