SXSW Inspires REM's Hollow Man, Which in Turn Sparks Nasty '80s Flashback

When I was a kid, there was this place called Be a Star. Be a Star ironed your hair, gave you fingerless gloves, and propped you up in front of a camera to sulk or dance or whatever while some random '80s hit played overhead.

It would then create a music video, complete with body duplication effects, time freezes, superimposed lettering, and random pools of colour eating away at each other around your inert fishlike body.

That's what REM's video for Hollow Man reminds me of. Produced by Crush, Toronto, it also includes a digital avatar inspired by user input from its performance at SXSW. The band calls it the "symbolic heart" of the video.