Vicarious Music Video
A seven-minute journey through transparent skin and infinite heads.
Vicarious serves as the lead single from Tool's fourth studio album, 10,000 Days. Debuting on Maynard James Keenan's 42nd birthday, April 18, 2006, the seven-minute track reached number two on both the Billboard Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. The song received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. In June 2008, Rolling Stone ranked it number 100 on their list of top 100 guitar songs of all time.
- Album
- 10,000 Days
- Release Year
- 2006
- Visual Artist
- Alex Grey
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
The music video is completely made through the use of CGI, marking Tool's second full CGI effort compared to their past stop-motion animation. Co-directed by guitarist Adam Jones and artist Alex Grey with creative input from Chet Zar, the visual narrative begins in a dry desert devoid of vegetation. A humanoid with visible internal organs and bones stands observing a ball-like object with tentacles scraping the floor under an eclipsing sun. Two glass-like walls appear, reflecting the figure as an insect-like creature walks upon him and the walls.
In Their Own Story
The plot thickens as two fish-like creatures emerge from the main humanoid's eyes; one enters the eclipse while the other enters an eye on a hand. An insect releases a similar tentacled ball from its own back before the main figure collapses, revealing a fetus gestating in his head. The setting shifts to a dimension of infinite interconnected heads with burning spheres underneath, resembling Alex Grey's 'Net of Being.' A new humanoid with fish creatures from his eyes and a ghostly tail enters a sphere, releasing a fiery arm that connects to the original desert scene. Glass walls shatter, particles spray, and the main figure transcends in flashes of light, ending with a single eye appearing in clouds on an Earth-like planet.
Reader's Guide
Fans can explore the extended version of this much-delayed video on the DVD released December 18, 2007. This release includes short documentaries on the making of the video and Jones's previous film work, plus commentaries from comedian David Cross. The Tool venue in Guitar Hero World Tour incorporates elements from the scene featuring multiple god heads and energy spheres. For those interested in the specific CGI techniques or Alex Grey's artistic influence on the visual style, the DVD provides direct insight into the collaboration between the band and the artist.
Did You Know?
- The song debuted on commercial radio on April 18, 2006, which is Maynard James Keenan's 42nd birthday.
- The video was co-directed by guitarist Adam Jones and artist Alex Grey with input from Chet Zar.
- Rolling Stone magazine ranked Vicarious number 100 on their list of top 100 guitar songs in the June 12, 2008 issue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created the visual art for the Vicarious music video?
Alex Grey, the visionary painter renowned for his sacred and body art, served as the visual artist for the video. His intricate, spiritually charged style gives the clip its distinctive look.
What is the central visual concept of the Vicarious video?
The video unfolds as a seven-minute journey through imagery of transparent skin and an endless multiplication of heads, all rendered in Alex Grey's signature sacred-art aesthetic. It visually evokes the idea of peering past surface layers into deeper, shared consciousness.
When was the Vicarious music video released?
It debuted on April 17, 2006, timed to coincide with Maynard James Keenan's 42nd birthday and the song's arrival as the lead single from 10,000 Days.
How does the Vicarious video look compared to other Tool music videos?
While much of Tool's earlier video work leans on darker, abstract, or found-footage aesthetics, the Vicarious clip is built around Alex Grey's luminous, highly detailed sacred paintings. The transparent-skin and infinite-head imagery gives it a distinctly devotional, almost illuminated-manuscript quality.
What does the 'infinite heads' imagery in the video symbolize?
The endless proliferation of heads in Grey's artwork suggests the multiplicity of perspectives one can inhabit, mirroring the song's theme of vicarious experience—living through another's point of view. It visually reinforces the idea of transcending a single, isolated viewpoint.
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