The music video for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was directed by Walter A. Stern and was released on June 11, 1997. Regarding Walter Stern:
'[...] One of his favourite jobs was doing the video of The Verve's 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' – although his original version, in which Richard Ashcroft gets beaten up, was rather different from the final cut which was shown on TV. The tale of how the vid for 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' developed is a good example of the way things work.
Walter initially wrote a treatment that was too expensive, so the record company told him to drop the idea and come back with another one. He then remembered a short film he'd wanted to make at college about a man tring to walk down the street in a straight line. 'Luckily, it fitted in with the band,' he sayd. 'Richard Ashcroft said that he didn't want to do any acting and wanted to keep the filming very low-key and private – just him, me and the cameraman – so he wouldn't be embarrassed. He agreed to my idea, then, the next thing he knew, he was surrounded by loads and loads of people – the exact opposite of what he'd wanted.'
- 1998. How To Make It In The Music Business. 4th ed. London, p.230.
