One of the most vivid memories of videos on MTV from my childhood is the Genesis video for Land of Confusion. A Phil Collins led Genesis was one of the great political bands of the eighties and early nineties, and Land of Confusion is the greatest of all of their political songs.
The video, as you will see, starts with puppets of Ronald and Nancy Reagan going to bed. Ronnie begins to dream, first of marching boots, then of heads of famous people, including his own. Nancy opens the curtains and starts dancing with a monkey in front of a window. Outside, a bird suddenly blows up and turns into a cooked bird with a price tag. The dream then switches to Reagan pulling on a Superman suit. He goes outside and a dinosaur steps on his cape, and the two of them go to a movie theater and watch television, which Reagan channel surfs. At the end, a bunch of celebrity puppets - Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, and Dolly Parton among them - are singing, apparently in the spirit of We Are the World. It ends with Reagan hitting the nuke button instead of the nurse button, and the most poignant part of the whole video is when he makes a joke about it, like oops!
The President may have changed, but American political culture has not, unless you say it has gotten worse under the nasty, swinish behavior of Karl Rove. Bush certainly is a puppet in the sphere of neocons that has made a mess of the world. This song is still very relevant to today, given the same dinosaurs from the Cold War era are still running this country, television still dominates, and celebrity worship is a full time hobby for many. Truly one of the great videos - and great songs - of the eighties.
Cross posted at Rox Politix.
The video, as you will see, starts with puppets of Ronald and Nancy Reagan going to bed. Ronnie begins to dream, first of marching boots, then of heads of famous people, including his own. Nancy opens the curtains and starts dancing with a monkey in front of a window. Outside, a bird suddenly blows up and turns into a cooked bird with a price tag. The dream then switches to Reagan pulling on a Superman suit. He goes outside and a dinosaur steps on his cape, and the two of them go to a movie theater and watch television, which Reagan channel surfs. At the end, a bunch of celebrity puppets - Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, and Dolly Parton among them - are singing, apparently in the spirit of We Are the World. It ends with Reagan hitting the nuke button instead of the nurse button, and the most poignant part of the whole video is when he makes a joke about it, like oops!
The President may have changed, but American political culture has not, unless you say it has gotten worse under the nasty, swinish behavior of Karl Rove. Bush certainly is a puppet in the sphere of neocons that has made a mess of the world. This song is still very relevant to today, given the same dinosaurs from the Cold War era are still running this country, television still dominates, and celebrity worship is a full time hobby for many. Truly one of the great videos - and great songs - of the eighties.
Cross posted at Rox Politix.
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