“Land of Confusion” is a rock song written by the band Genesis for their 1986 album Invisible Touch. The song was the third track on the album and was the fourth track from the album to become a single, which reached #4 in the US and #14 in the UK in 1987. It made #8 in the Netherlands. The music was written by the band, while the lyrics were written by guitarist Mike Rutherford. The lyrics, further emphasized by the music video (see below), discuss the greed and uncertainty of the Cold War-era 1980s, but evoke a sense of hope for the future. The song is remembered by many Genesis fans because of its video, which featured puppets from the 1980s UK sketch show Spitting Image.
The song is widely remembered for its music video, which had heavy airplay on MTV. The video drew controversy for its portrayal of Ronald Reagan as being physically and cognitively inept. The video features puppets by the British television show Spitting Image. After Phil Collins saw a disfigured version of himself on the show, he commissioned the shows creators, Peter Fluck and Roger Law, to create puppets of the entire band, as well as all the characters in the video.
The video opens with a caricatured Ronald Reagan (voiced by Chris Barrie), Nancy Reagan, and a chimpanzee (parodying Reagan’s film Bedtime for Bonzo), going to bed at 16:30 (4:30 pm). Reagan, holding a teddy bear, goes to sleep and begins to have a nightmare, which sets the premise for the entire video. The video intermittently features a line of stomping feet, illustrating an army marching through a swamp, and they pick up heads of Cold War-era political figures in the swamp along the way (an allusion to Motel Hell).
Caricatured versions of the band members are shown playing instruments on stage during a concert: Tony Banks on an array of synthesizers (as well as a cash register), Mike Rutherford on a four-necked guitar (parodying Rutherford’s dual role as the band’s guitar and bass-player), and two Phil Collins puppets: one on the drums, and one singing.
During the second verse, the video features various world leaders giving speeches on large video screens in front of mass crowds; the video shows Mussolini, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Mikhail Gorbachev and his aides (appearing like Frank Sinatra’s ‘rat pack’), and Muammar al-Gaddafi. Meanwhile, Reagan is shown putting on a Superman suit, fumbling along the way, while Collins sings,
Oh Superman where are you now
When everything’s gone wrong somehow
The men of steel, the men of power
Are losing control by the hour.
Meanwhile, the “real world” Reagan is shown drowning in his own sweat (at one point, a rubber duck floats by).
During the bridge, the Superman-costumed Reagan and a Monoclonius-type dinosaur (with punk jewelry) watch a television showing various clips (apparently from the Spitting Image show itself), including Johnny Carson, Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock, and Bob Hope. This seques into a sequence apparently set in prehistoric times, where the Monoclonius-type and a Theropod-type dinosaur (wearing a bow-tie) meet up with Ron and Nancy Reagan and a rather outlandish mammal eats an egg and reads a newspaper. At the end of this part, the ape from the prologue is shown throwing a bone in the air (an allusion to 2001: A Space Odyssey).
As the bone begins to fall there is a sudden switch to Collin catching a falling phone which he uses to inform the person on the other end that he “won’t be coming home tonight, my generation will put it right” (which is when a caricature of a 1980s Pete Townshend is seen playing a chord on guitar and giving thumbs up for putative mentioning of his own song, My generation) and on the “we’re not just making promises” verse the bone lands (on top of David Bowie and Bob Dylan). Reagan is then shown riding the Monoclonius through the streets while wearing a cowboy hat and wardrobe (a reference to Reagan’s down-home public persona and ranch). As the video nears its climax, there are periodic scenes of a large group of spoofed celebrity puppets, including Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Hulk Hogan singing along to the chorus of the song, in a spoof of the charity driven song “We Are the World”.[info courtesy: wikipedia.org]
Duration : 0:5:24
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Yep, and obama is …
Yep, and obama is bush to the 4th power, and we are only 8 months in. it’s going to get VERY scary. Obama…..how to sink the titanic.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
No one gives a …
No one gives a who you think is up, save that bullshit for some other place, just enjoy the song or off. I don’t care how political the song is either, this isn’t politics, it’s youtube.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I agree obama is …
I agree obama is up.. lolol
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
bush sucked …
bush sucked dude.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
when are you …
when are you brain-washed fools gonna stop blaming Bush? Go check out the Community Reinvestment Act. Bill CLINTON was the one that started it for minority vote-getting. Bush continued it and yes, he and his fellow Repubs paid the price by getting voted out. But you have Barney Frank who was part of it STILL denying it and trying to restart it. Maybe U should READ more instead of blindly listening 2 Olbermann, CNN, + Jon Stewart for your news. Maybe U can actually have evidence next time.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I think everyone …
I think everyone already had a right 2 buy their OWN home. What the Community Reinvestment Act did was lower loan standards so ppl that couldn’t afford them got them 4 less than they were supposed to. NOW, w/Obama + Bush backing up those failures w/TARP + the mortgage bailouts, the rest of us taxpayers R paying 4 those homes. NO, I don’t believe in that but I suppose U think every1 has a right 2 “freebies?” Obama spent trillions in MONTHS, way more than YEARS of the wars U mention. Wake up.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
instead of …
instead of insulting why don’t you give me names of POLICIES that Bush enacted that “f’d up the whole country,” then genius? we’re 8 months in, when exactly does it become Obama’s presidency? only when things approve I assume?
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
you mustve been …
you mustve been aslepp like rip van winkle when bush was up this whole country. you though all the bad things were just gonna cease to exist when obama took office? get real
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
so you dont think …
so you dont think everyone has a right to a home moron? we’re in deep beacuse bush spent all our fuking money on wars and borrowed excessively from china. you do remeember right?
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
yeah bush up
yeah bush up
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
thats right dweeb, …
thats right dweeb, keep blaming the government. it never the poeples fault. the people vote, the people spend unecessarily, the people got listen to hoawrd ster while he makes 500 mill.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
yes disturbed is …
yes disturbed is better but gensis is older rock but still good
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
NO THEY ARE NOT …
NO THEY ARE NOT GENESIS KICKS ASS!!
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
disturbed is better …
disturbed is better…
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
3:46. Is that Pete …
3:46. Is that Pete Townsend?
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I’ve always liked …
I’ve always liked this video.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
i like this one way …
i like this one way better than the one from disturbed
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Distrurbed, are you …
Distrurbed, are you serious?
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
great music video …
great music video and great music!
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
by far, the best …
by far, the best music video of all time. this is from the creators of spitting images.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I sing this song in …
I sing this song in my head all day and it keeps me sane
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I LOVE THIS MUSIC …
I LOVE THIS MUSIC VIDEO!
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Carter was …
Carter was subjected to the first oil embargos because of the cartels, causing an unstable economy and critizism over what wasn’t his fault.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Pink Floyd were …
Pink Floyd were perhaps the most politically active band in rock and roll history. Roger Waters was a socialist to boot. Don’t forget about them.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
socialism and …
socialism and totalrianism= two completely different things.