Land of Confusion

In the late 1960's, four men came together to form the legendary rock band known as Genesis. Reaching the very heights of fame and fortune, they have continued touring to as late as 2005.

I remember listening to Genesis on the radio and watching their music videos in the late 80's when I was young. Even in my young and impressionable mind, one thought rang out: This band really sucks. I am quite sure that a horrified look crossed my face every time I was subjected to their wierd watery adult contemporary rock, or their lead singer (Phil Collins) jumping around their video sets, wearing a trench coat and pretending to flash the camera. Horror was what I felt deep into my soul. One only had to look at Phil's head to recoil in distaste of his baldness encircled by really long, grown out 80's hair.

So, imagine my surprise one day to see the video for their song "Land of Confusion". I absolutely loved it! It was, without a doubt, the COOLEST thing I had ever seen. You can check it out here.

The entire video is done by marionettes/puppets. I'm telling you, though it tends to be rather creepy looking, it kicked the crap out of Sesame Street (which I always found to be rather boring). Even the band, when they go to shots of the band playing the music, is made up of puppets of the band members. I just watched the video again (first time in probably 15 years), and even the puppet of Phil Collins gives me the creeps.

Anyway, the video starts out with Ronald Reagan and his wife about to go to sleep at home. He's holding a teddy bear and there's a monkey inbetween them for some reason. Ronny goes to sleep and has a dream about walking through a swamp filled with severed heads. He keeps walkling until he encounteres his own head, and wakes up (in his dream). Scared silly by his dream, Ron decides to dawn a Superman costume and run down the street. He keep going until a dinosaur steps on his cape and trips him.

He falls asleep again (while still in the original dream) and dreams (again, in his dream) of two dinosaurs courting each other. At this point, he snuggles with the monkey who has for some reason entered his dream. Then the dinosaur starts to court Mrs. Reagan. Its about here that Michael Jackson shows up. He stretches his toungue out of his mouth, puts mustard, ketchup, and a bun on it, and proceeds to eat it.

Ronny then wakes up from his dream within a dream, dawns a cowboy outfit and rides the dinsosaur that tripped him around town. Then he wakes up from his original dream to find that he has sweated so much that his is seconds away from drowning in his own perspiration. There's grossness when he spits a mouthful of perspiration out of his mouth, then he presses a button and nukes the entire world.

Now keep in mind that I was young when I saw this, and probably didn't know who Ronald Reagan was, or any political meanings the song/video was trying to push. I just thought the puppets looked cool. I bring all of this up because the band Disturbed has recently covered "Land of Confusion" for their new album, and has re-released it on the radio. I just wanted everyone to be aware that I still think Genesis really sucks. Its just that this one video happened to capture my attention, should you ever see me car-dancing/singing to this song. You can find the lyrics here.