Land of Confusion :: Mike Neir's Page

Just about anybody that was alive and listening to the radio in the mid-to-late 80s knows the song "Land of Confusion" by Genesis, and to a lesser degree, knows its video. I remember watching it with my dad, and cracking up because of the funny puppets they used to portray all of the people in the video. The funniest had to be the Pete Townsend puppet. (Well, I think it's Pete Townsend.) It's one of the few videos that's ever stood out in my mind as being really cool while staying on topic with the subject matter being discussed in the song. Here's the video in case you've forgotten, or never seen it.

The reason why I mention all this is because I recently stumbled across the video for a cover of this song by the band Disturbed. I have very mixed feelings regarding them, mainly because they're a Nu-Metal band, and a good portion of their stuff is really simple and boring. Their singer, David Draiman, also has some really annoying vocal tendencies, namely his monkey-grunting sounds that he puts in between lyrical passages. If he were to lose those annoying vocal tendencies, he could be a very good metal vocalist. He's got the requisite angry vocal sound, yet he's very clear in his delivery and has a decent range. The rest of the band also has glimmerings of talent, but they also seem to let it slip away when new-album-time comes around.

My first thought was that Disturbed had no business covering the song, let alone making a video for it. I decided to take a look at it after reading a few positive comments about it, and I have to say that I've shifted my view. After hearing their cover of it, the song actually seems like it was written for their playing style. They have a somewhat herky-jerky rhythm style in a lot of their songs, and the synth bassline of the original was easily converted into a metal riff of that same style. The song retains the same vibe, yet it seems perfectly at home with metal feel instead of an 80's pop feel. They even throw in some vocal harmonies at the end of the song, so maybe there's hope for them after all.

The video for the song is also quite cool. They took the song's concept and applied it to the modern day, where it still fits very well. Here's the video, for your viewing pleasure.

I guess I think it's neat that they covered the song somewhat well, and made a video that's modern and referencing our time, but still holds true to the original song. Am I out to lunch?

Michael :: 07/27/2006, 1:39 pm :: Reply

Weird, IE won't play the videos but Firefox does.

Any way, some other really cool videos from the 80s are Sledgehammer and I Want My MTV, those were really innovative and original videos.

Michael :: 07/27/2006, 1:56 pm :: Reply

Anime for the win!

Actually both versions are really good, I think whoever made Disturbed's version should turn it into a full movie, that would kick ass.

Mike Neir :: 07/27/2006, 2:14 pm :: Reply

It was done by Todd MacFarlane, the guy behind Spawn. That might explain its coolness.

Michael :: 07/28/2006, 12:05 am :: Reply

Ah yes, Spawn doth kicketh mucho ass. The spawn series is some of the best animation I've ever seen and the story line is really good too. It's too bad that they haven't released Spawn 4 yet.

stomper :: 07/27/2006, 4:26 pm :: Reply

FYI - the guitar player is Mike Rutherford - he was with Genisis from the beginning (he does look like Townsend in the video though) and the other guy is Tony Banks - keyboards.

Mike Neir :: 07/27/2006, 4:33 pm :: Reply

I don't know if we're talking about the same person... the dude I'm referring to shows up at about 3:45, and is only there for a second. They seemed to be showing other musicians at that time - Tina Turner, and maybe Michael Jackson. I can't tell really. Looks like Townsend standing in front of a Marshall stack though. /me shrugs.