Who did it better: Land of Confusion

[Hyorinmaru]

[Youtube]QHmH1xQ2Pf4[/YouTube]

[YouTube]YV4oYkIeGJc[/YouTube]



One of my favorite songs and one of the few where I enjoy both the original and the remake and have them both on my MP3 player.

The message behind the song has just as much meaning today as when Phil Collins wrote it back in the late 80s. As campy as the Genesis video looks today it was a pretty big deal back in 1986. On the other hand I'm a sucker for any animated music video and whoever did the art for The Disturbed version of the song did a fantastic job.

When I sit back and really mull it over in my head and tally everything up it's balanced 50/50 for me. I'm a fan of the heavier feel Disturbed brought to the song but Phil Collins and Genesis are a guilty pleasure of mine. I can't choose between them.

OP NOTE: If this does decent I have more songs in mind so let me know what you think.

 

[enviousdominous]

I prefer the original, as I usually do.

Genesis really hit the mark during a time when Ronald Reagan was being proclaimed as the greatest human being who ever lived, and if you spoke against him you were considered to be a commie pinko fascist or some other variation of random pejoratives. It's just a very poignant reflection on the times of that era, there's countless tongue in cheek references that recognize the ridiculousness of that generation. I recall an occurrence where Ronald Reagan was testing his voice receiver by saying "I just pushed the button. Nuclear missiles have been launched to strike Russia" while it was being broadcast to defense officials in Russia, only to laugh when he was told that he had just made a potentially world ending announcement.

The Disturbed video seems to relate to how war profiteering is bad, and that's about all I can gather. Cartoonized versions of world leaders argue and major world capitals are left in ruins, I honestly don't see how the video makes a logical connection for those potential events.

The Disturbed video attempts to portray a dystopian consequence for unchecked oligarchism, while the Genesis video gives a vivid interpretation of what was actually occurring during that time.