[Previous entry: ""Anti-government" and biased reporting"] [Next entry: "Right Invasion"]

04/07/2011: "Disturbed Hyprocrites"

I usually listen to the radio when I drive around by myself. Recently I heard a remake of the Genesis classic "Land of Confusion" by a metal band. I was curious, so I looked it up online.

The remake is done by the band Disturbed. While the remake is not particularly notable -- it sounds pretty much like what you'd expect for a metal remake -- it is well done and I enjoyed listening to it. However, where it gets interesting is in the music video.

The original Genesis video makes it pretty obvious that the "land of confusion" is being caused by warmongering political leaders. Not so for Disturbed. Their music video is "a big view of the corporate world and how it all ties into just one big beast for me". There are repeated visual references to soldiers of businesses, reminiscent of the Nazi SS.

The labels responsible for Disturbed are Reprise and Giant. Reprise is wholly owned by Warners Music Group and the now defunct Giant was bankrolled by it. WMG in turn is "third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry".

Todd McFarlane is best known for his comic book work, most notably Spawn but also Spider-Man. He has drawn for both DC Comics (a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Entertainment) and Marvel Comics (a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company). He left Marvel to form a studio of his own, and then a toy company and a film and animation studio. He has partnered with New Line Cinema and HBO.

Both of them are hip deep in "the corporate world" they are criticizing, making this video quite hypocritical.