XTC - Dear God (1987)
*** (of four)
The first time I saw this uber-blasphemous '80s video was in eighth grade Bible class. The teacher spent an entire week showing us the five-part Christian video series Hells Bells: The Dangers of Rock and Roll, and my sheltered ass had an immediate fondness for AC/DC, Hendrix, "I Want Your Sex," The Beatles and XTC's "Dear God." It's a haunting, melodic song that's almost jaunty (a la "Alone Again Naturally") in its presentation of God-renouncing lyrics.
The video opens on a hydrocephalic British kid in a black suit standing in front of a tree, singing into the camera. The shot starts over the kid's head and swings down so the kid can stomp his foot into the shot. Dissolve to the big foot of grownup singer Andy Partridge, who resembles a bloated, bitter Tim Robbins, mouth barely moving as he sings.
Partridge is still standing in front of the tree and still can't stomach the "man-made" idea of God. The camera swings back up, revealing kind old ladies and men sitting on the branches of the tree, which jut out horizontally to resemble a cross. These are the faithful, and the shot reverses as Partridge gives them back everything they, I suppose, sacrificed to the Almighty. Their wedding cakes and dead children and such.
The video reaches what the Hell's Bells narrator refers to as a "perverted climax" when Partridge attacks the trunk of the cross-tree with a hammer in each hand while the faithful clutch to their branches and end up falling to the ground. The symbolism is obvious and the sentiment a little chilling, but as far as mid-'80s video artistry and heavy-handed lyrics delivered in a thoroughly poppy way, you could do a lot worse than "Dear God." See you in hell, Andy Partridge.
The first time I saw this uber-blasphemous '80s video was in eighth grade Bible class. The teacher spent an entire week showing us the five-part Christian video series Hells Bells: The Dangers of Rock and Roll, and my sheltered ass had an immediate fondness for AC/DC, Hendrix, "I Want Your Sex," The Beatles and XTC's "Dear God." It's a haunting, melodic song that's almost jaunty (a la "Alone Again Naturally") in its presentation of God-renouncing lyrics.
The video opens on a hydrocephalic British kid in a black suit standing in front of a tree, singing into the camera. The shot starts over the kid's head and swings down so the kid can stomp his foot into the shot. Dissolve to the big foot of grownup singer Andy Partridge, who resembles a bloated, bitter Tim Robbins, mouth barely moving as he sings.
Partridge is still standing in front of the tree and still can't stomach the "man-made" idea of God. The camera swings back up, revealing kind old ladies and men sitting on the branches of the tree, which jut out horizontally to resemble a cross. These are the faithful, and the shot reverses as Partridge gives them back everything they, I suppose, sacrificed to the Almighty. Their wedding cakes and dead children and such.
The video reaches what the Hell's Bells narrator refers to as a "perverted climax" when Partridge attacks the trunk of the cross-tree with a hammer in each hand while the faithful clutch to their branches and end up falling to the ground. The symbolism is obvious and the sentiment a little chilling, but as far as mid-'80s video artistry and heavy-handed lyrics delivered in a thoroughly poppy way, you could do a lot worse than "Dear God." See you in hell, Andy Partridge.
posted by daytime at 5:18 AM
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