Land of Confusion

Land Of Confusion was a song from Genesis' 1986 album Invisible Touch, written by Mike Rutherford and dealing with the uncertainties of the Cold War in The Eighties. The video for this song is well remembered, because it was maybe the first animated video featuring puppets. Those puppets were made on Phil Collins' request by the authors of the satirical UK show Spitting Image, and included caricatures of almost every well-known political figure of the 80s and also of Genesis themselves.

The concept of the video: an elderly Ronald Reagan goes to bed with his wife Nancy and a chimpanzee, and suddenly starts having nightmares featuring an army of soldiers stomping through a jungle filled with the heads of many political figures. While Reagan starts sweating profusely (almost drowning in sweat), his other self in the dreams begins to have strange adventures filled with dinosaurs and more political figures. These scenes are interspersed with puppet versions of Genesis trying to organize a huge concert with almost every member of the 80s showbiz (in a parody of "We Are The World"). In the end, Reagan wakes up from his dreams, but accidentally presses the "Nuke" button instead of the "Nurse" button, next to his bed...

The video can be viewed here. Not to be confused with the music video of Disturbed's cover of this song.


 * Achievements in Ignorance: In one of the choruses, there are two Phil Collins puppets. (One at the mic singing, and one on the drums who pops in and out of nowhere and sings the woaaah's with the rest of the band.)
 * Belly Mouth: Madonna has another mouth where her belly button should be.
 * Big Red Button: The above mentioned "Nuke" button, identical to the "Nurse" button right under it.
 * The Cameo: Not sure if it can be really considered a cameo, but the real Phil Collins appears for a split second among the crowd of puppets in the end.
 * Catapult Nightmare: Reagan, all the time.
 * Cosplay: Reagan dresses in his dream as Superman, a caveman, and a cowboy, another reference to his actor career.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
 * Everything Is Better With Monkeys: The chimpanzee, an allusion to Ronald Reagan's acting career. See the Shout Outs below.
 * A Nuclear Error: Played for comedy. Reagan pushes by mistake a button labeled "Nuke" at the end of the video. "That was one heck of a nurse!"
 * The Pope: John Paul II is briefly seen rocking on a guitar!
 * Raising the Steaks: At one point, a little bird flies by, explodes in midair and turns into a flying roast chicken. The weird thing is, this is happening during the "reality" portion of the video...
 * Recursive Reality: In his dream, Reagan is watching an episode of Spitting Image.
 * Shout-Out: There are several.
 * Reagan as a caveman throws a bone in the air, spoofing the most famous Match Cut in cinema history, the one from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The bone falls down and turns into a phone used by Phil Collins to call other musicians, actors etc. for a Genesis concert. Subverted when a gigantic bone lands on some celebrities anyway...
 * The concert itself is a blatant parody of "We Are The World", with the celebrities swaying their heads in unison.
 * Reagan shares his bed with a chimpanzee. This is a reference to one of his earlier films, Bedtime for Bonzo, in which he did just that.
 * For some reason there's Popeye among the celebrities in the end.
 * After the verse "My generation will put it right", a Pete Townshend puppet appears, giving the thumbs up.
 * Reagan pressing "Nuke" instead of "Nurse" is a reference to Far Out Space Nuts ("I said lunch not launch!")
 * We All Live in America: Inverted. Reagan's alarm clock is a 24 hour clock, common in the UK (where Genesis and Spitting Image were based) but almost never seen in America.
 * What Does This Button Do?: Nurse, not Nuke!