What God Wants (Part 1)
Videos Directed by Tony Kaye
Interview Footage Directed by Michael B Borofsky
Sony Music Video, 1992

Sporting two alternate versions of the video clip, as well as a few moments of dear ol' Rog's time to allow him a chance to explain what the devil he was up to, this was a bit scaled down from the grandiose conceptual video EPs that supported 'The Final Cut' and 'Radio KAOS.' Despite this lack of additional material, the "What God Wants (Part 1)" video was nevertheless far better in execution than it's predecessors (though it ultimately shared a similar fate at the hands of Joe Consumer).

Thinking that this highly detailed, "groundbreaking" video was their ace in the hole, Sony spared no expense in hyping Waters' first new single/video since 1987 (you have to remember that this was back when MTV and VH1 still played these things during normal human waking hours). What they conveniently forgot to mention, however, was that artists such as Talk Talk and Peter Gabriel made this video first, and they did it better.

I'll grant you that calling "What God Wants, Part 1" the best-produced Floyd-related video ever may be tantamount to saying that "Somebody's Watching Me" was the biggest hit of Rockwell's career, but even ignoring the generally horrid quality of it's "competition," this clip was certainly a showstopper in a visual sense. Of course, what any of this had to do with illustrating the point of the song is beyond me.

Anyway, shown in it's full-on animal-packed version, the first edition we are shown of "What God Wants" is a blizzard of animation, claymation and footage of animal "actors" (in particular, a truly bored-looking white gorilla) cavorting about in full living color while a dour-looking, black-and-white Waters fairly spits the lyrics out onto a little loogie catcher thing from between his ever present headphones (and through that weird missing/impacted tooth of his). There is also a truly amazing special effect about midway through that looks like Roger Waters' face gradually pulling itself into a wide, warm smile. Kudos to the team that pulled that off - the resemblance is truly amazing.

For those who find the original form of the video just a tad too close to "Sledgehammer," we are thoughtfully shown a second, stripped-down black-and-white "performance" version of a few moments later, which spotlights Waters, Jeff Beck, Katie Kissoon, Doreen Chanter, Snowy White, Graham Broad, and John "Rabbit" Bundrick miming along without distraction from the several species of frisky wildlife in the "full-on" version (though the band manages to shake a lot of furniture with all of their determined thrashing about).

To anyone out there that wants to see this in hopes of glimpsing what might have been had Waters taken 'Amused To Death' on the road in 1992/3 -- it has to be said here that Beck (usually a dynamic and riveting performer) is a real disappointment here. While Waters and the rest of the band move around a lot and generally show some form of enthusiasm or grit, the fleet-fingered guitarist pretty much remains rooted to one spot and acts out his caustic fretwork with no expression whatsoever.

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, sandwiched between these two videos is a brief interview segment in which a shaggy, graying (and obviously blow-dried) Waters gives occasionally animated interview to Jim Ladd (surprise!) while his loose wristwatch flaps about loosely well down his right forearm. Anyone who knows anything about 'Amused To Death' or Roger Waters himself knows what to expect here as far as subject matter is concerned, but it's still a bit of a thrill to see all the many wonderful facets of ol' Misery Guts shown here as his responses to Ladd's queries range from cool world weariness, weirdly gasping laughter, and slit-eyed spite to dour sarcasm ... all in less than five minutes.

Sadly, despite the hint of a follow-up release that runs just after the second clip, "What God Wants (Part 1)" was the first and only video released from 'Amused To Death.' Shortly after the new album failed to fly off the racks in the expected fashion (i.e., into customer's homes rather than Sony's receiving docks), the plug was quickly pulled on any future video single endeavors, though a suitably wistful clip for "Three Wishes" featuring Waters hungrily snogging his new wife was produced and very briefly shown before disappearing into VOIO anthology limbo.

'What God Wants (Part 1)' - Ver. 1

Interview

'What God Wants (Part 1)' - Ver. 2