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Brandon Waggoner

Professor Reynolds

English 1201-508

20 February 2022

The Land of Confusion

“Land of Confusion” by Genesis was a politically charged critique of the Ronald Reagan

Cold War presidency during the 1980s. The song took on a British pop rock sound and saw many

commercial successes. Later, in 2006, the hard rock band Disturbed revitalized the song with a

cover that brought critique to the political world leaders of the time and brought the song to a

new audience, while still retaining the lyrics of the original version. “Land of Confusion” by

Genesis and the later cover by Disturbed share a theme about the ineptitude of political

leadership and governmental systems and utilize similar rhetorical appeals. However,

Disturbed’s cover appeals to a newer and younger audience due to the modernized sound and

visual style used in their video.

Genesis skips no beats in establishing their message about the dangers of political

ineptitude within their rendition of “Land of Confusion.” In their video, a caricature-style puppet

of Ronald Reagan falls asleep and immediately enters a nightmare. In this nightmare, we see a

dire scenario wherein Reagan becomes overwhelmed by a maze of people, represented by

severed puppet heads, and their problems, stunting his ability to make any progress towards his

goals. Following this, Reagan awakes from his nightmare and is now convinced he must save the

day. Thus, Reagan dons a superman costume and begins to run around the empty streets nearby.

Whilst this is happening, Genesis sings the following lyrics:

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Oh, Superman, where are you now

When everything's gone wrong somehow?

The men of steel, the men of power

Are losing control by the hour

This scene, in combination with the lyrics, shows that despite their intentions political leaders

often end up just playing heroes rather than truly fixing any issues. Furthermore, the supposedly

“strong” and “powerful” leaders we are supposed to lean on in these dire times are unraveling,

furthering the narrative about the danger of their ineptitude.

Similarly, Disturbed promotes a message about the dangers of dysfunction within our

governmental leaders and systems. In Disturbed’s video, we see an army of soldiers, reminiscent

of Hitler’s Schutzstaffel, marching on a damaged city and its downtrodden citizens. Interestingly,

the uniforms of this army have a patch on the shoulder that resembles a dollar sign. This appears

to be a critique of the corrupting power of money and capitalism in modern society and how it

eventually leads to violence. Meanwhile, the army rapidly begins attacking citizens and brutally

gunning them down. However, just before this happens a group of politicians sits at a roundtable,

assumedly discussing how to best resolve this conflict. They clearly struggle to make any

progress in their discussion, though, and ultimately end up breaking out into an argument and

accomplishing nothing to help the plight of their suffering citizens. Ultimately, the citizens, led

by a mysterious hooded figure, revolt against their oppressor and defeat the leader of the money

patch army. The leader is shown to be very tall and rotund and explodes into a shower of dollar

bills once defeated. This image of a towering, paunchy individual is a common illustration used

to critique the
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corruption of the capitalist system of government and the dangers that can come with it.

In addition to their shared message, both songs utilize pathos appeals to deliver their

messages effectively to the listener; however, they use these appeals in different manners.

Genesis chooses to use pathos in a way that both provokes and humors the audience. On one

hand, the caricatures of political figureheads are sure to inspire passionate reactions from people

on both sides of the political aisle. On the other hand, Genesis uses humor to poke at Reagan,

such as parodying Reagan’s film Bedtime for Bonzo by having puppet Reagan kiss a chimpanzee

before going to bed. Disturbed chooses far more emotionally provocative imagery to deliver

pathos. They show the corrupt money patch army brutally torturing and killing civilians.

Furthermore, some of these citizens are shown to be children, which only heightens the

emotional impact. They also show images of the civilians and the hooded figure uniting with

their fists in the air, a powerful image that inspires hope within the viewer. Ultimately, both

videos arrive at pathos to deliver a shared message.

Although the messages and appeals in the two videos are quite similar, they appeal to

fairly different audiences. In their video, Genesis comments on Cold War leadership and uses

puppets, a dated animation style, to deliver their message. The Cold War saw its peak relevancy

during the ’80s, which is simultaneous to when Genesis’s sound would have been most popular

in mainstream music. This leads to Genesis’s rendition of “Land of Confusion” appealing to a

middle-aged audience who would have grown up during the ‘80s. Disturbed, however, uses a

sharp style of digital animation and a hard rock sound that has seen much more popularity in the

21st century. Disturbed saw a rise in popularity during the Nu-Metal movement which began in

the late 1990s but saw sustained popularity until the mid-2000s, which means that Disturbed’s

sound appealed to teenagers who are now young adults. Combine this with the previously
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mentioned sharp visual style and Disturbed’s video shows a clear targeting towards a far younger

audience, one who is likely in their twenties to early thirties. On the other hand, although the two

bands’ renditions have different audiences, those audiences do overlap in some areas. For

example, the songs’ critiques of political leadership during two controversial Republican

presidencies lead both songs to appeal to a more politically left audience. Furthermore, critiques

of the capitalist system of government lead to a strong appeal to the middle and lower classes in

both songs.

All in all, both the Genesis and Disturbed renditions of “Land of Confusion” share a

message about the dangers incompetence in government systems and leaders. Furthermore, they

share the usage of pathos appeals, although those appeals are used in a different manner. One

could argue that, due to their similar messages, the songs appeal to a similar audience based on

political beliefs and socioeconomic status. However, due to a sharper animation style,

modernized sound, and the context of the era in which it was released the Disturbed rendition

appeals to a much younger audience than the original by Genesis.

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Works Cited

“Disturbed - Land of Confusion [Official Music Video].” YouTube, uploaded by Disturbed, 29

Oct. 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV4oYkIeGJc. Accessed 6 Feb. 2022.

“Genesis - Land of Confusion (Official Music Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Genesis, 18 Sept.

2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq7FKO5DlV0. Accessed 6 Feb. 2022.