WHAT GOD WANTS, PART I (VHS)

I remember finding this short, 15-minute VHS video at a Boscov's department store in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, for only 99 cents. I'm not sure how they ended up with it as they usually focus on department store kinds of things, like clothes and trampolines. Anyway, the video is entirely focused on Waters' first single, What God Wants, Part I, from the Amused to Death album and features the music video of the song, an interview of Waters conducted by Jim Ladd, and a second video of the song showing the band performance in the studio for it.

The music video, if I remember correctly, wasn't played much on television (MTV or VH1). It's full of quick cuts from scene to scene generally featuring various animals, a gorilla with a television set, and Roger singing. Although I'm certain the video uses all these images metaphorically to deliver the message of the song, I'm certain the general public was probably totally confused and I myself find it a bit confusing. Waters seems to really connect with artistically-minded people, but the general masses are probably wondering "what the heck?"

This is followed by the interview in which Waters describes the meaning behind What God Wants. Apparently he upset a whole bunch of people when he used lines like "What God wants, God gets, God help us all" and "God wants peace, God wants war, God wants famine, God wants chain stories." Apparently they didn't get the connection that the song was about people's use of God (or in the name of God) to get what they want (for example, jihads, televangelist funding, etc.). Waters clearly explains this in the short interview. He also gives his opinions about music videos and admires some individually, but when placed back-to-back on television, they basically become "wallpaper."

The final segment of this video is another video of What God Wants, Part I, but this time it only shows the band performing it in a recording studio in black-and-white. To me, this only seems like bonus material and of little significance to the rest of the footage, although various clips from the performance are incorporated into the main video at the beginning.

Overall, an interesting look into one narrow aspect of Waters' Amused to Death album. I think the video would have been more interesting if it was longer and involved a documentary into the making and concept of Amused to Death (Waters only briefly mentions the meaning behind sound effects used on the album). Definitely for fans and collectors only.