God Blessed Video

Album: Disturbing the Peace (1985)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The Hard Rock band Alcatrazz got some airplay with the videos for their songs "Hiroshima Mon Amour" and "Island In The Sun," but nothing like what their photogenic New Wave counterparts were getting. Lead singer Graham Bonnet was watching a Duran Duran video one day when it struck him that a good video could compensate for a terrible song. "It was a gift that video came along and made these great videos of nice looking women in exotic places, but the song wasn't that good, and that's basically what it's about," he told us. "It's like 'Video Killed The Radio Star,' if you remember that song. It was my sort of version of that, just saying, 'Well, if you've got a great video, doesn't matter what the song's like. It'll help you a helluva lot.'"
  • The band made a video for this song, with the first minute taken up with a skit where an angel and devil discuss music videos. MTV has a history of embracing videos that deal with the medium itself ("Video Killed The Radio Star," "Money For Nothing"), but they passed on this one, which may have hit too close to home with lyrics like "We'll shoot all the crotch shots for 12 year old hopefuls."
  • Steve Vai, who was the band's guitarist for the Disturbing the Peace album, wrote this song with Graham Bonnet. Vai, who replaced Yngwie Malmsteen in Alcatrazz, left to join David Lee Roth's band. If there was ever a man who blessed video, it was Roth; while Vai got plenty of screen time in the "God Blessed Video" clip, he ceded most of the camera time to Roth in his videos.

Comments: 2

  • GmanIn case anyone didnt realize that's actually Vai playing those roles at the beginning ..he should add this to his setlist
  • Weezytimelime from W03rldvery useful info, very amazing song
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

Donny Osmond

Donny OsmondSongwriter Interviews

Donny Osmond talks about his biggest hits, his Vegas show, and the fan who taught him to take "Puppy Love" seriously.

Carl Sturken

Carl SturkenSongwriter Interviews

Hitmaker Carl Sturken on writing and producing for Rihanna, 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Donny Osmond, Shakira and Karyn White.

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

Mick Jones of Foreigner

Mick Jones of ForeignerSongwriter Interviews

Foreigner's songwriter/guitarist tells the stories behind the songs "Juke Box Hero," "I Want To Know What Love Is," and many more.

The Police

The PoliceFact or Fiction

Do their first three albums have French titles? Is "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" really meaningless? See if you can tell in this Fact or Fiction.