God is God
God Is God is a piece of music from the Psytrance project Juno Reactor . It was written by Ben Watkins and Nick Burton and released in 1997 on the album Bible of Dreams and as the album's second single.
Emergence
God Is God came into being in several steps; the original idea came up when Ben Watkins was halfway through the Egyptian-inspired material. Watkins was inspired by Laibach's cover of Live Is Life . The vocals are from Natacha Atlas , the spoken text from Wolfgang and the percussion from Burton.
The God-Is-God single was released in several 12 '' and CD versions with different remixes of the piece. In addition to God Is God (Rock of Sion Album Edit) and God Is God (Rock of Sion Mix) there are the Mark Saunders Sion Mix by Mark Saunders , the God Is Ambient Mix by Psychoslaphead , the Revelation Mix , the CJ Bolland Mix by CJ Bolland and the God Zilla Mix and the Grisha Mix made by the Belgian band Front 242 ; these were released separately on the 12 '' single God Is God (Front 242 Mixes) . One version of the single contains the Rock of Sion Mix and two other versions the piece Biot Messiah , which was written by Watkins and Johann Bley.
music
God Is God combines psytrance with oriental music . The singing at the beginning of the piece comes from Stefka Sabotinova's Prituri Se Planinata (Tinka Peshe) . According to the official Juno Reactor site, it is about narrative music, the Egyptian elements in God Is God go perfectly with the apocalyptic piece Komit , according to the official site , but contrast with the more even Swamp Thing and the more precise Kaguya Hime .
text
In the text “the (artificially) produced fear or ambivalence between hope and fear is addressed in a figurative sense”. Damage from The DOSE Mag addressed the religious aspect of Juno Reactors and added that he had not yet encountered Christianity in the texts ; while Watkins referred to God Is God in this context , Damage did not associate the text with Christian God . The quote “You shall see good and evil… you shall see bitter waters… you shall see laws of life… you shall see hail fall from a clear sky… you shall see darkness… God is God” comes from Cecil B. DeMille's film The Ten Commandments . God Is God is to be seen as the theme of the album.
"Unless we get to this point of tolerance between the religions and the faiths, this is what you'll get. It's this Armageddon, book of Revelation, really, wrath of God."
“By the time we get to the point of interfaith tolerance, this is what we will get. It's this Armageddon , Book of Revelation , Wrath of God . "
reception
Lars von Ragazzi described God Is God together with Laughing Gas , Conga Fury , Pistolero and Master of the Universe as an “excellent insight into the universe of this band”.
Cover version of Laibach
1996, originally from the published post-industrial originating -Umfeld Slovenian band Laibach via Mute Records a cover version on the album Jesus Christ Superstar , which deals "with God and religion at the end of this century," and the singles Jesus Christ Superstar / God Is God and God Is God (Optical Remixes) , on which different remixes appeared. In the music video, according to Eva-Maria Hanser, “at first glance relatively uninteresting compared to the earlier videos”, the musicians appear “as modern prophets who march along a rocky, partly snow-covered landscape”. The mood is reminiscent of end-of-time films in which the church “is portrayed as ambivalent and the (priestly) protagonists are portrayed as superheroes ”. The singer's gestures are reminiscent of depictions of Jesus Christ .
“For example, a close-up of the palm of his raised arm is shown, which evokes Christian references in the consciousness . Or his performance on a narrow metal scaffolding tower, on which he performs a mixture of incantation, aggressive sermon and perhaps suffering or enduring pause behind a thin chain of cordons. The tower indicates the similarity or complicity between sermons, political speech and the entertainment industry. "
The cross often used by Laibach can be seen "on a large billboard in nowhere"; Words mentioned in the lyrics are projected onto this, in a short moment "there are shining moving stars on it, which are separated by a shining '=', so * = * (God is God?)". This effect increases "the advertising [...], which on the one hand refers to the marketing and on the other hand to the permanent media presence of religion". In the video, however, the cross is also viewed by the Laibach members; it is "not clear [...] whether it is viewed benevolently, critically, baffled or with disinterest". It is also used as a background, "mainly to simulate images of the crucifixion when the singer is standing directly in front of it with arms outstretched". According to Hanser, the video for God Is God “does not seem to be any different from other music videos”, giving the impression “to have seen these images somewhere else”. Possibly "[b] the whole video [...] consists of conscious quotations" and "[v] points [...] to the flirtation that rock and pop stars entertain about Jesus, namely the adoption of gestures and facial expressions (through visual media) more traditionally Representations of Jesus ”and“ in this context also the constant oscillation between rejection and appropriation of religion and church ”.
Individual evidence
- ^ Chaos Control Interview. Chaos Control Digizine, accessed September 23, 2011 .
- ↑ a b c God is God. Juno Reactor, archived from the original on May 28, 2012 ; accessed on September 23, 2011 (English).
- ↑ a b c Bible of Dreams. Juno Reactor, archived from the original on May 16, 2012 ; accessed on September 23, 2011 (English).
- ↑ a b c d Eva-Maria Hanser: Ideotopie . Playing with the ideology and utopia of 'Laibach art'. Vienna 2010, p. 38 f . ( univie.ac.at [PDF; accessed on September 21, 2011]).
- ↑ Damage: Juno Reactor. The DOSE Mag, April 2007, accessed September 23, 2011 .
- ↑ Lars: JUNO REACTOR "Odyssey 1992 - 2002" (Metropolis Records). Ragazzi, archived from the original on April 23, 2009 ; Retrieved September 23, 2011 .