Shock To The System (1993)

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Shock to the System is a single by English musician Billy Idol, released to promote his 1993 album, Cyberpunk. It became a top-40 hit in six countries, including Idol's native United Kingdom, but did not make it onto the US Billboard Hot 100.[1]

Key Lyrics

Whoa yeah

It was a night, L.A., burning bright

Oh what a night

Say yeah, come on

It makes my world stand still

Ah riot, rape, race and revolution, ah yeah

Here come the fire, and my world burns still

You say yeah


Well, you can rock this land baby you

Background

Idol explained for MTV News, he had originally created the song with an entirely different set of lyrics, but upon witnessing the Los Angeles riots of 1992 on television, he immediately rewrote and recorded them that day.[2]

Music Video

A music video was created for the song, and was set in a dystopian future controlled by Cyber-cops (referred to as such by director Brett Leonard.) It depicted an individual who records the Cyber-cops beating a man, only to be noticed and attacked himself. His camera is destroyed and the Cyber-cops leave him unconscious on the ground, as they are busy trying to put down a riot elsewhere in the city. Alone, his camera equipment lands on him and is absorbed into his body, causing him to dramatically morph into a cyborg. The cyborg then joins the riot, leading the rebels to victory.

Idol explained that he was trying to capture the political and economic conflict that had created the LA Riots, and that the camcorder – as displayed in the witnessing of the Rodney King beating – was a "potent way of conveying ideas" and an important metaphor for technology used in rebellion.[3]

Reference

  1. Shock to the System Billy Idol song. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  2. MTV News: Billy Idol "Cyberpunk" Disk (VIDEO). CABLE TV: MTV. May 1993. Retrieved from Wikipedia, February 4, 2021.
  3. Cyberpunk: Shock to the System. Brett Leonard. Billy Idol. 29 June 1993. ERG Video & Chrysalis Group. Retrieved from Wikipedia, February 4, 2021.