Alice in Chains have released a pair of music videos supporting their latest album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. One clip, for glammy acoustic jam “Voices,” plays like a fairly straightforward lyric video. The song’s clumsy line of questioning (“Who am I? Is this me?”) is highlighted via a series of neon signs that flash throughout a small town at night. In between, we see Alice in Chains give a relatively low-key performance. It’s more engaging than, say, the band’s fan-sourced lyric video for “Hollow,” but it’s also nowhere near as elaborate as the official, outer-space-set short they eventually filmed for that single.
The Seattle vets’ other new video, for the title track off of their fifth LP, is more ambitious. “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” aims criticism against intolerance and groupthink, and the tune’s visual companion follows that thread. Directed by Travis Hopkins, the clip opens on a few children who are watching television in their respective homes. Bathed in the blue, warming glow of TV, the kids watch a warped “educational” program that forcefeeds them a creationist agenda. The hellish Sesame Place stars a slimy-looking dude in a leisure suit and a sinister, sweaty clown, both of whom flip out and start destroying the set behind them as puppets lead a sing-along about how “Jesus don’t like a queer.” Imagine Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood done by Rob Zombie, only everyone involved reps hard for the most conservative sect of the right wing — truly frightening.
Watch “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” above and “Voices” below.
