Music Video
The music video for "Jesus Freak" was directed by Simon Maxwell, who also worked on the music video for "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails. Maxwell's treatment of the video, reminiscent of his work with Nine Inch Nails, features footage of Christian imagery such as doves and crosses mixed with stock footage of riots, book burnings, hate crimes, and propaganda films projected onto a screen. Interspersed between the stock footage is video of the band performing the song in a darkened room.
Although the song and video are, on the surface, about expressing one's belief in Jesus Christ, the band later commented that the song could also be a metaphor for the "preservation of standing up for what you believe in – even in the midst of persecution."
McKeehan later said that the point of the video was to "push the envelope" for the Christian rock community, and indeed, the song and video proved controversial. Although the song and video were an earnest attempt to "declare a single-hearted faithfulness in Christ in an age when such devotion strikes many as the freakiest kind of fanaticism," some of the more conservative Christian community members frowned at the video. The song however, was highly successful on Z Music and managed to achieve air time on MTV.
Read more about this topic: Jesus Freak (song)
Famous quotes containing the words music and/or video:
“If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)