Synopsis
Sly Fox perform the exuberant new wave-funk track in a bright, pop-art studio setting, with Gary "Mudbone" Cooper and Michael Camacho dancing and playing directly to the camera. Their performance is intercut with two young boys handling toy weapons, smashing them with hammers, and appearing in mock military scenes. Black-and-white comedy footage, factory workers, and a reverse-motion nuclear explosion add a surreal edge. The video closes with the boys carrying a large globe, reinforcing its hopeful anti-war imagery.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was released during the song's commercial breakthrough in 1985-86 and received heavy rotation on MTV.
- Its visual structure combines three contrasting elements: the duo's colorful performance, the children's anti-war imagery, and archival-looking black-and-white footage of workers and slapstick scenes.
- The reverse-motion atomic explosion is one of the video's most memorable images, turning destruction into a visual act of undoing.
- The song's lyrics are not explicitly political, but the video's recurring weapons, military clothing, and nuclear imagery strongly frame it against the Cold War-era backdrop.
- The single version and video edit run approximately 3 minutes and 54 seconds, shorter than the album recording.
- Sly Fox consisted of Gary "Mudbone" Cooper, known for his work with Parliament-Funkadelic, and Michael Camacho.
- The video helped establish the song as the duo's signature success. The single reached No. 7 in the United States and No. 3 in the United Kingdom in 1986.