What God Wants

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“What God Wants, Pt.1”
Single by Roger Waters
from the album Amused to Death
Released September 17, 1992
Format CD
Recorded 1992
Genre Progressive rock
Length 14 min 48 s
Label Columbia Records
Producer Roger Waters
Roger Waters singles chronology
"The Tide Is Turning"
(1987)
"What God Wants, Pt.1"
(1992)
"To Kill the Child/Leaving Beirut"
(2005)

What God Wants is a series of songs written and released by ex-Pink Floyd frontman, Roger Waters on his third solo album, Amused to Death. What God Wants is separated into three parts, much like his earlier work with Another Brick in the Wall. Though the song is in three parts, What God Wants Pt. 1, was the only one to be released as a single. This part in particular deals with the contradictory duality and hypocrisy detected by Waters in dogmatic religion and its power over man. The following parts, along with the other songs on the album, deal with worship not only in religion but also in regard to materialism and consumption. All together, its viewpoint is on the power of simplistic conformity; how people adhere to something, not entirely by volition, but out of submission.

Contents

[edit] Single

What God Wants, Pt. 1 was released as single in 1992, with "What God Wants, Pt. 1" on Side A and "Three Wishes" or "What God Wants, Pt. 3" on Side B. The single was received well, reaching its peak at #4 in the Mainstream Rock Charts. Probably the only single released in the U.S., two other singles were released in Europe, "Three Wishes" and "The Bravery of Being Out of Range".

[edit] Video

A video was released, featuring gorillas watching TV, CGI and stop motion animation of a frog skeleton picking at a piece of cheese on a mouse trap, only to be subdued by electrical wiring and fused with the cheese to create a small television set. The video was directed by Tony Kaye.

[edit] Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 refused to play the single as it was too much of a "touchy" song to be played with such frequency. This apparently outraged Waters.

[edit] See also

Pallas Athena by David Bowie (on Black Tie White Noise); another song centred on the harmful power of dogma.