Kate Bushs Army Dreamers was blacklisted on the BBC Here is Norwegian singersongwriter Moddis reinterpretation of the 1980 classic
ABOUT THE SONG
SOME CALLED IT THE “VIDEO GAME WAR” The Gulf War of 1991 saw 34 nations join forces to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein Western viewers could follow the warfare live on TV with daily videos brought to their living rooms from cameras aboard US bombers
At the same time criticism against the war was muffled 67 songs that were removed from the BBC because they were considered “inappropriate for airplay” during the combats in the Gulf One of these songs was Kate Bush’s Army Dreamers a story about a grieving mother who laments the loss of her fallen son
“What should he do
Could have been a rock star
but he didn’t have the money for a guitar
Could have been a politician
but he never had a proper education
Could have been a father
but he never even made it to his twenties”
The individual human suffering of Western warfare is often downplayed Rather we are fed with a public narrative about the necessity and urgency of our military involvement Songs like Army Dreamers that highlight the consequences of war are seldom played on the radio or given public attention
More than a hundred thousand people lost their lives as a consequence of the Gulf War Army Dreamers was blacklisted for talking about one
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director
Maren Skolem
Producer
Marte Hansen
Cinematographer
Annicken Aasheim
Production manager
Pål Moddi Knutsen
Production designer
Catrine Gormsen
Editor
Matilde Fridlund
1st AD
Marte Hansen
2nd AD
Line Herud
Focus puller
Magga Vala
1nd AC
Sondre Hemstad
Gaffer
Anton Østerlund
Best boy
Alexander Ophaug
SFX Make-up
Ingvild Håheim
Colorist
Lasse Sevli Uhørt
- - -
ACTORS
Dad
Roy-Allan Larsen
Children
Vetle Bråthen
Heidi Kaafjeld
Berge Grundstad
Linn Sollien Vestad
Teenagers
Mats Røysom
Henriette Rinde
Marius Jonassen
Hege Etnestad
Mastered by
Morgan Nicolaysen at Propeller Mastering
Disclaimer In Moddis original interpretation of Army Dreamers the line Ive a bunch of purple flowers to decorate a mommys hero had been replaced with daddys to reflect the position of the singer but had to be changed back again in this version due to copyright issues