Writers: Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford
Producers: Genesis and Hugh Padgham
Recorded: Summer 1985 through early 1986 at the Farm in Surrey, England
Released: March 1986
| Players: | Phil Collins — vocals, drums Tony Banks — keyboards Mike Rutherford — guitar, bass |
| Album: | Invisible Touch (Atlantic) |
The third single from Genesis's Invisible Touch album, “Land Of Confusion” peaked at Number Four on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1987 and at Number 14 on the U.K. chart.
The song benefited from a video directed by puppeteers Fluck And Law of Britain's Spitting Image TV series, who created life-sized puppets of the members of Genesis and an assortment of other celebrities and political figures. It won the Grammy Award for best concept video in March 1988.
Flying in the face of the feel-good Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher administrations in the United States and Britain, respectively, the song had a directly political and socially conscious theme, warning that the world's problems were not over. Its chorus advocated personal action: “This is the world we live in/These are the hands we're given/Use them and let's start trying/To make it a place worth fighting for.”
The Invisible Touch album was Genesis's most successful, peaking at Number Three on the Billboard 200 and selling more than five million copies. It debuted at Number One on the British chart.
