"The Big Picture" is a song by American

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

band

Y Kant Tori Read Y Kant Tori Read was an American synthpop band fronted by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. The band released one album, also called ''Y Kant Tori Read'', which was largely unsuccessful. Atlantic Records abandoned promoting the album completely after ...

, commercially released by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in 1988 exclusively as a 7" vinyl single in a generic picture sleeve. Two versions of a promotional 7" vinyl were also released, one with light blue labels and one with dark blue labels. A 12" promotional vinyl single was also issued with an accompanying picture sleeve. The song was a commercial failure and received absolutely no critical comment. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "The Big Picture" was shot by

Marty Callner Marty Callner (born 1950 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American television director, who has made music videos, comedy specials, concert specials, and television shows, in a career spanning from 1977 to present day. He is the creator of HBO's '' Ha ...

. The only band member to appear in it is

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

. It is typical of the era, featuring a scantily clad Amos cavorting and wreaking havoc on a sound-stage made to resemble the back alleys of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It is notable for a narrative introductory bit during which Amos argues with a police officer about her illegally parked car. Amos' excuse is that someone broke into her car and stole her underwear: "That's gross!" The officer, undeterred, hands her the ticket and walks off with her

garter belt A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking f ...

hanging out of his back pocket. Notably, graphic artist Rantz Hoseley, a friend of Amos' at the time, appears in the video as a street punk upon whose pants Amos spray-paints. Hoseley went on to edit the best selling Amos-themed comic anthology ''

Comic Book Tattoo ''Comic Book Tattoo '' is an Eisner award and Harvey Award–winning comics anthology, anthology graphic novel made up of fifty-one stories, each based on or inspired by a song by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, published by Image Comics i ...

''.

Track listing

;7" Single (Atlantic 7-89086) # "The Big Picture" – 4:19 #"You Go to My Head" – 3:55 ;12" Promo Single (Atlantic PR2298) # "The Big Picture" – 4:19 # "The Big Picture" – 4:19

External links

Official Tori Amos website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Picture, The 1988 debut singles Y Kant Tori Read songs Songs written by Tori Amos Songs written by Kim Bullard 1988 songs Atlantic Records singles Music videos directed by Marty Callner