"River Below" is a song by the Canadian band

Billy Talent Billy Talent is a Canadian rock band from Mississauga, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz, guitarist Ian D'Sa, bassist Jonathan Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk. There have been no lineup changes, although ...

. It was released in June 2004 as the third single from their self-titled debut studio album.

Track listing

;CD #River Below (Album Version) # Lies (Acoustic) ;7" Vinyl # River Below (Album Version) #Standing in the Rain (Acoustic) ;DVD #River Below (Album Version) #Living in the Shadows (Live) #River Below (Video) #

Try Honesty "Try Honesty" is the debut single by Canadian group Billy Talent. It was released in July 2003 as the lead single from their debut self-titled album. Music video The music video for "Try Honesty," which was directed by Sean Michael Turrell, f ...

(Video) #EPK Footage

Music video

Sean Michael Turrell Sean Michael Turrell is a director of music videos and documentary television. He has directed videos for Canadian bands such as Billy Talent, Lights, Protest the Hero, Hedley, MSTRKRFT, Blue Rodeo, Great Lake Swimmers, Magneta Lane and Sum 41. ...

was the director of this video. The subject of the video for the song is a

schizophrenic Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...

man who hears voices in his head compelling him to construct and detonate a bomb. A photo of himself indicates that he was previously a member of the military during a war. While watching the television he sees bombs falling. Examples of insanity show the man trying to change the channel but it staying the same, newspaper headline clippings rearranging themselves forming various motivating phrases (i.e.: You will be famous!), and bomb blueprints becoming animated.

are shown playing in a garage in the house across the road from the man's, which appears to be cast somewhere around the 1960s, demonstrable by the clothing and technology; such as black and white television and the style of decor. The video is censored. In the original video, the bomb blows up showing an explosion, consuming the man and Billy Talent. In the

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

edition, the bomb blows and there is a larger, more graphically visual, explosion. In a MuchMusic countdown, ''"Top 50 Most Controversial Videos,"'' "River Below" made it to #7. It also placed #15 in MuchMusic's ''"100 Best Videos"''. The video was released after the

2004 Madrid train bombings The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's g ...

; it caused outrage because it was after a deadly attack involving bombs.

Quotation at the beginning of the video

Oppenheimer was known as the 'Father of the Atomic Bomb', and this foreshadows the events that lead to the detonation of the bomb that the General has constructed. However, it could also be treated as having much wider implications; suggesting that those with weapons, such as that shown in the video (i.e. warring countries), become the givers of death but on a scale that has a real potential of destroying the world. The man is therefore only a representation of a greater danger, a microcosm of a possible scenario. The quotation is actually that of Robert Oppenheimer quoting Vishnu from the Hindu scripture " Bhagavad Gita"

Chart performance

References

External links

* {{Authority control Billy Talent songs 2004 singles Songs written by Ian D'Sa Songs written by Benjamin Kowalewicz Songs written by Jonathan Gallant Songs written by Aaron Solowoniuk Song recordings produced by Gavin Brown (musician) 2003 songs