"A Town Called Hypocrisy" is the second single taken from ''
Liberation Transmission
''Liberation Transmission'' is the third studio album by Welsh rock band Lostprophets, released on 26 June 2006 by Visible Noise.
Recording
This is the first Lostprophets album recorded without original drummer Mike Chiplin. Josh Freese drummed ...
'', the third studio album by the Welsh
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Lostprophets
Lostprophets (stylised as lostprophets or LOSTPROPHETS) were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997 by singer Ian Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze. The group was founded after their former band Fleshbind broke up. They later recruit ...
.
The single was released on 11 September 2006 in the United Kingdom. It peaked at No. 23 in the
UK Singles Chart making it the band's seventh UK Top 40 single. It spent only 2 weeks in the Top 40.
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
was made available on
Kerrang! TV
Kerrang! TV was a British music television channel owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The network used the branding of the music magazine ''Kerrang!'' under a brand licensing agreement with Bauer Media Group. The channel primarily b ...
from the 11 August 2006. It depicts frontman
Ian Watkins as a children's television presenter on a fictional
television show
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
called ''Town Time'' and is arguably a response to the accusations of the band's
metrosexual
Metrosexual (a portmanteau of '' metropolitan'' and '' heterosexual'') is a term for a man who is especially meticulous about his personal style, grooming and appearance. It is often used to refer to heterosexual men who are perceived to be 'ef ...
ity. The video also shows the juxtaposition of attitudes in the band between when they appear during transmission and when they are shown behind the scenes of ''Town Time''. During transmission, it shows the other band members — bar Watkins — dressed as the following (mainly paying homage to the
Village People
Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the re ...
): a toy soldier, a bumbling policeman, a doctor, a builder and a construction worker.
The video, although seemingly based around the things infant children watch (therefore making it seem quite innocent) is filled with sexual references, both very subtle and very obvious. An example of the more subtle references is at the beginning when we see Tender Tim (Watkins) and Mayor Mary ending the 5000th episode of ''Town Time''. Tim replies to Mary's question, "What have we learnt today, Tim?" and Tim replies: "We've learnt about sharing, saying 'please' and oral
e pauses here, before Mary nudges himhygiene."
An example of the more obvious references is the large amounts of drinking and scantily clad women (dressed in all sorts of outfits, ranging from animals to a tooth) performing "kinky," yet childlike, activities on the men in the group behind the scenes.
In several frames of the video, it also paid homage to 'Silhouette Blends', the series of spelling clips by
The Electric Company
''The Electric Company'' is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. ...
. It is the first video by the band not to feature
skaters
Skater may refer to:
Sports
*Someone who practices skateboarding
*Someone who practices roller skating
*Someone who practices inline skating
* Someone who practices ice skating
*An ice hockey player who is not a goaltender
*Skater (subculture), ...
.
Track listing
Personnel
Musicians
*
Ian Watkins –
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...
*
Jamie Oliver
Jamie Trevor Oliver Order of the Star of Italy, OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and o ...
–
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
;
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Mus ...
;
samples;
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
*
Lee Gaze
Lee James Gaze (born 21 May 1975) is a Welsh musician. He is the lead guitarist, and one of the founding members, of the Welsh/American alternative rock band No Devotion, and a former member of the Welsh rock band Lostprophets.
Early life
Gaze ...
–
lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...
*
Mike Lewis –
rhythm guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...
*
Stuart Richardson
Stuart Richardson (born 15 August 1973) is a Welsh musician. He is the bassist for the rock band No Devotion, formed by former members of Lostprophets with Geoff Rickly of Thursday. He is also the touring bassist for Thursday.
Career
Richards ...
–
bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
*
Josh Freese
Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American drummer. A member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, Freese has also been a member of new wave band Devo since 1996. He was previously a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses ...
–
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
;
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
*
Ilan Rubin
Ilan Rubin (born July 7, 1988) is an American musician, producer, songwriter, composer, and artist. He is known primarily for playing drums with bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Paramore, Lostprophets, Angels & Airwaves and Danny Elfman. In 2008 ...
– drums; percussion
Release history
Chart positions
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Town Called Hypocrisy
Lostprophets songs
2006 singles
Music videos directed by Brett Simon
Song recordings produced by Bob Rock
2006 songs
Columbia Records singles