Released 1984 Label Capitol Records | Format 7" single, 12" single | |
"State of the Nation" is a song by American band Industry taken from their final studio album Stranger to Stranger. The song peaked at #10 in Sweden and #1 in Italy. It also became a big hit in the Philippines. In the US, the song peaked at #81 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Contents
Version 1: Warship
The band performs the song on an aircraft carrier/naval ship while being surrounded by dancing members of the United States Navy and a military or naval band. Parked fighter jets are also evident in the video. The lead singer, Jon Carin has a rack of keyboard instruments with a synthesizer and a Fairlight CMI, Rudy Perrone plays a Steinberger bass guitar, Brian Unger plays a Fender Stratocaster and Mercury Caronia plays an acoustic drum kit with Simmons hexapads.
It is noted that some of the dancing naval soldiers are real members of the U.S. Navy while some are only actor/dancers. The navy uniforms indicate a Plebe at Annapolis. It is also presumed that Plebes (freshmen) are actors while some are real plebes, since the song indicates a kind of innocence in the Navy personnel, that are going off to war. It is easy to tell the rank of U.S. Navy uniforms which Annapolis plebes would wear. This is because of the shoulder boards, which are present but have no stripes and because a Midshipman's hat is different than both officers and an enlisted man. The actors don't wear Midshipman hats.
Version 2: Mansion
The band plays outside an elegant mansion at its grounds. Jon Carin plays a Korg Poly-800.