Mass Destruction by Faithless

Faithless are a dance act based in London that have been active since 1994. They split up in 2011 and they got back together in 2015. At the moment Faithless consist of Producers/DJs Sister Bliss and Rollo.

Previously, they had rapper and musician Maxi Jazz fronting the band. Together the band have been household names in the trip-hope and dance scene for their electronic trance. Their hit singles like Insomnia and I Can’t Get No Sleep are club staples. I was lucky to see the band when they had Maxi Jazz and everybody in their seats got up and danced, including a man in his eighties.

This band is responsible for the song that changed my life. It changed the way I saw the world. It inspired me to write my novel. It made me see the world in a different way. My bubble had been popped. It encouraged me to pick my own path in life. I had a sheltered life. I wasn’t allowed to watch the news, I didn’t know Princess Diana had died until I asked where she was.

As a child, there were three places that I wanted to go to; America, Japan and China. I’ve been to New York twice did several tours and a cruise around Japan. I’ve not touched Chinese land, I’ve flown through it and been on the Chinese sea. I’ve been to several China towns in my town and always love the red and gold lanterns.

When I was younger I always wanted to travel to all the capital cities of the world. They all looked beautiful with their skyscrapers, choice of fancy restaurants and fun activities. America always looked like a paradise in the movies where the good guys always win. Japan and China looked like beautiful and peaceful countries where everybody got along. They looked places where you could make your dreams come true. Compared to England, there was always something bad going on. We lost Princess Diana, people were heartbroken over boybands breaking up, and we were so close, yet so far from winning football tournaments.

I want to talk about the song that changed my life. When I first heard it, I was just a normal kid who lobed all kinds of music they heard n the radio. As kid, you think you know everything. One weekend I was watching the music channel, then out of the blue this song comes up. Instead of belting up ad-libs, or showing funky moves, there sits a man using spoken word to express his message. Behind him is a female drummer and guitar player.

At first I thought what the fuck is this? Why isn’t he singing? I was so used to people dancing in music videos. I could have easily flicked the channel and gone onto to watch something else, but I found the baseline to the song catchy and I continued listening to the song. I feel like this is the song that changed my life. It represents the end of seeing the world through the eyes of a child. The day when the facade rainbows and unicorns vanished.

The song paints a bigger picture of the outside world

This was the song that made me realise that I was only seeing the romantisied versions of cities in the media. I knew nothing about dictatorships and communism back then. It’s something a lot of schools seem to leave out. We learned about bath world wars at school, but as a hold, I thought it was good that war was over and we finally have peace in the world.

How wrong was I?

The song shows we have all lost a loved one

The first verse is where the man talks about the last time he ever sees his dad. It dosen’t explicitly say that his dad Is dead, but you get that feeling when he’s never mentioned again in the single version. The album version goes more into the problems a school and puberty.

The song shows us the grass isn’t greener on the other side

My story stops here. Let’s be clear this scenario is happening everywhere. And you ain’t going to nirvana or far-vana. You’re coming right back here to live out your karma With even more drama than previously.Seriously, just how many centuries have been waiting for somebody to make us free?

My favourite part of the song is the middle eight. It feels a lot like poetry and the spoken word is performed wonderfully. The music video is striking cause it shows Maxi Jazz talking to a brick wall then it cuts to scenes of kids reinacting execution squads. Really showing the consequences of war.