Comments: 7

• Xneff from ChicagoJere is why nobody takes humanities academics seriously. Billy was out of his mind on booze and blow when he wrote it. The video was shot by a hack who is probably fighting off 30+ years of sexual harassment claims.
• Sim from Cleveland RocksBilly’s rockingest sing.
• Jere from OhioThe song seems to have components that also appear in Cordwainer Smith's great science fiction story, "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell." In the story, a girl by the name of C'Mell, who was created with cat rather than human DNA (this is one of the conceits of the entire series, the creation of people from animal dna) meets a rather strait-laced, buttoned down administrator by the name of Jestecost. Together, they infiltrate a bank of secret information called the Bell. A white haired being, derived from Eagle DNA, and called EteliKeli, is thelepathically linked to C'Mell and, when she touches Jestecost, to him as well. Through Jestecost's eyes, Etelikeli receives information showing the plans for persecution of the underpeople and good places where they may hide. The government is unable to shut the Bell down while it is releasing information to Etekeli through C'Mell and Jestecost.
  
  Looking at the video, we have the Jestecost figure in the apartment. The catlike girl comes in, does her dancing, and, at the end, shares a kiss with the apartment dweller, as she does in the story with Jestecost. And we also have a machine that, once activated, cannot be shut down. And presiding over all this chaos is a white haired being, wearing a cross (when he opens his shirt), who more or less directs the entire story of the video (not literally, but as a character within in), just as Etelikil, representing Cordwainer Smith's Christian faith, directs much of the action in this story. I think the plates falling off the artwork symbolize that part of Smith's story that shows the Underpeople (those derived from animal DNA) have shattered the hegemony of the government that wants to persecute them.
  
  When I first saw the video, shortly after its premiere on MTV, my first response, literally, was "This is about C'Mell." I had been reading the story quite intently for scholarly purposes some time before, and it was still uppermost in my mind. I cannot prove that Smith's story was the source of the video, or even of its pattern of components, but there sure does seem to be some parallels.
• Marc from -, MdFirst-ever interview with the girl in this video, including what she's doing now and never-published pics: http://noblemania.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-girl-in-video-cradle-of-love-1990.html
• Camille from Toronto, OhI loved the song and video at the time of its popularity, although I could swear it came out way before 1990. I never thought twice about the words, but these kinds of lyrics would never make it in today's society because of its subject matter and that's a good thing.
• Stormy from Northport, MiWhen I first heard this song I thought it was about a brother that had a thing for his sister.
  eew.
• Sarah from Gloversville, Nythis has got to be my fav idol song. During an interview billy said that he had "rocked the cradle" i thought that was interesting. oh well. i still love billy idol!

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