Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#14: New Order “True Faith”
“True Faith”—and New Order in general—is a bit of an obvious choice in this music-video retrospective shitstorm, but you have to hand it to them: This clip, choreographed by Frenchman Philippe Decouflé, veers perilously close to featuring mimes and ballet, yet it’s undeniably good due to being Art. That’s basically what Bernard Sumner and his bandmates did throughout the ’80s; making dance pop and presenting it as high art was their particular brand of genius. Issued as a single in 1987, “True Faith” always had the allure of being a peculiarly personal song for Sumner, no matter that it’s probably a song about drugs rather than love. (See also: Spiritualized.) That “True Faith” hasn’t suffered the indignity of being covered to the extent that “Blue Monday” and “Bizarre Love Triangle” have only adds to its appeal.
