Translator - Sleeping Snakes

What this video is

Released in 1982 on Translator's debut LP Heartbeats and Triggers (415 Records/Columbia), 'Sleeping Snakes' emerged at the height of the American anti-nuclear movement and the early MTV era. The video's explicitly political anti-nuke messaging led MTV to drop it from rotation, a notable act of editorial censorship in the network's first year of operation. Other broadcasters continued to air the clip. The band,…

Why it matters

A rare documented case of early MTV political censorship, 'Sleeping Snakes' represents the collision between the emerging music-video promotional format and socially engaged guitar rock. It stands as an artifact of the San Francisco new wave scene's ideological ambitions and the tension between…