English indie rock band XTC’s ‘Dear God‘, absolutely one of my favorite songs from the 1980s, just showed up on the soundtrack of the crime drama Stumptown this week — Stumptown, Season 1, Episode 16 , “All Quiet on the Dextern Front“.
The anti-religion track was first released in 1986 as the B-side of the band’s single ‘Grass‘, the lead single from the band’s ninth studio album Skylarking, but was not included on the album itself.
If it had not been for American alternative rock radio station DJs playing ‘Dear God‘ like crazy at the time (I was one of them!), the song would have gone unnoticed in the UK and elsewhere.
Once XTC‘s record label realized how popular the song was becoming in the U.S. however, they re-released Skylarking, this time with ‘Dear God‘ on it.
The track went on to become one of the most iconic XTC songs ever released, and was ultimately placed on several critics’ lists as one of the best alternative tracks of the 1980s.
Along with its appearance this week on Stumptown, XTC’s ,’Dear God‘ has previously been played on the soundtracks of iZombie, Weeds and the movies It and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
The music video for the song also went on to win the Billboard Best Video award a year after its release.
A video that opens with the young boy who sings the track’s opening lyrics, followed by lead singer Andy Partridge. Both are standing at the bottom of a large tree populated by people of various ages, and representing those “made in God’s image”.
The video continues on with Partridge singing about how we could all do with a lot less religion and the poison it brings and how he, for one, does not believe in God:
You’re always letting us humans down
The wars you bring, the babes you drown
Those lost at sea and never found
And it’s the same the whole world ’round
The hurt I see helps to compound
The Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Is just somebody’s unholy hoax.
He then attempts to beat down the tree with hammers, in an attempt to kill mankind’s obsession with God.
‘Dear God‘ is not only one of the most perfectly written songs XTC produced in their more than 30-year career, it is one of the best British alternative rock songs ever released.
Listen to XTC’s ‘Dear God‘ as featured on Stumptown in the song’s award-winning official music video below. You can also hear their album Skylarking in the Spotify player below that — I recommend you do, as the album is one of XTC’s best.
Related reading: And don’t miss yet more superb alternative music from Stumptown with Matchbox 20’s ‘Push‘