Sex Prison Tool: The story behind the song

“When we signed, the most important thing to us was creative control,” guitarist and artistic director Adam Jones said of his band's relationship with their label Zoo in a 2008 interview with Revolver. “We said, 'Well, if we take less money, can we control the music?' The poster said: “Yes, no problem!” And we said, “If we take less money, can we have the final say on the videos.” They said: “Sure.”

At the time, Adam was working in Hollywood designing sets, makeup and special effects for big-budget films, including Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. He wanted to be able to use his filmmaking acumen to create quirky and innovative clips that were more like short films than traditional music videos.

The stop-motion animation in the weird and wonderful video for the band's 1994 hit Sober turned many MTV viewers to Tool, but it was the more disturbing follow-up, Prison Sex, that really showcased Adam's cinematic skills. But creating the clip was not easy at all. When the people from Zoo first saw Cure, they asked Adam not to do another stop-motion themed video, especially if it didn't star the band members.

You may like

“There were a lot of disagreements with the record company, because they still wanted to do things the traditional way,” Adam said. “They'll say, 'Well, if you don't show up in your video, we won't pay for it.' So we say: What do you mean? We're supposed to have creative control. “It was typical, sticky nonsense, but in the end they gave up.”

(Image credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

Frontman Maynard James Keenan wrote “Sex in Prison” about the tragic cycle of domestic violence. People who were sexually abused when they were young are more likely to become abusers later in life than those who were never abused.

In the first verse, Maynard sings, “I've got my hands tied, my head down and my eyes closed / And my throat wide open,” introducing the subject in no uncertain terms. In the lines following the bridge, the victim becomes the aggressor: “I've found some kind of temporary sanity in this / The shit and the blood and the cum on my hands / I've come full circle.”

“We were still there at 3 a.m. when the earthquake hit Los Angeles.”

Adam Jones

Adam, who directed the Prison Sex video, captures the menacing and horrific tone of Maynard's lyrics using dark visual metaphors about physical and mental dismantling and then abandonment. The clip does not contain any graphic violence or sex. Instead, stop-motion animation used monstrous creatures, which wouldn't be out of place in a Tim Burton film, to convey manipulation, confinement, abuse, and desperation.

The Prison Sex video shows a sinuous, sadistic, feminine black leather creature taunting, terrorizing and mutilating a legless marble robot she keeps in a cement staircase. At one point in the video, the robot sees a buzzing wasp and traps it in a bottle, suggesting that it, too, is now capable of cruelty.

Adam began working on the Prison Sex video with Fred Storr, who directed Sober. They began filming in January 1994, and as they created sweeping frame-by-frame shots to match the song's music, they found themselves faced with the even more worrying situation of an impending deadline.

Tool Adam Jones and Maynard James Keenan on stage in 1993 (Image credit: Ebbett Roberts/Redferns)

“We were still there at 3 a.m. when the 1994 earthquake happened [magnitude 6.7, which killed more than 60 people and injured more than 9,000] “Hit Los Angeles,” Adam recalls. “We were on the second floor of this old brick building that we owned [American filmmaker] Cecil B. DeMille, and he wasn't very strong.

You may like

“The rooms started shaking, and before I even knew what was happening, Fred ran to stand in the doorway, because that's what you're supposed to do in an earthquake. But the other five of us who were there just ran and plowed him over and left him on the ground.

“It was the worst thing that ever happened to me, and the best thing. When I looked out, I could see downtown Hollywood, and all the transformers were blowing. They were popping, so there were lightning strikes everywhere and it looked like the city was being bombed. It was so beautiful.”

When the aftershocks stopped, Adam returned to the studio to finish filming. He then called his friend, video director and Failure singer Ken Andrews, and asked him to help edit the video.

“I was already familiar with the song, so I knew what it was about,” Ken says. “I also visited Adam on set, so I knew what the puppets looked like and I knew they would be very heavy.”

All the footage was transferred to tape, and Adam then met Ken at his home in nearby Woodland Hills, California. The two planned to spend a few days editing on a rented AVID machine. Naturally, they did not expect the resulting delay.

TOOL – Prison Sex (Official Video) – YouTube Watch On

“Everything was set up, so I asked Adam for the first shot,” Ken recalls. “He had one of my guitars and was playing it, so I grabbed a guitar. Suddenly there were two days of playing the guitar and no editing was done. Finally he said, 'Damn, we're running out of time.'” So the last three days of actual work were a bit of a mad scramble.

Once Adam and Ken started editing, the process was smooth, the results were great and the duo met their deadline and sent the clip to the record company.

The Prison Sex video was widely praised for its artistry and innovation, and received an MTV Music Video Awards nomination for Best Visual Effects. Ironically, the channel banned the clip after only a few plays, since the station's standards and practices department deemed it too disturbing even though it contained no blood or nudity.

Despite the resulting lack of airplay, the MTV ban was a feather in Tool's cap.

“Part of their whole business was to do everything differently, and they don't follow the rules, especially the rules of the music industry,” Ken says. “Very early on, they gave a healthy dose of sarcasm and had their issues with the industry from day one. They never played it cool when it came to recording stuff and business stuff. They were always very independent.”

Originally published in Metal Hammer 326 (August 2019)

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos