Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart - The King and Queen of America

JUL 01 1990 · 12:00

Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart - The King and Queen of America (1990) Director: Willy Smax Era: Late New Wave / Synth-Pop Twilight (1990) - Final chapter of Eurythmics' original run, coinciding with the release of their seventh and last studio album before a decade-long hiatus, set against a backdrop of waning synth-pop dominance and rising alternative rock. High curatorial value as the final major music video from Eurythmics' original active period, offering a time-capsule of how British pop artists critically processed American cultural hegemony at the close of the 1980s. The combination of confirmed directorial provenance (Willy Smax, IMDb-verified), documented production context, strong quantitative saturation and pacing metrics, and its inclusion in the 1991 Greatest Hits video compilation make this a Tier 1.5 research and archive asset. Context: Released as the third UK single from Eurythmics' seventh and final studio album 'We Too Are One' (RCA Records, September 1989), the video arrived in January 1990 at the close of a decade defined by Anglo-American pop exchange and the global dominance of MTV. Written by Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart and produced by Stewart with Jimmy Iovine, the song offers a satirical European perspective on American cultural excess, cheerleaders, evangelical preachers, Reaganite celebrity politics, and shopping mall consumerism, treating them as hollow spectacle. Despite not being released as a US single, the video received significant MTV airplay, underscoring the network's role as a cross-Atlantic cultural conduit. The single reached number 29 on the UK Singles Chart and charted across Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and elsewhere in Europe. The release period also marked the effective end of Eurythmics as an active duo until their 1999 reunion album 'Peace.' Director notes: Directed under the Willy Smax name, confirmed by IMDb (tt6768902). The video was shot in a shopping mall setting and features Lennox and Stewart in rapid costume changes parodying archetypal American pop-culture figures. Dave Stewart has publicly described the concept as an attempt to capture 'the archetypal costumes and hairdos by which America gets perceived in Europe on TV,' including cheerleaders, Elvis-like characters, a TV preacher, and couples in nylon jogging suits. The video was released in January 1990 (UK single) and April 1990 (US), and was later edited into the Eurythmics: Greatest Hits compilation video in 1991. Smax had a pre-existing personal friendship with Stewart dating to at least the mid-1980s, having also directed the 1986 Eurythmics video for 'Missionary Man.'