The Christians Official Video For 'Born Again' — The Christians Official Video For 'Born Again'

JUL 01 1988 · 12:00

The Christians Official Video For 'Born Again' — The Christians Official Video For 'Born Again' (1988) Era: Late British Pop-Soul Boom (1987–1988) - Peak of sophisti-pop and socially conscious UK soul on Island Records, coinciding with Thatcherite social critique in mainstream pop High. This is the official promotional video for the final single of one of the most commercially successful UK debut albums of the 1980s, from a culturally significant Liverpool band whose work documents the intersection of British soul, post-punk social conscience, and Thatcherite-era pop. The video's production aesthetic — warm tungsten lighting, restrained performance framing, no-frills staging — offers a counter-archetype to the high-gloss excess of contemporaneous 80s pop promos, making it a valuable document of an alternative visual mode in UK music television of the period. Context: Released in the spring of 1988 as the fifth and final single from The Christians' landmark debut album, 'Born Again' arrived at a moment of peak commercial visibility for the Liverpool soul-pop group. The band emerged from a post-punk, socially aware Merseyside scene, blending gospel-influenced harmonies with lyrics reflecting life under Thatcher. Their debut album had already spent months in the UK Top 5, making Island Records' highest-selling debut by any artist. The 'Born Again' single reached #25 UK, rounding out a run of five consecutive Top 40 hits. The video's warm, understated performance aesthetic reflects the band's deliberate anti-glam stance — positioning soulful authenticity against the more synthetic, heavily produced pop of the era. Director notes: The official video for 'Born Again' is a performance-based promo released in conjunction with the single's UK chart entry in April 1988 (peak #25, 7 weeks on chart). The track appears on the 1987 Island Records debut album 'The Christians,' produced by Laurie Latham. The video was included as a bonus on multiple single formats across 1987–88 pressing variants catalogued on Discogs. Runtime of approximately 4m32s is consistent with single edit length.