Overcome

Within 48 hours of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, documentarians Camera Planet pieced together footage taken from the site, which had already come to be known as "Ground Zero".  They submitted the video to VH1, with Live's 'Overcome' as a backing track.  The network aired it without hesitation, before receiving clearance from the band or its label.  The following message would scroll along the bottom of the screen:

"HOW TO HELP:  TO DONATE MONEY TO THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS OF TUESDAY'S ATTACKS:  UNITED WAY (THEN A PHONE NUMBER)...AMERICAN RED CROSS (THEN A PHONE NUMBER)...SALVATION ARMY (PHONE NUMBER)...CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA (PHONE NUMBER)"

When Ed Kowalczyk, Live's frontman and 'Overcome's songwriter, saw the video later in the week, he eagerly gave MTV Networks permission to use the song.  In fact, the footage was later re-edited and became part the track's "official" video.




It seemed as if the video played every ten minutes, like clockwork, on every single music video channel on cable television.  In the week immediately following September 11th, I must have seen it over a hundred times.  The video has become one of my strongest memories.

It has been 12 years, and I still can't wrap my head around it sometimes.  It's so surreal....