"Hell in Paradise" is a song by Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

 from the 1985 album "Starpeace

Starpeace

Starpeace is Yoko Ono's 1985 concept album, designed to spread a message of peace around the world as an opposition to Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense system...

". The lyrics are about mankind's perceived idea of hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

, despite living in the paradise

Paradise

Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...

 that Ono considers to be planet Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

. After "Walking On Thin Ice", it was her biggest hit of the 1980s, charting at #16 on the US dance chart. Ono went on hiatus after Starpeace; this would be her last proper single until 2001's remix of "Open Your Box

Open Your Box

Open Your Box is a song by Yoko Ono, released on 12 March 1971 as the B-side of John Lennon's single Power to the People. It was remixed and re-released by Orange Factory in 2001....

".

In 2004, the track was revived as part of the ONO remix

Remix

A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

 project, and reached #4 on the same chart twenty years on.

Music video

The video was directed by Polish filmmaker Zbigniew Rybczyński

Zbigniew Rybczynski

Zbigniew Rybczyński is a Polish filmmaker who has won numerous prestigious industry awards both in the United States and internationally. He was also a teacher of cinematography, and digital cinematography. Currently he is a researcher of blue and greenscreen compositing technology at Ultimatte...

. The music video won the award "Most Innovative Video" at Billboard Music Video Awards

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 in 1986.

Track listing

US 12" single

A1. "Hell in Paradise" (Club Version) – 6:52

B1. "Hell in Paradise" (Dub Version) – 8:52

B2. "Hell in Paradise" (Single Version) - 3:34

Charts

>

Chart (1985)	Peak position
US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	12
US Hot Dance Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes...  (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	16
Chart (2004)	Peak position