Buzznet Exclusive: 30 Seconds To Mars ‘This Is War with 100 Suns’ Music Video Premiere

Today Buzznet and our friends at PureVolume are the only two lucky outlets to unveil 30 Seconds To Mars’ “This is War with 100 Suns” music video, essentially an an extended version of the original “This is War” vid.

Buzznet’s been obsessed with 30STM since they first created their profile on the site in June of 2006 and Jared Leto himself began blogging here about the band’s adventures. We gave one another fist bumps when in December of 2009 30STM released their 3rd studio album, ‘This is War’ and Jared posted a Buzznet journal from Seattle:

Almost hard to believe the day has actually come.

Two years in the making, Flood, Lillywhite, 30mm lawsuits, global crises, a couple birthdays, a dog gone, lots of fun, a moment or two of panic, 10 million vocal takes, a new president, my same old car. There were days we didn’t know if it would actually be heard…

…Very happy it is finally out and there to share with the world and we are very grateful to all of you who were choosing between Susan Boyle, Xmas hits by Zamfir, and the new MARS…”

Susan Boyle vs. 30STM? Yeah, that was a realy tough choice. Seriously, we were stoked and couldn’t wait for more bada$$ music videos directed by Jared Leto, under the pseudonym Bartholomew Cubbins.

Then, more fist bumping when Buzznet joined Jared and about a hundred other bike riders in filming the video for “Kings and Queens.”

After what seemed like a long and maybe painful ride, in April 2011, over a year after the album came out, the band finally released their first music video not directed by Leto, for the second single on the album, ‘This Is War.’ When asked about it, Leto told MTV:

“’This Is War’ is the first video that I let someone else direct, and let’s just say we won’t be doing that again anytime soon.”

Now in an official statement to Buzznet Leto tells us:

“We are very proud, excited, and relieved to finally release the incredibly long awaited video for THIS IS WAR. Thank you all for your patience, your curiosity, and support and I have toiled relentlessly to bring this to life.

A song and video about the curse AND BLESSING of conflict, its ironic that this ended up one of the most conflict filled processes we have undertaken.

But like all conflict, it was a great teacher and we learned a lot.

Releasing this now, in this tumultuous but groundbreaking time in the middle east gave us some pause, as there are a few who could misconstrue the violent imagery, but there is a serendipitous nature to the timing as well.

We hope that recent events help to underscore the message within the project, that, THIS IS A SONG OF PEACE.”

And peace is exactly what the extended version exudes with the addition of quotes from Martin Luther King, Einstein and Plato at the very end, while the tender sounds of the 3rd single on the album, “100 Suns” plays.

As for why the video has two versions, there’s no word from the band. But we figured: why wouldn’t an album that took over two years to produce, has more than 2000 different covers, and includes thousands of voices from fans across at least 8 different countries, have two music videos for a single song? Seems only logical.

What do you think of the extended version of the video? Do you like any of the additions?

See also: The Evolution of 30STM