System of a Down. Unless you’re a nu-metal freak like me, you’ve probably never heard of them. By now, all of their most well-known albums are more than two decades old. If you’ve read my previous articles, it should be no surprise that one of my favorite bands has “unc status.”
System of a Down’s music is timeless, and why is that? Because it’s about war. And if you’ve played the Fallout games or watched the series, then you know, “War never changes.”
Many System fans are half speculating, half joking when they say: new war, new album.
The last time System of a Down released a new album was in 2005, with both Hypnotize in May and Mesmerize in November. Both albums are conspicuous in their criticism of the government and of war in general.
Since then, lead singer Serj Tankian has taken a step away from the band, despite criticism from the band’s drummer, John Dolmayan, who wanted to ride the high of their success.
Aside from the band’s supposed in-fighting, it doesn’t take away from the message of the band’s music, no war, anti-billionaire, anti-global leaders and direct criticisms of some of the most powerful systems in the world.
The most blatant of these is B.Y.O.B.
Now this isn’t the fun party saying for bring your own booze, no not System of a Down, in this case it’s “bring your own bombs.” A commentary on the Global War on Terror that started after the attacks on Sept. 11.
The song features lyrics like “dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine,” a reference to the propaganda released to get soldiers to enlist during the war; and others such as “Why don’t presidents fight the war, why do we always send the poor?” a clear statement about sending people off to wars they didn’t start.
Should we correlate these messages to our time, 21 years later, we don’t have to think very hard to see the relevance. System of a Down was never anti-soldier, they’re anti-war, and to be frank, we’re sending soldiers to fight in a war that has no American impact when we could put President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a ring and let ‘em duke it out.
They even wrote an entire song about the unnecessary deaths of soldiers called “Soldier Side,” featuring powerful lyrics about sending soldiers off knowing that they’ll be coming home in a casket.
If you truly take the time to listen to System of a Down’s lyrics, you’ll find so much more than the screaming that ensues when you press play on a random song. And I’m not trying to be one of those “you just don’t understand” people, but really, you don’t. Unless you do, I don’t know you people.
Take “Cigaro” for example. A song about how our world leaders drain us and our planet for every single cent we have and then move on to the next best thing while we suffer for scraps.
If you put on this song, the first lyric you’d hear is “My cock is much bigger than yours.” My point exactly. It’s so easy to turn System of a Down off if you don’t really know the lyrics because the song continues like this, “We’re cool, in denial We’re the cruel regulators smoking cigaro…”
If you do decide to start listening, here are some of my favorites: “Hypnotize,” “Toxicity,” “Question!,” “Cigaro,” and, of course, because I’m a journalism major, “Radio/Video.”
So, if you’re as upset about the state of the world as I am right now, maybe it’s time to tune into some music as angry as you are. Trust, you won’t regret it.
