San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Aug 4 2005
System of a Down’s music reflects the times we live in … and if
that includes politics, so be it
By George Varga
UNION-TRIBUNE POP MUSIC CRITIC
August 4, 2005
When is a politically and socially charged rock band not a
politically and socially charged rock band?
ROBERT SEBREE
The members of System of a Down create hard-hitting music that
inspires thought as well as moshing. “When you want your music to be
timeless, you have to make your topics more broad,” says singer Serj
Tankian (second from right).
That’s the conundrum facing System of a Down, the Los Angeles-based
quartet of three Armenian-Americans and one Lebanese-American, who
combine nu-metal ferocity and prog-rock complexity with elements of
punk, goth, Armenian music and more. The uncompromising band has
always followed its muse, creating charged songs that skewer a
variety of timely targets with fire and finesse.
Some of the group’s most memorable numbers take aim at greed,
poverty, racism and decaying public morality. Other songs decry
government corruption, corporate brainwashing, blind consumerism and
the current American administration.
Witness the band’s recent hit, “B.Y.O.B.” (short for “Bring Your Own
Bombs”), which rails against the war in Iraq and features the
impassioned refrain: Why don’t presidents fight the war? / Why do
they always send the poor?
DATEBOOK
System of a Down, with the Mars Volta and Bad Acid Trip
7 p.m. Saturday; ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena, 3500 Sports
Arena Boulevard, Midway area $39.50-$44 (plus service charges); (619)
220-TIXS
Witness, too, System’s 2001 song “Deer Dance,” inspired by the
aggressive police reaction to protesters at the 2000 Democratic
National Convention in Los Angeles. In it, lead singer Serj Tankian
embraces the city’s disenfranchised citizens and laments an American
Dream gone bad, as he intones Beyond the Staples Center you can see
America / With its tired, poor, avenging disgrace / Peaceful, loving
youth against the brutality / Of plastic existence.
And there’s the rub, whether listeners or today’s glut of apolitical
pop-music performers realize it or not.
System isn’t a socially and politically charged rock band. Rather,
it’s a band whose music seems designed to reflect on the world at
large, at a time when modern life has grown increasingly politicized.
“Reflecting the times is exactly what we’re doing,” said Daron
Malakian, the band’s guitarist and main songwriter, from his Los
Angeles home. “Most artists now – and not just in music – have done a
piece here and there about what’s going on in the world. To me,
that’s no different than having a couple of (timely) songs on our
records. It doesn’t limit what we’re all about.”
A lyric sampler
The members of System of a Down are quick to note that not all of
their songs address current or past social and political issues. But
some of the Los Angeles band’s most potent songs, including its
recent radio hit “B.Y.O.B.” (“Bring Your Own Bombs”), leave little
doubt about their subject matter. Here are samples of lyrics from
each of the band’s four albums:
Revolution, the only solution / The armed response of an entire
nation / Revolution, the only solution / We’ve taken all your (abuse)
/ Now it’s time for restitution. – “P.L.U.C.K.,” from 1998’s “System
of a Down”
Minor drug offenders fill your prisons / You don’t even flinch / All
our taxes paying for your wars / Against the new non-rich. – “Prison
Song,” from 2001’s “Toxicity”
Four thousand hungry children leave us per hour / From starvation /
While billions are spent on bombs / Creating death showers / Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! / Every time you drop the bomb / You kill the god
your child has borne. Boom! – “Boom!”, from 2002’s “Steal This Album”
We’re the regulators that deregulate / We’re the animators that
de-animate / We’re the propagators of all genocide / Burning through
the world’s resources / Then we turn and hide. – “Cigaro,” from
2005’s “Mesmerize”
– GEORGE VARGA
Those sentiments were seconded by Tankian, the band’s energetic
frontman, in a separate phone interview from a tour stop in
Rotterdam, Holland.
“We speak of real life, that’s the point I always make,” said
Tankian, who with Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello co-founded Axis of
Power, a nonprofit, social justice organization. “We speak about many
issues in System, and most of our songs are not political. There are
personal stories and social things and humor. There are some
political things, but that doesn’t make us a political band.
“The Beatles had a lot of songs that dealt with social change and
political issues. But they weren’t tagged as a ‘political band,’ and
we seem to be. And that’s something that’s bothered us for a while.”
That said, Tankian is quick to stress that apathy must be avoided at
all costs, especially in these tumultuous times.
“Politics is not something we can ignore,” he said. “The way the
world is today, everything is kind of tied together; economics is
global and it affects our lives, whether we want to ignore it or
fight it.
“And that’s something most people don’t realize. They say: ‘I’m not
political,’ and I respect that. But politics does change and affect
our lives.”
Tankian and Malakian, who perform Saturday with System at San Diego’s
ipayOne Center, both discussed their band and its music at length.
But they responded very differently to some of the same questions.
Asked what his strongest and weakest points are, Tankian said curtly:
“I don’t know, man. I don’t think that way.”
Malakian, conversely, was eager to respond.
“Regarding my musicianship,” he said, “I can tell you a million
things, although I’ve got to say that the songs I take to System are
pretty good. Are they perfect? There’s no such thing. But if the
emotion comes across, I think that works. “As a musician, I don’t
think I’m the greatest guitar player. I’m a bigger fan of the drums
than I am the guitar; I just happen to play guitar. I play drums
almost every day at my house. I wrote a lot of songs behind the drum
kit, just having the music and vocals in my head, and playing the
rhythm. Music is an emotion and I put it out there.”
The differences between Tankian and Malakian were also visible when
they were asked to name some of their early musical heroes and
influences.
Tankian declined to answer. “I don’t have any heroes,” he said, “and
there are too many influences to name.”
But Malakian cited everyone from Kiss and Def Leppard to such
decidedly non-hard-rocking inspirations as the Partridge Family,
Christopher Cross and Wham!
“The greatest song of all time is Christopher Cross’ (sentimental
1980 ballad) ‘Sailing,’ ” Malakian said with infectious enthusiasm.
“My whole life, I’ve just really loved that song.”
Sentimental ballads are in short supply on System’s potent new album,
“Mesmerize,” which showcases music that is hard-hitting and
thoughtful, challenging yet accessible. It also demonstrates how well
the band – which also features drummer John Dolmayan and bassist
Shavo Odadjian – can use humor to make serious points. On “Cigaro,”
for example, mock, over-the-top operatic vocal flourishes provide
comic counterpoint to the barbed lyrics, which depict the war in Iraq
as a tragic game of one-upmanship by braying political leaders.
ROBERT SEBREE
System of a Down’s new album, “Mesmerize,” entered the national
Billboard album charts at No. 1 in May. Another album, “Hypnotize,”
is due before the end of the year. From left are guitarist Daron
Malakian, drummer John Dolmayan, singer Serj Tankian and bassist
Shavo Odadjian.
“Some people can take ‘Cigaro’ in a very political way, and some can
take it as a joke,” Tankian said. “Both points of view are valid.
“The type of people we are, if we can’t laugh at what we do on a
daily basis, it’s not worth doing. Even in more serious times, you
have to step back and look at things in perspective, and humor plays
an important role in that.”
The angular, ascending guitar lines on “Cigaro” are one example of
how the shared Armenian heritage of the band’s members influences
their work.
Much Armenian music employs a modal style (music based on modes, not
keys), which falls neatly between the modal styles used in Turkish
and Iranian music. The Armenian modal style, present in varying
degrees on previous System albums, also is evident on other
“Mesmerize” songs, most notably “Soldier Side,” “Lost in Hollywood”
and the polka-inflected “Radio/Video.”
“It’s something that has to do with being Armenian, and that goes for
everyone in the band,” Malakian said. “Growing up, I’d hear it at a
wedding or at church, certain church songs that are very old and
traditional for us, and they probably inspired me more than even the
wedding songs. But with my songs I can’t ever put my finger on one
kind of music, and say: ‘This is where it comes from.’ It’s like a
big mutation of all the stuff I grew up with.”
But what if the musical subtleties and lyrical metaphors of System’s
provocative music don’t get through to fans who prefer to just mosh?
“You put the food out,” Tankian said. “And some people eat less, and
some eat slowly and eat everything, and probably benefit more. You
can’t make people eat their food, you just put it on the table.”
Three that fought the power
At its worst, the mix of music and politics can result in simplistic
songs that sound smug and self-righteous. At its best, the same mix
can produce timeless music that inspires and provokes, be it the
stirring civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” and Bob Dylan’s
gripping “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” or more recent ones like
Eminem’s “Mosh.”
Here are three of the most memorable artists to fuse music and
politics over the past 30 years:
MC5: Their recording career lasted only from 1968 to 1972, but this
Detroit band soared with its blazing proto-punk-rock and incendiary
performances. The group’s high-decibel mantra of sex, drugs and
revolution in the streets led to police raids and FBI wiretaps, but
no matter. The MC5’s legacy lives on in its ferocious music – a key
link between garage-rock, punk and heavy metal.
Key albums: “Kick Out the Jams” (1968); “Back in the U.S.A.” (1970)
Choice cuts: “Starship,” “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Kick Out the Jams” (1968);
“Tonight,” “Looking at You,” “Call Me Animal,” “High School” (1970)
The Clash: With singer-guitarist Joe Strummer at the fore, this
seminal English band made music that seethed with passion and
intensity. The group also boldly expanded punk’s stylistic palette,
embracing reggae, roots-rock and even swing. Commercial success was
fleeting (1980’s “Train in Vain” and 1982’s “Rock the Casbah” are the
band’s sole U.S. radio hits), but Green Day, blink-182 and many more
owe a big debt to the Clash.
Key albums: “The Clash” 1977; “London Calling” (1979)
Choice cuts: “White Riot,” (1977); “White Man In Hammersmith Palais,”
“Tommy Gun” (1978); “London Calling,” “Spanish Bombs” (1979)
Public Enemy: No hip-hop group before or since has rapped with such
ferocity, or produced such raging music. Eschewing empty odes to
bling-bling and booty, P.E. vividly chronicled various political and
social ills. Chuck D., the group’s masterful MC, espoused black
nationalism and took aim at corruption and inequities. Hank Shocklee,
P.E.’s in-house sonic visionary, gave the music a visceral punch that
puts most other hip-hop – then and now – to shame.
Key albums: “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” (1988);
“Fear of a Black Planet” (1990)
Choice cuts: “Bring the Noise,” “Don’t Believe the Hype,” (1988);
“Fight the Power” (1989); “911 Is a Joke” (1990)
– GEORGE VARGA
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress