SENATOR FINDS UNLIKELY SUPPORT FROM METAL BAND
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer
Scripps Howard News Service, DC
April 25 2006
WASHINGTON — Concern over Armenian genocide is bringing together
soft-spoken Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and one of the loudest heavy
metal bands in the business this week.
The Armenian-American group System of A Down, known for an eclectic
repertoire and rapid, screaming lyrics, is scheduled to visit Allard’s
office Wednesday afternoon.
The visit is to thank Allard for co-sponsoring symbolic legislation
casting a spotlight on the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million ethnic
Armenians under Ottoman Empire rule in the early 20th Century.
The band, known for political lyrics, has made remembering the Armenian
genocide a cause celebre, and its Web site urges fans worldwide to
pressure their representatives to remember crimes against humanity.
On the surface, Allard and the band would seem to have little in
common.
While Allard is quiet and conservative, the band is, uhm, not.
Its song list includes the song “F_- the System.” One song, “B.Y.O.B.,”
includes the lyrics “Why don’t presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?”
And then there are profanity-laced songs like “Cigaro,” which includes
bragging references to various male physical attributes and repeated
lines like, “My s_- stinks much better than yours.” (That’s one of
the more family-friendly lines.)
So is the band’s music on Allard’s iPod?
“Sen. Allard does not yet own an iPod,” chief of staff Sean Conway
reports.
“Sen. Allard is aware the band is heavy metal and has strong ‘political
lyrics’ in their songs, but he admires the band members for their
standing up for what they believe in, and for their strong support
of the Armenian Genocide Resolution,” Conway said.