Violent Pornography...
Everyone who reads this or who even remotely knows me at all knows that I believe lyrics are just as important as phrases/harmony/musicality.
Most people also know that I really enjoy System of a Down.
What some people don't know is that I enjoy this band with a caveat. I DO NOT like it when they are political or when they try to make any sort of policy statement.
System of a Down became obviously political with Boom! from Steal this Album.
Boom, boom, boom, boom,
Every time you drop the bomb,
You kill the God your child has born.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
It was around the time of the very political invasion of Iraq and the band began to use their media influence to share their views. The video depicts the unmistakable cartoon of Georgie.
I want to make it clear that I don't always hate it when artists use their work to express their political views. Chopin's Revolutionary Etude is all about his displeasure with Russia's invasion of Poland and that score is probably one of my favourites from the era. The difference is in how the artist structures the work to get the point across without being condescending or forceful. Now, before I am told that Chopin's compositions did not include lyrics I will simply state that his frustration with the political issue was demonstrated in cascading scales with determined chordal progressions. The product succinctly depicts emotions of anger, pride, sadness and frustration. It's the same thing.
The most important factor in being a successful artist, in my humble opinion (especially in mainstream art), is to guide the listener/viewer to naturally draw the exact conclusion you want or an acceptable variation thereof. When finished listening to Chopin's Revolutionary Etude I feel how Chopin intended me to feel. System of a Down just pisses me off.
Violent Pornography from Mezmerize is even more to the point.
It's a violent pornography
Chocking chicks and sodomy
The kinda shit that's on your TV
Now, I'm not a fan of this type of thing but I also know that it's not readily available on my tv. I'd have to look for it and I can guarantee you that it won't be on today's youporn listing.
I want clever lyrics. I want lyrics that don't spoon feed me. I can think. I can conclude. I think political opinions and social issues are much more complicated than the way they are expressed by System of a Down in a three minute song that spends most of its time repeating said lyrics. Sure, System of a Down may be exposing naive listeners to issues that would otherwise not be considered but I highly doubt that they are guiding the listeners to think for themselves.
I much prefer it when political issues are a secondary theme to music. System of a Down needs to stop thinking they are being clever and stick to their material from their pre-mainstream days.
And just for that, I am removing the song from my daily play list.
