Monday, April 11, 2005

New System of a Down

It has been on the radio for a month or so, but I finally listened to the new SOAD song on the radio (translation, my kids were not in the car). As a big fan of their music and the fact that they took the activist baton from RATM, I listened with interest.

It is much less mainstream than I would have thought. They throw many styles (disco, dance, hardcore, metal) into one song and change directions numerous times. The vocals are wild. In this song, called BYOB (bring your own bombs), the socially conscience band (which is presently attempting to spread the word about the genocide in Darfur) leave no doubt as to their feelings on the war in Iraq.

"The song, which questions a president's involvement in the business of war, balances a near-R&B groove - "Everybody's going to the party have a real good time/Dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine" - with the song's recurring demand, "Why don't presidents fight the war?/Why do they always send the poor?/Why do they always send the poor?"

In your face, but a good question for all of the supporters of the war in Iraq who refuse to put their money where their mouth is by enlisting or sending their own children. I mean if you really believe in something, do it. Sign up. Drop out of seminary or college. Leave your church job. There are recruiters in every town and enlistments are down (I guess the poor are getting tired of fighting this war for the rich).

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