Boom!

"Boom!"
Song by System of a Down from the album Steal This Album!
Released	November 26, 2002
Format	CD, Airplay
Recorded	2002
Genre	Alternative metal
Length	2:15
Label	American/Columbia
Writer	Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian
Producer	Rick Rubin, Daron Malakian
Steal This Album! track listing

"Boom!" is a protest song from System of a Down's third album, Steal This Album!. The song describes the uselessness of bombs and warfare, and compares how thousands can die from starvation and poverty when billions are spent creating bombs and weaponry. It also links the use of military action with corporate globalization and quotes the title of one of Noam Chomsky's books: "Manufacturing Consent is the name of their game. ", which is a reference to the media's role in war. The bridge of the song is based on the movement "Mars, The Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst's orchestral suite The Planets.

Music video[]

For the music video, the band worked with Michael Moore, writer and director of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 (and the videoclip contains a footage of an Iraqi riding a bycicle, which is the same boy from the Fahrenheit movie). The video incorporated most of its footage from the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest, showing interviews with the participants. The video also features a short satirical cartoon of George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, Tony Blair and Osama bin Laden riding rockets over a city. The rockets turn on the leaders and explode safely in the sky, causing peace sign-shaped smoke clouds.^[1] The video was banned from MTV Europe after a while. ^[2] VH1 named the song as the 18th greatest protest song ever. ^[3]

"The video for the song was meant as a protest against the war in Iraq," lead singer Serj Tankian states. "We meant to release it before the war began, but ended up releasing it on the day it did, so it was basically kind of pointless." On Youtube, the video has over 12 million views.

Lyrics:[]

[Verse 1: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]

I've been walking through your streets

Where all your money's earning

Serj Tankian talking with some protester during the shooting of Boom!

Where all your buildings crying and clueless neckties working

Revolving fake lawn houses, housing all your fears

Desensitized by TV

Overbearing advertising, god of consumerism

And all your crooked pictures looking good

Mirrorism, filtering information for the public eye

Designed for profiteering your neighbor, what a guy

[Chorus: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Every time you drop the bomb

You kill the God your child has born

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

[Verse 2: Serj Tankian & Daron Malakian]

Modern globalization, coupled with condemnations

Unnecessary death

Matador corporations

Puppeting your frustrations with the blinded flag

Manufacturing consent is the name of the game

The bottom line is money, nobody gives a fuck

4000 hungry children leave us per hour from starvation

While billions are spent on bombs, creating death showers!

Trivia[]

This song has only been played live once, due to the song consisting mainly Serj talking with very little else.
There is no footage of this song being played live.

Notes and references[]

↑ System of a Down and Michael Moore Join Forces for "BOOM!" Video. System of a Down Online (fansite). Retrieved June 13, 2006.
↑ Banned from MTV. The New York Times. Retrieved Nov 10, 2007.
↑ http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/68962/episode_countdown.jhtml VH1 - 18th Best protest Song Retrieved Nov 10, 2007.

[1] System of a Down and Michael Moore Join Forces for "BOOM!" Video. System of a Down Online (fansite). Retrieved June 13, 2006.

[2] Banned from MTV. The New York Times. Retrieved Nov 10, 2007.

[3] ttp://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/68962/episode_countdown.jhtml VH1 - 18th Best protest Song Retrieved Nov 10, 2007.

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