Not that we want the System of a Down fans back for a rematch, but Something Awful has some thoughts on Mezmerize that bla bla bla here’s the lede:
All I ask is that you think critically about the music you listen to. It?s not so hard. Next time you put on a record, close your eyes and ignore how cool the band?s logo would look on a t-shirt. Allow the music to be processed by the part of your brain that does your taxes (or your math homework if you?re too young to work for The Man). After a few minutes, ask yourself ?is this terrible?? If you?re listening to a System of a Down record, you will either think to yourself ?wait a minute, yes, this is terrible,? or you will be unable to think things to yourself because you were kicked in the head by a horse when you were a child. If the former is true, congratulations. You?ve graduated. You?re now a discriminating non-idiot, and you can fend for yourself in the big scary world of adult tastes. If the latter is true, you can probably consider yourself exempt from this article, because you?re an adorable man-child halfwit who just wants hugs.
 |
 |
It also helps to allow the music to be processed by the part of your brain that doesn’t listen to pretentious music critics.
Yeah, seriously, fuck that. I’m at the top of my class at one of America’s most prestigious public universities and I love System of a Down. My music collection is massive and ranges from hipster faves like Architecture in Helsinki and CYHSY to Sun Ra to Dillinger Escape Plan. God damn people are retarded.
Honestly, I liked some of their other stuff, but if you’re writing political lyrics they probably shouldn’t sound like they belong in the “Musings” section of the co-op newsletter.
Duplo: Pre-school version of Lego.
You guys don’t get Something Awful at all do you?
Morons.
To the writer of the article: do you have stairs in your house?
system of a down syndrome.
ahhh, definitely not Duplo Rock, more like Lincoln Log Rock… uh, do they still make those?
so true, one of the worst albums/bands i have heard in a long time and i listen to alot of music.
“and you can fend for yourself in the big scary world of adult tastes”
Adult Tastes? Is that what it’s called when everyone pretends to like bands like LCD Soundsystem and Clap Your Hands (Say Bleh)?
You know… I really didn’t have much of an opinion about System of a Down until all the hipster blogs started this weirdly urgent campaign to trash them. Considering this recent development, I’ve got to assume the band is doing *something* right.
Plus they do an amusing cover of Berlin’s “The Metro”.
If the author of that article uses this site at all, you’ll love part B of definition 1. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/subjective
Personally I think system of a down is a terrible band and, i’d rather listen to a child crying. But I’ve got a couple friends who like them, and i think no less of them for it.
something awful is a joke site. people at stereogum might enjoy these articles by the same author:
Radiohead Sucks
http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1759
Coldplay Sucks
http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1772
How to be a Music Snob
http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2424
Greatest Albums Ever
http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2952
get it?!
Dr. David Thorpe would probably have a field day with Nate’s comment. I kind of wish I had the eloquence to do it myself, but it takes a NASA rocket scientist such as Dr. Thorpe to truly express my feelings.
There’s indeed a distressing new trend on Stereogum of posts questioning and/or trashing without valid reason a number of bands–really, though, shouldn’t this site devote itself more to promotion? Wouldn’t that be a better cause?
And, if you replaced the name “System of a Down” with any other band name, the generic template article would hold the same lack of meaning. Just a mean-spirited rant that gives all music appreciators of all stripes a bad name.
Unless you have read the works of Dr. David Thorpe before, it is not worth your time to comment and attempt to trash his article. It only makes you sound ignorant. Your Band Sucks is a humor column written from the perspective of the world’s biggest music asshole. More than anything else his humor is meant to make fun of people like Nate and Eric and Joey Headset who take their musical tastes way too seriously. So chill out.
but not while listening System of a Down. Those guys blow.
from the “Radiohead Sucks” article: “We all have a favorite band. I won’t tell you what mine is, because even if you’d heard of them, which you haven’t, you couldn’t even begin to understand them. I like my favorite band because they’re great. However, you like your favorite band because the hot girl at the record store likes them. You like them because that cool friend of yours with the black-framed glasses and the emotionally damaged girl on his arm. Who knows, maybe you?re pathetic enough to like them because the goddamned Internet likes them.”
(we also get email that accuses us of loving everything so we’ll get more toot from Evan Dando or something…)
radiohead is one of my all time faves but i gotta say i do love some good satire and laughed my ass off at the ‘lazy eyed gnome’ comment by the picture of Mr. Yorke! definitely some funny shit… gotta lighten up once in awhile…
Regardless of the column being a joke, System of a Down is the 2nd worse rock band around in my books. Green Day is #1.
But seriously, System of a Down is absolutely terrible. And I also don’t like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! or You say party! We say die!, etc.
System of a Down deserves to be trashed.
They are successful, why do their fans feel a need to defend them?
dave f,
Loved loved loooved the dictionary link.. Keep those look-ups coming!
The SomethingAwful music reviews are a joke whose entire shtick consists of pretentious slagging of any band that comes to mind as popular; posting about them means you’ve fallen for it. It’s sort of like the Aristocrats gag of music criticism, except that they don’t tell you the punchline when they’re done.
Ultimately, the only thing this topic can possibly do is to bring back the infamous System Of A Down war of early 2005…
And thus, I’ve got two words for the people who have been posting pointless spew about how “they blow” or are “the 2nd worse (sic) rock band around in my books.”:
Not helping.
It’s one thing to not like System Of A Down. It’s a perfectly rational thing. Matthew Perpetua doesn’t like them; they’re not a type of music he cares for. That doesn’t mean there’s any less validity to his opinion. But if you’re going to post in a thread that has ostensibly become about System Of A Down, goodness knows you should at least bring some reason for your disdain. Tell us WHY you don’t like them. Is it the potentially grating vocals? Is it the riff-heavy tendencies, the poppiness of the songs? Is it because they’ve likely got a quite large number of less-than-intelligent fans who don’t help matters with today’s underachieving music industry?
Is it because “Lost In Hollywood” is a ripoff of Radiohead’s “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”?
It’s one thing to hate something and post against it, but please, if you’re going to make an argument, give us something to chew on, some reason to consider why we should agree with you.
Yes, I am a fan of System Of A Down; I have bought every album thus far. But I can surely understand how other people could get really sick of them. This is the nature of argument; either you can see a bit of the other side’s point of view and debate peacefully, or you fail to see it (either through narrow-mindedness or its own incorrectness), and it turns into a shouting match.
I believe, myself, that A) System Of A Down’s music, while difficult to get into, is generally very good; B) it’s alright to disagree with this, since tastes vary, and even people who do like their style of music may disdain their work for one reason or another; C) if you have to pick on them for something, here’s a nice tidbit nonfans wouldn’t know: The silver writing around the Mezmerize disc includes the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning. Hardly fits the band’s politics, you know; right down the same line as Black Rebel DRM Club.:)
Songs from 1980… Get ‘em on my blog.
Excellent comments Byron and a lot of truth to your words!
For me it is the vocals and the heavy riffs that remind me of ‘heavy metal’ that these days my ears are not tuned up for.. i will admit though, that i have not listened to enough of them to make truly accurate commentary… and i will also admit (although i hate to admit this one but i am human) is that the name of the band turns me off.. shit, i know that is lame but the same goes for the band ‘Clap your hands, say yeah’ (i think that’s how it goes & apologize to fans if wrong), there is so much these days to hear that sometimes when i hear a band name that strikes me as pedantic, i turn away immediately.. i know it is not right but i will admit that it happens…
but you are right, if you feel they suck, say why and politely defend your ground…(… on the Gum sometimes polite is hard to do…)
the other comment i will make (and i have to remind myself of this a lot) is that there is a thing called satire… satire makes one think, makes one challenge, and above all should make one laugh…and you probably should avoid this wonderful Gum blog is you don’t understand the meaning of satire…
music is in the ear of the beholder…. protect it, defend it, challenge it, fight for it, and respect others opinions even if you don’t like what they say and think, and try to do it somewhat politely if you can (god knows i have lost it a few times defending it)… ultimately music is the benefactor of bringing people together, not tearing them apart…
Question for SoaD fans! My 12-year-old stepson likes them a lot. And we want to encourage his foray into music bc it’s finally an interest we have in common. Unfortunately, I know nothing about that type of music, so I can’t help him explore other bands he might like. We did experiment with Metallica and he loves them now (which I think is kind of cute), but now my knowledge about loud and screaming music is completely dried up. Do you have any suggestions for similar sounds to SoaD that we can explore with him? (We’ve accepted that he’ll be hearing some bad words with this sound, and that’s fine, but let’s not get into anything TOO hate-filled, please.) Thanks for any help, guys…
hey melissa, not the SOAD or metal fan you requested but do read/listen a lot….
i always lean towards the indie world and have read good things about Dillinger Escape Plan and also would definitely recommend Mars Volta (one that i actually do like)
Melissa- here are some of my favorites:
Isis
Pelican
Hot Water Music (more punk but also kind of metal)
Queens of the Stone Age
Boredoms (earlier stuff…try before you buy with this one)
Misfits (covered by Metallica)
High on Fire
Lamb of God
that’s all I can think of off the top of my head
You’re all retarded.
melissa, try out some Deftones on the kid and see what happens.
Thanks, guys! I was almost worried I had posted too late in the thread but you guys totally came through. That is a great amount of music we’ll get to check out. Some I’ve heard *of* but never heard, and then others I’ve never even heard the name… Stereogum (as a whole, so that includes the fine readers) helps out the little children, too!
SA is the new pitchfork guys, duh.
I’m so protected ^______^
SoaD can get a stadium of 10,000 fans scream in unison “why do they always send the poor?”…since when did death cab or arcade fire ever have that kind of impact on anyone? the “simplicity” of the statement is irrelevant; at least they’re trying to stand for something.
the difference is that SoaD is not afraid to put themselves out there, even if it means they look retarded (the grand guignol of the SNL performance, for one), while many of these popular indie bands are interested only in themselves. which is okay, to an extent, but there’s something to be said about not always pandering to expectations and being confrontational even at the risk of looking stupid. isn’t that a big part of what rock n roll is all about?
i don’t want to attack death cab or arcade fire (because i love them both), but be honest- if you play either of those bands to quite literally *anyone* in america how many people would not like what they hear? who would find them abrasive, offensive, or bad? to me that kind of say something. not about how good the music is, but about how safe it is. and there’s a place for that. but there’s also a place for coloring outside the lines.
like SoaD or don’t like them, as music connoisseurs they deserve at least a modicum of your respect.
Cruel and ruthless music reviews are a joy to read.
wsdty brvwlei vjodftis yopauefx vskfxa kbcjteyv arhcqdeix