Serj Tankian

As an underground music aficionado, I used to be pretty hardcore about going to shows in Hollywood at the Whisky A Go Go (the Whisky), Roxy, Troubadour, and a few other clubs that don't exist anymore. One band that I experienced at the Whisky was the band System of a Down.

I've talked about this band in a previous post and since then they, like many of the worlds greatest rock bands, have taken a hiatus. The individual members are doing their own music projects, and Serj Tankian, the lead singer is about to release a new album.

Gone are the days of ever getting to see System of a Down or Serj in such an intimate place like the Whisky, which makes that experience all the more cherished, but sometimes one can't help but be selfish and wish their favorite music acts didn't get so damn popular.

Here is the music video for Serj's new song: The Unthinking Majority.
Enjoy, and read some poignant comments from Serj about the song and the lyrics below.


"The Unthinking Majority" lyrics:
(note - because there is a lot of repitition, I only post the verses, choruses and such once, but you'll be able to follow)

We don't need your democracy
Execute them kindly for me
Take them by their filthy nostrils
Put them up in doggy hostels

We don't need your hypocrisy
Execute real democracy
Post-industrial society
The unthinking majority

Anti-depressants
Controlling tools of your system
Making life more tolerable
Making life more tolerable

I believe that you're wrong
Insinuating they hold the bomb
Clearing the way for the oil brigade
Clearing the way for the oil brigade

Note From Serj Tankian
“The Unthinking Majority” is a song that I needed to release now, before my record or single comes out, to make a statement about the current catastrophe of our failing democracy. It is unlike any other song on my solo record and meant to inspire collective action.
Borders are the gallows of our collective national egos. Subjective lines in the sand, water and air are separating plants, animals, and atmosphere. Fear! Fear is the cause of separation for this imposed illusion, this cordoned off space from pre-birth. When we run out of borders, we reach infinity and unity. As for flags, they’re much less useful than toilet paper. No one has been caused distress by running out of flags. They become useful in times of crisis and unjust manipulative coercions pitting the victim against the victor or vice-versa. Neoliberal globalism is failing due to its underlying imperial ambitions and the discoveries of those sinister ulterior motives. So the ambitions have reawakened for “democracy promotion,” in the past few years.
In real terms, that means promoting democracy if and only if it serves imperial ambitions. How about we create a real democracy right here and now! Let’s allow the people to vote for or against a pre-emptive war, universal healthcare, expansion of social security, the Kyoto Protocol, the International Criminal and World Courts, and the role of the United Nations in interventions and reconstruction of devastated lands. Let’s vote for how we want our taxes to be spent, directly. Major referendums discussed and debated thoroughly representing all sides of each issue on television. All empires represent the aristocracy in their imperial ambitions, not the general populace! Also in dire need is a true democracy of nations. The UN Security Council should be dissolved and the General Assembly should rule all international affairs, allowing all nations equal access to the international forum and law. Given the truth, all human beings will collectively choose the direction of this lost, possibly last civilization.