System of a Down‘s lyrics have leaned political at times over the years, but as we’ve seen in recent weeks, the political views of the band members themselves don’t always line up. In a new social media post by singer Serj Tankian, he questions how someone who loves or plays along to their song “Temper” could possibly be a Trump supporter.
The vocalist posted on Instagram, pointing to the track and then offered the commentary: “Very early @systemofadown song that was on one of our demos-lyrics below: if you love this song or play along to it and love Trump, you’re a hypocrite-just a simple fact 🙂 ‘Temper'”
He then proceeded to provide the song’s lyrics to drive home his point. You can read those below:
We want peace with
Patriot missiles,
Blown to bits are civilian targets,
Parade! Laugh! Rejoice! Sing!
We’re the victors of…nothing,
Spend more money on a war,
Your people starving, turned to whores,
Slaves of the chosen one paying millions for each bomb,
Country without a race ,
Formed from people you disgrace ,
White right conservative might ,
Killers of Kennedy’s with no fright ,
The American way!
Freedom cried the marching man,
Flags ripped out of their black hands ,
Beaten! Slain! Tortured! Killed!
Their only mistake was being born here ,
Invade countries just for oil ,
Send your troops all down to boil ,
Iraq! Grenada! Nam and Chile!
Truman doctrine our own way ,
Country without a race ,
Formed from people you disgrace ,
White right conservative might ,
Killers of Kennedy’s with no fright ,
The American way!
The Government (FBI-CIA) here can suck my balls ,
Policing the world in overalls ,
Armed rebellion minority ,
Disrespected race, color, mind ,
Crazed loonies all walk the streets ,
Missing children on milk cartons ,
Mother selling child for crack ,
Mr. President check your back ,
Country without a race ,
Formed from people you disgrace,
White right conservative might ,
Killers of Kennedy’s with no fright ,
The American way!
The American way!
The American way!
Within the same Instagram thread, Tankian later stated, “Let me add that obviously the song was written in the ’90s and refers to injustice in the U.S. and injustice by the U.S. via successive Democratic and Republican administrations. I just find the most current one the most repugnant.”
“Temper” was initially recorded for their 1996 Demo Tape 2, with it intended for their self-titled debut album, but the song did not make the cut. The song has been played live in concert though over the years.
The posting comes as System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan has been quite vocal in his support of Donald Trump and the current administration in recent weeks. His initial comments came a day apart from Tankian’s tweet about Trump’s poor handling of the protests and rioting and suggesting it was time to remove the current administration.
When the differing views of the bandmates became news, Dolmayan stated in video post, “We have differing opinions in System of a Down. That shouldn’t be a shock to anybody, because you have four individuals — we’re not always like-minded and don’t always agree on everything. But you’d be surprised at how civil our conversations are, especially between me and Serj, who seem to have the most diverging opinions on things.”
He went on to add, ”I have a lot of respect for Serj and his opinions, although I don’t agree with them very often these days. And that’s okay. We expand each other’s horizons — I like to think that he learns from me and I learn from him.”
The drummer has since shared his stance against the “Defund the Police” movement and railed against the liberals, calling them the “true fascists” and stating that they are cowards who can’t handle free speech.
Tankian, meanwhile, has questioned whether System of a Down’s anti-political fans who have voiced displeasure over the band speaking out have paid attention to their lyrics at all.
“I’ve always explained music like pizza — some people like the crust, some people like the cheese, some people like the topping,” Tankian stated on the Side Jams With Bryan Reesman podcast. “So when I get people on my socials that are, ‘I love your music, but I don’t wanna hear your political ideas,’ that’s fair enough — if they’re nice enough, it’s fair enough, but sometimes they’re really mean.”
He then added, “What I don’t understand, and a lot of other people that follow the music say the same thing. They’re, like, ‘Have you not listened to the fucking words in 20 years? He’s been saying all this stuff through his music all this time. What are you, just dancing to it because it’s groovy? You’re not really getting the message?'”
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