September 11th 2024

Dear Diary,

I think a lot about how much 9/11 influenced art going forward. My Chemical Romance literally came into existence because Gerard Way witnessed the plane hit the second tower firsthand. Also, country music is bad now but that’s beside the point. Joe Hawley’s Miracle Musical project is also an allegory for 9/11.  I love Hawaii Part II, I think it’s a beautiful album that’s gotten hate in recent years because a certain YouTuber who shall not be named, people just take online music critics’ words as gospel. I’m not one to overanalyze the album, but I do see where the 9/11 allegory theory comes from. Specifically with certain lyrics from Dream Sweet in Sea Major. “Believe me darling, the stars were made for falling. Like melting obelisks as tall as another realm.” There’s also the fact that the single Variations on a Cloud, often considered an epilogue in the story that is told in Hawaii Part II, was released on the 11th of September 2012. As we know, dates are important in Hawley’s work, there’s a reason Hawaii Part II was released on 12/12/12 at 12:12 AM. Then there’s albums that released on 9/11/01 that spookily coincide with the events of that date in some way. Take The Moldy Peaches’ self-titled for example, one of the last tracks is named “NYC’s Like a Graveyard.” Another example I can point to is the Slayer album “God Hates Us All,” which I imagine was a common sentiment after what happened on that day. Possibly the most memorable album to have released on 9/11 is The Microphones’ “The Glow Pt. 2” another Part 2 album with no part 1. The lyrics admittedly don’t coincide with the terrorist attacks that much, but the melancholy tone of the album is something people bring up when talking about the connection. I could go on but I’d rather not to be honest. Tragedies tend to inspire musical works more than people realize; I think. Whether they’re world tragedies or things that happen in the artists’ life. Just look at how much music came out protesting the Vietnam War. John Lennon’s “Imagine” for example, I don’t really like that song all that much, but I think it’s a great example for what I’m talking about. It isn’t just music either, this is a universal idea present in all forms of media. Many people speculate that Harry Potter is an allegory for World War 2, with there being many parallels between Voldemort and Adolf Hitler. This is a theory that Rowling herself has acknowledged, but never went into too much detail about as far as I’m aware. While on the topic of World War 2 allegories, Godzilla is an allegory for the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and nuclear warfare in general. It’s not revolutionary to say that popular media is inspired by tragedies, I just think it’s something interesting to talk about. Back to music, some media is inspired not by world tragedies, but by tragedies that are personal to the artist. Ween’s 2003 album “Quebec” is inspired by singer Aaron Freeman’s divorce, as well as his struggles with overcoming substance abuse.

Kanye West's debut single "Through the Wire" is another example, inspired by his near-fatal car crash in 2002 after leaving the recording studio late at night and falling asleep at the wheel, causing his jaw to be wired shut. He actually recorded the song while his jaw was still wired shut, which is why he sounds quite different than usual on this track.

Not all of these examples are allegorical, and that's not really the point I'm trying to make here. My point is that tragedy often inspires creativity in many different ways. Take a look at the Armenian-American heavy metal band System of a Down. Much of their lyrical content is focused on war, corruption, genocide, and other political issues. Music being used as a form of activism is nothing new, but I think System of a Down does it incredibly and given that every member of the band is of Armenian descent, a nation which has suffered greatly over the years, I would argue that their lyrics give a perspective on many modern political issues that is worth taking into account. 

Now, obviously, this isn't to say that the opinions of those who have faced suffering from political violence are the only opinions worth  listening to, or that their opinions are more important, I just believe that it is the kind of perspective one must look into in order to get a better understanding of a conflict. One of System of a Down's most popular songs is "B.Y.O.B." An acronym that commonly means "Bring Your Own Beer" in this instance stands for "Bring Your Own Bombs." This piece was written in protest of the Iraq War. While on the topic of Iraq war protest songs, there's also OutKast's similarly titled "B.O.B.", Bombs Over Baghdad. Although the song was written before the 9/11 terrorist attacks which would spark the Iraq War, and the song moreso being a commentary on the "conditions of the ghetto" making comparisons to Iraq, the song would later become an anti-war anthem during the Iraq War.

Back to System of a Down, I also feel the need to bring up Serj Tankian's essay titled "Understanding Oil," which he published to the band's website two days after the September 11 attacks. This essay, which called for peace between the United States and the Middle East was promptly taken down by their record label Sony, due to claims that Tankian was justifying the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This would also lead to the band being monitored by the CIA for a brief period of time. I wouldn't doubt that I too may be on a watchlist merely for looking into this. As for what Serj had to say about it years later, he states in a 2022 interview, "And I had written a piece called 'Understanding Oil,' which questioned U.S. adventurism in terms of its foreign policy in the Middle East and the reactions that were prevailing in a very kind of sobering and, you know, innocent way trying to understand what had actually occurred and why something like this could have happened to us."

In my opinion, I do not believe that criticizing the United States' foreign policies in the Middle East at the time of the September 11th attacks and stating that they may have led to the terrorist attacks can reasonably be considered "justification" of said terrorist attacks.

I bring all of this up to make a point, there are many perspectives of certain world issues, and not everyone is going to be on the same page about them, and instead of dismissing these perspectives and claiming that they are somehow justifying the deaths of 3,000 innocent civilians, these perspectives should be taken into consideration. Serj Tankian begins his 2024 memoir titled "Down With the System: A Memoir (Of Sorts)" with an account of the Armenian Genocide, which his grandparents lived through. In a 2024 interview with Kate Miller of Bomb Magazine, Tankian speaks about System of a Down's 2015 "Wake Up the Souls" tour, in commemoration of the 100th year anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Specifically their performance in Yerevan, Armenia on Genocide Remembrance Day. Tankian states, "I felt like we were not just playing a show, but we were paying homage to our ancestors, paying respect to our grandparents, and paying tribute to those who survived and were in front of us celebrating. All of us celebrating our mutual survival. The musical performance was just the physical aspect of it. Everything else was spiritual. It felt like the band was created for that night." To me, this is a powerful quote that really describes System of a Down's body of work well. They are activists who use music as an outlet to spread their activism. Like I said earlier, this is not a new idea. Many artists successfully, and in some cases unsuccessfully, have used music as a way to spread awareness about certain issues. It was a common trend in the 1980s for several popular artists to get together and form what's known as "supergroups" and record songs together, usually to raise charity for some kind of cause. British supergroup Band Aid (clever) boasting names such as Bono, George Michael, Sting, among several others, released the single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984, raising money for the Ethiopian famine which took place in 1983-1985. While the cause is good, many people criticized the song for its "colonial" and "Euro-centric" viewpoint, many citing the line sung by Bono, "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you." Personally, I would have to agree with these criticisms, while the intent may not have been malicious, it feels quite tasteless to look at a nation suffering and think "That's so sad, they don't even know about Christmas." but I digress. 

Song of the Day: Ween - Molly 👻

and thus I was never given the aux again after the road trip with my parents of 2022 where I played this song and you could sense the disappointment they felt.

Media Log - September 11th:

350. Ween - The Pod 💽

351. Ween - Chocolate & Cheese 💽

352. Nick Drake - Bryter Later 💽