A Unique Sound and a Strong Message: Marco Schirripa
Transcription
A Unique Sound and a Strong Message: Marco Schirripa
A Unique Sound and a Strong Message: “Aerials,” by System of a Down Marco Schirripa For thousands of years, music has been composed and performed in one way or another for communication, praise, and enjoyment. What began as Gregorian chant evolved into what we consider Baroque, and eventually into all of the diverse music we experience today. Much vocal music began as sacred, performed to show appreciation for God and other religious figures. However, music has over time become a form of art, going much deeper than just sacred contexts. Composers began to use beautifully poetic lyrics to tell stories or communicate some idea to the listener. In the present day, the idea of communicating a message to an audience seems to be quite prevalent in popular music. Bands like System of a Down are quite radical with their views and opinions, and use their poetic (or sometimes blatantly crass and un-poetic) lyrics to communicate strong and violent messages about war or government corruption to listeners. These words, however, cannot accomplish their task alone, and are therefore strengthened by the music that accompanies them. System of a Down has a unique sound as a band due to their combination of common pop music compositional techniques with strong and controversial subject matter, influences of Middle Eastern folk music, wide musical diversity of the band members, and the sheer volume and power of their instruments. All of the factors that contribute to the unique sound of System of a Down serve to solidify and strengthen the strong messages present in their music. These examples can all be exemplified in the song “Aerials,” from the 2001 album, Toxicity. Schirripa 2 Background System of a Down is made up of four regular members: Daron Malakian, John Dolmayan, Shavo Odadjian, and Serj Tankian. All of the members play multiple instruments and take active roles in songwriting and composition for the group. This alone adds the weight of several different minds to the mood of each album. In addition, all four members are descendents of victims of the Armenian Genocide of World War I (Wiederhorn). These factors lead to some of the defining characteristics of the band, including their controversial song lyrics and subject matter as well as a strong devotion to political and human rights activism. The group is sometimes criticized for speaking out so strongly against aspects the United States government, but are at the same time praised for not being afraid to make light of serious societal problems in a brutally vulgar and honest, but poetic way. The band has released five albums between 1998 and 2005, which each album having a loose theme relating to war, government corruption, or the Armenian Genocide. Toxicity was the second album to be released, and debuted at number one in both the United States and Canada, selling 220,000 copies during the week of release (PR NewsWire). “Toxicity” is defined as the state of “acting as a poison (“Toxic,” Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th ed p. 1515),” and the album title could be considered a metaphor for the damage that the United States government and society are bringing upon the country. This ended up being incredibly controversial due to the release date of September 4, 2001: one week before the infamous September 11th terrorist attacks. Despite this potentially disturbing theme, the albums produced several singles that Schirripa 3 continue to be very well known and widely popular among listeners, with one of the most prominent being “Aerials.” It is also worth noting that System of a Down went on hiatus in 2006, and the members all began to work on separate projects. Drummer John Dolmayan and bass guitarist Shavo Odadjian formed a new band called Scars on Broadway, which produces music similar in sound to System of a Down, but with less intense subject matter. Lead singer Serj Tankian has released several solo albums with music similar in subject matter to System of a Down, with a less distinct (and less popular) sound. This shows how the band members fit together like a puzzle to create the unique sound required to adequately convey the messages of their music. “Aerials” The harmonic makeup of “Aerials” is not too complex. The progressions are essentially imitations of the melodic line, and almost every single chord in an open fifth, or “power chord.” The song is in D minor and much of the music has a pedal D power chord underlying, with the exception of the verses, which are the most harmonically varied section. The beginning of the verse can really catch a listener by surprise on first listen, as the first chord is an open fifth on Bb, or VI in the key of D minor (example 1). The melodic line is centered mainly about the pitch E, as it wavers between E and D for the first three measures, with an F thrown in near the end. This is a little bit curious, as E creates a dissonance with both Bb and F, the two pitches of the underlying power chord. D and F are both chord tones of Bb major, however, so the melody seems more as an unstable wavering between dissonance and consonance, with the dissonance prevailing at Schirripa 4 the end of the first four measures of the verse. This can be related to a metaphor such as light and darkness, as many other musical elements of the song can. The following four measures of the verse are just instrumental, where the first two beats of each measure are eighth note power chords on D, followed by a jump to G, F, E, and D an octave higher in each measure, respectively (example 2). These eight measures of harmony repeat a total of three more times during each statement of the verse. For repeats three and four, however, the melodic rhythm is altered, and another voice is added, doubling the melody in thirds. While the melodic rhythm before has a good deal of running eighth notes to begin, and became more syncopated in the third and fourth measures, the new rhythm contained a new syncopated rhythmic idea, followed by declamatory eighth notes for the third and fourth measures (example 3). The addition of an extra voice and a new rhythm contributes to a build in excitement leading Schirripa 5 to the chorus, which oddly has much less volume and energy than the verse prepares the listener for. While the harmonic makeup up the first is still quite simple, it causes the tonic center to seem ambiguous for a while. This song is not modal, but System of a Down has several other songs that use modes or traditional Middle Eastern scales. In tonal classical music, composers can show tonic centers through cadences and leading tones, but it becomes trickier when using modes, since leading tones are generally weakened or taken away altogether. A composer must approach affirming a tonal center through other means, such as repeating a pitch many times melodically, and starting and ending on said pitch. The first four measures of the verse start and end on E, and contain mostly E’s throughout. The E acts as a suspension and resolves down to D in the beginning of the fifth measure, but for the first four measures, E is clearly the prominent pitch. Furthermore, this is all over a Bb power chord, which only has one common tone, F, with the tonic D, and since D always appears as a power chord as well, the F is not even a common tone in this context. This does not seem like a direct modulation, however, but just an attempt to briefly skew the listener’s perception of tonic for four measures. Schirripa 6 The chorus is also harmonically simple. There are eight measure phrases, just like the chorus, but the melody consists only of scalar passages in D minor. The first four measures contain two groups of three descending pitches, while the final four measures contain an arch-shaped line, with a smooth scale rising from scale degree 3 to 6, then back down to 1 (Example 4). This melodic line could exhibit an example of “text painting” in the song, similar to how German lieder composers such as Schubert would compose rhythms and melodic contours to match the text of the music. While the interpretations of “Aerials” vary greatly, upon first listen one might think “Aerials” to refer to airplanes. The gradual rising and falling of the melody in the chorus reflects the rising and falling that an airplane goes through in flight. In combination with the dark lyrics, this really helps to put an existential air over the music. The introduction and chorus also have a prominent guitar “riff” that is presents in the background for several long sections, starting right at the beginning of the song. This motive is mainly made up of arpeggiated D minor chords, ascending from F to D. The contour of this riff follows the same idea brought about by the text painting in the chorus, as the repeating ascending contour can symbolize a plane taking off right at the beginning Schirripa 7 of the song (Example 5). This is also the only time in which an accompaniment voice contains the third of a chord. Upon closer look, one can see that the line contains changing harmony, but the arpeggiated A to D stays the same, and the first of each three eighth notes moves and mostly outlines the main melody of the verse. The difference is that E is left out of the melodic motion of this section, and is instead replaced with another F. This could be simply from a composition standpoint because having an E in the progression would cause stacked perfect 4th for one and a half beats, which may sound awkward in context, especially within the one of the first measures of the song. Finally, the beginning of the studio recording of “Aerials” contains solo cello throughout the introduction. The song begins with four measures of cello whole notes, starting at the end of the preceding track, and the cello comes back once the guitar arpeggiation motive is established with a lyrical phrase floating above the texture. The odd part about the presence of cello is that nothing heard from the cello relates to the rest of the song. All of the material in the cello seems to be almost rhapsodic. The cello melody beginning in the 11th measure is accompanied by the D minor guitar riff, but Schirripa 8 starts and ends on G and, in isolation, would appear as clearly centered around G (Example 6). If this is true, it would be G Dorian mode, but the main harmonic purpose seems to be to create a sense of distance between the melody and accompaniment. The different in tonality and modality makes the cello sound detached, and solemnly floating above the music. The form of “Aerials” is pretty standard for pop music. It is a compound AABA’ form with an introduction and a coda. The reason it is considered “compound’ is because the A section does not contain just a verse, but a verse followed by the chorus, acting together as the section (Covach 6). Following the introduction, this happens twice, the second repetition of which leads into the bridge. The bridge is short, however, totaling only eight measure in which the guitars merely state the melody from the chorus again in parallel power chords, leading back into two more statements of the chorus with vocals. The final repetition of the chorus is the most varied however, as the two voices are singing the melody on a neutral “ah” syllable, harmonized in parallel sixths with the exception of a perfect fifth whenever the line reaches tonic. Schirripa 9 Shortly after the song appears to have ended and the sound dies down, the call of an Armenian duduk1 breaks the silence. After a rhapsodic and cadenza-like passage, a tribal groove begins, with a simple chant melody being played over the groove on duduk. After the duduk finishes the melody, several men’s voices emerge, vocalizing the melody on the neutral “ah” syllable, in parallel octaves. The groove continues for a few more seconds before abruptly ending the song and the album.2 The chant melody used in this section of the song is actually an arrangement of an Armenian Church hymn entitled “Der Voghormya,” or “Lord Have Mercy,” when translated to English. This is a common traditional melody in Armenian culture use to pray to God and ask forgiveness for failings (Hayastan.com) (Example 7). 1 The duduk is a traditional Armenian double reed instrument. This is true for the studio recording of the song. Live performances usually do not contain the second half of the song due to obvious limitations in personnel, though there are instanced of the band performing arrangements of other Armenian folk songs on stage. The radio edit also contains only the first half of the track. 2 Schirripa 10 This information causes one to think about the context of this music and how it relates to the first part of “Aerials,” implying that the subject matter may be even darker than originally thought. While the members of System of a Down all play multiple instruments, the duduk player for this song is Arto Tuncboyacian, a world famous avant-garde folk musician. His collaboration with the band is not only limited to this song, however, as his work can also be heard on the song “Science” from the same album, and “Bubbles,” from Steal this Album! (2002). These songs to do not share any obvious thematic link, and the band has been known to just enjoy collaborating with Tuncboyacian, but it is no coincidence that he was asked to play for the end of “Aerials.” It is only natural that this traditional hymn be performed on a traditional instrument of the culture. One could argue that the presence of Der Voghormya is not part of “Aerials,” but instead just an added bonus to the end of the album. Compositional and performance practices imply, however, that this inclusion was intentional and artistic. At the end of “Aerials,” the chorus is stated for the final time on the neutral syllable “ah.” This is the first time neutral syllables are used in the song. When the vocals come in during Der Voghormya, they are on the same neutral syllable almost as if the end of the final chorus was meant to prepare the listener for the folk song. Der Voghormya is in a different key, however. The centric pitch is C and the mode is Aeolian. This is a whole step lower than the first half of the song, but this also fits into the theme of descending scalar patterns present in the song, as the harmony drops even one more step after descending down to D multiple times throughout it. Schirripa 11 Interpretation Upon first listen, one could imagine based on the lyrics that “Aerials” refers to the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As the song is followed by the Armenian chant Der Voghormya, the meaning seems even clearer. This caused some controversy following the release of the album not because the song was about 9/11, but because it actually came out on September 4th, 2001. This is one week before the terrorist attacks occurred, meaning there is no way that the song could have been referring to them! Most of System of a Down’s songs, including “Aerials,” were temporarily removed from the radio for several weeks following the attacks, as many similar media was. With this interpretive idea aside, the lyrics of the song become more ambiguous (example 8). Example 8 Lyrics to “Aerials” by System of a Down Life is a waterfall, We’re one in the river and one again after the fall. Swimming through the void we hear the word, We lose ourselves but we find it all. ‘Cause we are the ones that wanna play, always wanna go but you never wanna stay. We are the ones that wanna choose, Always wanna play but you never wanna lose. Aerials In the sky. When you lose small mind, you free your life. Life is a waterfall, We drink from the river then we turn around and put up our walls. Swimming through the void we hear the word, We lose ourselves but we find it all. ‘Cause we are the ones that wanna play, always wanna go but you never wanna stay. We are the ones that wanna choose, Always wanna play but you never wanna lose. Aerials In the sky. When you lose small mind, you free your life. Aerials So up high, When you free your eyes, eternal prize. Schirripa 12 One possible interpretation is that the song is about striving to achieve one’s dreams. The first line of text, “Life is a waterfall,” could refer to life always bringing people down, or being discouraging. The reference to “swimming through the void” symbolizes people being shrouded in darkness both about what they want in their lives, and how to attain it. The final line of the first verse, “We are the ones that wanna choose/Always wanna play but you never wanna lose,” is a statement about how many individuals have dreams, but are afraid of failure. The use of the word “we” during the verse strengthens this message, as it implies that the singer is not just addressing the listener, but making a statement about himself as well, along with the rest of humanity. In the chorus, the words “Aerials” refers to lofty dreams and how high and unattainable they can seem. The final phrases of each chorus, however, “ When you lose small mind, you free your life,” and “When you free your eyes, eternal prize,” tell the listener that they can achieve those goals with an open mind. One of the easiest ways a musical artist can express the meaning behind a song in through a music video. In the case of “Aerials,” the music video does not relate to the above interpretation of the song. The video features a very odd looking boy that for some reason receives unlimited attention. The boy is wearing a striped shirt and overalls, and his face looks like a cross between a cartoon alien and a human. When seen from the side, it appears that the boy is made of plastic. The video shows many different scenes in which the boy is always accompanied by many followers, always including two tall, attractive women in red dresses. There are large pictures of the boy on many of the buildings in the video, and there are scenes in which he is being harassed by paparazzi and walking down the Hollywood walk of fame with the two woman that accompany Schirripa 13 him. The boy has an unpleasant scowl on his face throughout the entire video, with the exception of one shot at the end, where he is standing with the two women in the middle of a flurry of money and smiling. The video ends with the boy lying either asleep or dead all alone. The video implies an interpretation of the song relating to the downfalls of fame, and how one’s life can be ruined once he or she becomes successful. The loyal followers and pictures of the boy all over the city show the boy is famous, and his odd, plastic appearance symbolizes how he is now seen as different from regular people. Many of the lines of text, such as “’Cause we are the ones that wanna play, always wanna go but you never wanna stay,” and “We are the ones that wanna choose, always wanna play but you never wanna lose,” are references to materialism and greed in the minds of the famous and successful. “Aerials” is a label given to those who have “risen above” the rest and become successful, but “when you lose small mind, you free your life,” addresses how happiness in life cannot be attained until the one-track mindset of money and materialism is overcome. The end of the video, where the boy is left lying alone and motionless with his eyes closed can correspond to the line “When you free your eyes, eternal prize.” This appears to refer to either death or sleep, and how they are the only escapes from the emotional torture the boy is experiencing. The choice of including the Armenian hymn “Der Voghormya” on the album makes sense in line with both interpretations of the music. The phrase “Lord have mercy” can be applied to both the situation of one striving to attain their goals, and the situation of the famous, but miserable boy wanting an end to the emotional turmoil. It is almost as if the two interpretations are similar, but from two different sides of the Schirripa 14 situation. The Armenian chant is a request for the Lord to have mercy on all people caught in this conflict. Distinct Sounds Musical background, melodic, harmonic, and formal analyses, as well as lyrical interpretations all contribute to the final musical product. These elements in combination give System of a Down a unique overall sound that truly distinguishes them as a band, There are also examples of interesting instrumentations, such as the usage of the Armenian duduk in “Aerials,” and the usage of different modes, like can be heard in “Der Voghormya” and in the cello part at the beginning of “Aerials.” The vocal style heard “Aerials” is also quite distinguishing, as Serj Tankian has a low, soft baritone voice that is not so common in the genre, and compositionally, the band uses meaningless syllables such as the open vowel “ah” sound heard in the song. There are also several instances of the melody being doubled by a parallel interval present, which is common in many songs by the band. A final distinguishing characteristic of System of a Down’s music is simply the sheer volume of the instruments. Even a more melodic, ballad like song such as “Aerials” is quite loud throughout. While loudness is relative, and System of a Down has several songs that can get unbearable with the screaming and guitar riffs, “Aerials,” as one of the more tame songs, still has the potential make the listener reach for the volume dial. The ideas of loud music and open-vowel sounds are not exclusive to System of a Down, but the combination of all of the above characteristics work together to allow the band to clearly articulate what they wish to communicate. Simple melodies and oftenaccessible harmony combine with other sounds not common to Western music. These Schirripa 15 sounds engage the listener, who is then bombarded with harsh words and strong underlying messages presented by the sometimes lovely, and sometimes violently screaming voice of Serj Tankian. This is all wrapped up in a package of intense volume, making each detail difficult to miss. Overall, System of a Down’s unique musical sound serves to solidify and strengthen the messages present in their music. “Aerials” is a prime example of many of the elements that distinguish the group from others, though not the one good choice. The band’s popularity proves the success of relaying their ideas to mass audiences and opening the listeners’ eyes to the want and need for change in many aspects of society. System of a Down truly shows that all you need is a unique sound and a strong message. Schirripa 16 Works Cited Aerials. Dir. David Slade. Prod. Black Dog Films. Perf. System of a Down. Youtube / System of a Down - Aerials. 2 Oct. 2009. Retrieved 7 Mar. 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-iepu3EtyE Agnes, Michael, ed., “Toxic,” Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th ed. (Cleveland, Ohio: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2004.) Print. p. 1515 Gaunt, David. Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslin-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I. Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press LLC, 2006. 535 p. Hayastan.com. “Liturgy of the Eucharist,” 2001-2007. Retrieved 7 March, 2011. http://www.hayastan.com/armenia/religion/badarak/index5.php Harris, Chris. MTV News. “System of a Down Aren’t Breaking Up, They’re Going on Hiatus: Guitarist Daron Malakian says bandmembers need a break ,” 2006. Retrieved 3 March, 2011. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1530066/system-down-plan-hiatus-afterozzfest.jhtml Lancaster, Mike. Glendale High School Newspaper, March 2003. [web site] “The Daron Malakian Interview.” Retrieved 7 March, 2011. http://www.glendalehigh.com/malakian.html Malakian, Daron and Tankian, Serj. “Aerials.” (Time: 6:13) Toxicity. System of a Down. American Recordings, 2001. CD. Naregatsi Art Institute. “The Official Website of Arto Tuncboyacian,” 2006. Retrieved 7 March, 2011. Schirripa 17 http://www.naregatsi.org/Artoistan/index_html.htm PR NewsWire. “System of a Down Mezmerizes Fans Worldwide,” 2005. Retrieved 7 March, 2011. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/system-of-a-down-mezmerizes-musicfans-worldwide-54516757.html Spicer, Mark and Covach, John, ed. Sounding Out Pop. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2010. 265 p. Wiederhorn, Jon. MTV News. “System of a Down Plan Benefit for Genocide Awareness: Show Set for April 24 in Los Angeles,” 2004. Retrieved 7 March, 2011. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1485692/system-down-plan-benefit.jhtml Schirripa 18