Boom! (song)

Infobox Song
Name = Boom!
Artist = System of a Down
Album = Steal This Album!
Released = November 26, 2002
Format = CD, Airplay
Recorded = 2002
Genre = Alternative metal
Length = 2:15
Label = American/Columbia
Writer = Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian
Producer = Rick Rubin, Daron Malakian
prev = "Bubbles"
next = "Nüguns"
track_no = 4
prev_no = 3
next_no = 5

"Boom!" is a heavy metal protest song from System of a Down's CD "Steal This Album!". The song describes the uselessness of bombs and warfare, and compares how thousands can die from starvation and poverty when billions are spent creating bombs and weaponry. It also links the use of military action with corporate globalization and quotes the title of one of Noam Chomsky's books: "" is the name of their game. ", which is a reference to the media's role in war.

For the music video, the band worked with Michael Moore, writer and director of "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11". The video incorporated most of its footage from the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest, showing interviews with the participants. The video also features a short satirical cartoon of George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, Tony Blair and Osama bin Laden riding rockets over a city. [ [http://www.systemofadownonline.com/vid/boom.htm System of a Down and Michael Moore Join Forces for "BOOM!" Video] . "System of a Down Online (fansite)." Retrieved June 13, 2006.] The video was banned from MTV Europe after a while. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E3DE1330F935A15750C0A9659C8B63 Banned from MTV.] "The New York Times." Retrieved Nov 10, 2007.] VH1 named the song as the 18th greatest protest song ever. [http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/68962/episode_countdown.jhtml "VH1 - 18th Best protest Song" Retrieved Nov 10, 2007.]

"The video for the song was meant as a protest against the war in Iraq," lead singer Serj Tankian states. "We meant to release it before the war began, but ended up releasing it on the day it did, so it was basically kind of pointless."

The bridge of the song is based on the movement "Mars, The Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst's orchestral suite The Planets

External links

* [http://systemofadown.com/words-steal.html#4 Song lyrics]

Notes and references