Yeah lmao, SOAD is one of the most political musical performers in history. And that shouldn’t be a bad thing. Music is art and art is expressive. If you have nothing to say with your art, then you’re just trying to manufacture a commodity to be purchased. And I have nothing against that either because artists gotta eat, but there is a pretty big difference between passionate artistic expression and trying to make something that will sell.

Tangentially, it’s also hilarious to me when people on the right throw so much hate at artists and art schools and the uselessness of art, but both expect art to be good and available and are surprised to learn that the best artists tend to be leftists. Like yeah, no shit, your group discourages art and artists; it’s no wonder you don’t produce much good art. Plus conservatism as an ideal is basically “things are good as is” while the best art is critical of the status quo and is meant to inspire. What’s inspirational about “things are pretty good”? Imagine telling a story with no arc or conflict, just keep things the way they are. Snooze. Nobody dances or cries or moshes or beams when they’re just content.

Yeah I was about to say, System of a Down is largely a political band. Serj Tankian never ever lets down the fact that he has to remind people of the Armenian Genocide and why not? The whole band is Armenian. A lot of their songs is referencing political issues.

So to say they’re non-political would be saying the same if they replaced SOAD with Rage Against the Machine.