War? by System Of A Down

Album: System Of A Down (1998)

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This song is clearly about war, but it's System Of A Down's view that's harder to figure out. Both sides of a battle always believe they are right. This means they both have the responsibility to "Fight the Heathens." System Of A Down points out, "Righteous man, needs a reason to kill a man," which means that even though neither may be right, their ignorance leads to the death of others and perhaps themselves. The album liner notes explain: "We first fought the heathens in the name of religion, then Communism, and now in the name of drugs and terrorism. Our excuses for global domination always change."
The lyric was written by lead singer Serj Tankian, who told MTV it's about the Crusades, but also relates to more recent wars, including the 1991 US invasion of Iraq, which he thought was carried out in the interest of multinational corporations. "It's a symbolic song about most of imperialism using either religion, or drugs or a terrorist nation as an excuse to do whatever we want in our foreign policy - politically or militarily," he said.
A track from System Of A Down's first album, "War?" has themes of righteousness and power similar to what's heard on the track "P.L.U.C.K.," which is about the Armenian genocide. The band covers a lot of topics though, sometimes in the same song, so the many who listened to the album all the way through got to hear their takes on death, religion, consumerism, and much more. Musically, they were also very diverse, with unpredictable rhythms the occasional folk melody mixed into their songs. It was certainly different, and it took a few years for them to get signed. When they did, it was to Rick Rubin's label, American Recordings, and Rubin became their producer. He let their freak flag fly and was rewarded when the band became immensely popular; that first album sold over a million copies in America and their next one, Toxicity, sold 3 million.
"War?" wasn't released as a single but it did get a music video. Nathan "Karma" Cox, who did their video for "Sugar," directed it. The clip is mostly distorted live footage of the band performing the song, with some war footage mixed in.
This song appeared in the soundtrack to the 1998 video game Apocalypse, which "stars" the actor Bruce Willis' body and voice. The game is known for having a cut intro from the album where System lead singer Serj Tankian, says, before the song starts, "Praise the Lord and pass the Ammunition!" >>
Suggestion credit:
Logan - Troy, MT

Comments: 26

Name from LocationJasmine is the only one who got the factually correct meaning of this song.
Holly from NjSo in my 20s when these guys hit the charts with chop suey, I had no idea what this world was all about. Just enjoyed their music and now in my 40s I hear and understand the words. My jaw hit the floor. How smart are these guys? They knew then, what is coming to pass now. I grew up in church and you sometimes turn a deaf ear. Rebel ya know the norm. I know now that all of it was the real deal. I could ve saved myself a ton of heartache if I had only listened then.
Sean Fitzgerald from Dublin, Ireland I think this song my be about the Israel-Palestine war. Or the The Holy war. Considering it mentions the Holy Land.
Jason from UsFor all of you saying this song is about "fighting those dirty heathens and killing in the name of god", you're wrong. It's the exact opposite. This song is a big screw you to people who like to use god as an excuse to kill and go to war. Serj has stated that this song is meant to spread awareness of several genocides (mainly the Armenian genocide) that happened because of religion.
Dude from Los Angeles, CaIn the Album System of a Down, a footnote before the lyrics in the booklet stated this message:
"We first fought the heathens in the name of religion, then Communism, and now in the name of drugs and terrorism. Our excuses for global domination always change."
Jean-pierre from Grants Pass , AlIm almost 100% sure that the song is about how people have twisted wars to make it seem that their God(s) wants them to wage war against another country. The line in the very beginning (Praise the lord, Pass the ammunition GOD WANTS YOU TO GO TO WAR) means just that. Its about people saying that those that dont believe the same are "Heathens". Towards the end it says "Of war we dont speak anymore" That i think is like how people dont say war anymore they say "National Defense or Anti Terrorism.
Phillip from Miami, Flwhat Serj means by "God wants you to go to war" is the war we have between satan and heathens vs. Jesus.
Matt from Houston, TxI believe in war if it's for the right reasons. Unfortunatly, that circumstance often gets overshadowed. If you think about it war itself is a very vast umbrella. It can range from sophmoric prank wars to international wars to personal wars we face every day.
Ark from Awesome, Pathis songs about fightin' evil, dirty, heathens.
Joshua from Parsons, KsGod said man needs to goto war, but what we are doing now isn't war, its just sick. Quoting Serj Tankian at live concerts "How do we call it war?"
Nick from Westwood, NjI do believe in war but not stupid ones like now
Cardio Toxin from El Paso, TxSince I have gone to war. I am not anti war. I mean come on, if it wasn't for war, this site would probably be in german.
Maqsood from Lincoln, EnglandFrank from Philadelphia, you're an idiot. Serj Tankian would never refer to Muslims as scum. He himself came from a Muslim country, Lebon. In his new song, 'Empty Walls' he is clearly supporting all of the Muslims who are being killed by Bush, and in his song 'BYOB' he is protesting against the Iraq war.
Cardio Toxin from El Paso, TxThis is a great song. I have gone to war and seen the good and bad that comes out of it. I think this is about the indeference of good people and what they believe to be right. i read somewhere where it said, good people do good things, and bad people do bad things, there is no such thing as good people doing bad things unless god allows him to do so, or words to that effect
Blake from Hamilton, OhThis song kinda bored me because I had already heard so many songs about war. I think SOAD doesn't agree with war anywya. Looke at the title, "War?" See the ?, they obviously question the sense of way.
Zach from Carlsbad, CaThe escalating part of, "we don't speak anymore of war" then, "we dont speak anymore" is a great way of showing that you can deny that a war is going on be eventually everything will come out and no one will be left standing, to anyone who reads this you should read the book Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. Metallica based their song "One" off of this book.
Felix from Stadtilm, GermanyIn the beginning of the music video Serj sais:"Praise the Lord, that's the amnunation.God wants you to go to war."
Frank from Philadelphia, Msthis song definatley has at least part to do with the crusades but i think its about all wars. We will fight the heathens i thiunk refers to muslim scum
Ozzzy from Sydney, AustraliaWhy do you underestimate SOAD? Read what Jasmine says, she is absolutely correct. They took good care when writing this song. Well done System!!
Sabina from Norcal, Cathe one below is my post, i put my real name this time =). it jus my opinion, doesnt have to be right.
Jasmine from Norcal, CaThe song cannot be about the war when Christ was on earth because there is a stanza that says: "Who victored over, the Seljuks,/When the Holy Land was taken". The Seljunks were a Turkish dynasty that existed in the 11th-13th century AD and their kingdom ruled the holy lands. They were prevailed by the English Crusaders, who became the new rulers of the holy land. This song is about the current wars that are taking place in the holy lands, not the wars that pertain to religous reasons, but about the corrupt governments that get involved because they want to take over these vulniberal wartorn regions for personal gain, using religion as an excuse, as expressed in this stanza: "Was it the riches, of the land,/Powers of bright darkness,/That led the noble, to the East,/To fight the heathens". It is directed to the western countries who are getting too involved in the wars, hence "Led the Noble to the East". And the governments use the religious affairs to persuade their men to go to war in the holy land to kill the "heathens", but involvment of the western nations are not to win the land for a certain faith, but to simply have power over the region as said here: "Was it riches, of the land/Powers of bright darkness". The corrupt persuasion of the western people is also expressed in this stanza: "International security,/Call of the righteous man,/Needs a reason to kill man,/History teaches us so,/The reason he must attain,/Must be approved by his God,/His child, partisan brother of war,/Of war, we don't speak anymore...". The "righteous" or religious man supports his country since it is an obligation expressed through many versions of the bible, but how can you support a war your government wants if there is no reason to the war? As an excuse, the government tells its people that the war is for their religion hence "Needs a reason to kill a man.../Must be approved by his God/ His child, partisan brother of war." Incase you dont know, partisan means a supporter of a cause, movement, etc. or a member of an organized body of fighters who attack or harass an enemy. This refers to the governments who tell the people that Christ and God Almighty is supporting their side, which many western governments do such as America and England. But those who follow blindly must remember, if the government is not God, and they cannot communicate with God, how do they know God supports their side? "History teaches us so" is said because it is a common belief that history repeats itself. Then "Of War, we dont speak anymore" is said because the governments claim that they are not in war but they are "liberating" or "freeing" people, and "We will fight the heathens" is said because the corrupt governments have convinced their men that everyone in the holy land that is not of the same faith or is against their "help" must be eliminated. This idea is supported by the intro verse "Dark is the light,/The man you fight,/With all your prayers, incantations". The "light" or what the men believe is good, is infact part of a "dark" or bad cause. And "The man you fight/with all your prayers, incantations" reffers to the war having religion involved. "We must call upon our bright darkness,/Beliefs, they're the bullets of the wicked," supports the verses that explain how the corrupt governments tell their recruits that those who are not of the same faith or who oppose their plan is "wicked" and the "bright darkness" is the army of evil that pretends to be good, or it can be the good people who are tricked into doing the evil. Another belief of the "bright darkness" is not only to kill those who oppose your beliefs, but to destroy everything: "One was written on the sword,/For you must enter a room to destroy it,". The word "Beliefs" extend down to this line, saying a belief was written on the sword, the sword representing violence and war. The song is about the current wars that take place on the holy lands. Major Western countries, one good example is America, are trying to help bring peace to the middle east, but in reality the government is not helping to bring peace since they have loaned weapons to BOTH sides of the conflict, but instead they are in fact causing more trouble in order to benifit from the region after it looses its stability. Then the Western countries can dominate the resources that are present there. Since the late 80's America has been heavily involved in the Middle East, but they have not helped bring peace, but infact they have fueled more anger by patrolling civilian areas, raiding houses, and dealing weapons to guerillas. This is probably a reason System of a Down has written a song about such a subject since their country of origin, Armenia, is greatly affected by the motives of the corrupt involvement of the Western countries in the peace proccess of the Middle Eastern Nations.
Anthony from Hell, AlObviously you people are not System's fans the song is clearly about the war when Jesus christ was here and no sins where yet save hence the intro "Dark is the light, the man you fight, and all your prayers in cantations!" and you call your self a fan do me a favor and jst hang your self
Max from New York, NyChris is right. Specifically about the crusades. "The reasons he must obtain, must be approved by his god, his child" as in his child like Christ.
Chris from Livingston, TxIt is more specifically about holy wars and the crusades "When the Holy Land was taken". Crusaders went to eastern lands to fight wars, which describes the line: "Beliefs, they're the bullets of the wicked".
Justin from Columbus, Msyes, of course...its kind of obvious.
Gabriel Maclean from Toronto, Canadagreat song, thats exactly what its about though

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