Serj Tankian and Tom Morello respond to fans who just realized their music was political, trigger troll fest
Both Serj Tankian, the frontman of System of a Down, and Tom Morello, the guitarist of Rage Against The Machine, are popular metal artistes with strong sociopolitical views, which should not come as a surprise to fans of their music. Throughout their careers, their aggressive song lyrics, from 'BYOB' to 'Killing In The Name' have been littered with political messages and scathing critiques of oppressive government regimes.
What's more, the popular duo even co-founded a non-profit organization called Axis of Justice in 2002, aimed at fighting for social justice at the grassroots level. However, in spite of their best efforts, it seems that some fans have chosen to remain willfully ignorant of their political stances, and now the internet is having a field day trolling those who missed the point of their popular songs.
It all started when a fan named Scott Castaneda tried to set Tom Morello's left-wing views straight on Twitter but ended up getting plenty of backlash in return. "I used to be a fan until your political opinions come out," Castaneda told Morello in a now-deleted tweet. "Music is my sanctuary and the last thing I want to hear is political bs [bulls**t] when I’m listening to music. As far as I’m concerned you and Pink are completely done. Keep running your mouth and ruining your fan base."
Tom Morello then responded back with a sarcastic comment: "Scott!! What music of mine were you a fan of that DIDN’T contain 'political BS'? I need to know so I can delete it from the catalog." Understandably, Rage Against The Machine supporters had a field day, trolling the witless fan until he was forced to delete his tweet.
"The people angrily denouncing Rage Against the Machine for Tom Morello's leftist politics is one of the more hilarious things I have ever seen on the internet," declared one fan, who added, "WHAT MACHINE DID YOU THINK THEY HAVE BEEN RAGING AGAINST FOR DECADES? THE ICE CREAM MACHINE? THE ATM? LAWNMOWERS?" Another follower posted a reference to one of George Orwell's dystopian masterpieces: "Congrats to everyone who just found out Rage Against the Machine is a political band. Next, you should check out my favorite puppy calendar, 'Animal Farm'."
Another fan lampooned the daft tweet saying, "I used to like peanut butter until I found out it has goddamn peanuts in it. Now as far as I'm concerned, it's completely done." Another listener hit back at the plastic fan with Nirvana lyrics, saying "To borrow some lyrics from one of your early contemporaries: He's the one / Who likes all our pretty songs / And he likes to sing along / And he likes to shoot his gun / But he knows not what it means / Knows not what it means."
Meanwhile, Serj Tankian also addressed fans who seemed to be missing the point of his political music in a recent interview. The SOAD frontman had recently made headlines after mocking Donald Trump in the wake of the recent Black Lives Matter protests outside the White House. Speaking on the Side Jams With Bryan Reesman podcast, Tankian revealed, "When I get people on my socials that are, 'I love your music, but I don't wanna hear your political ideas', that's fair enough. If they're nice enough, it's fair enough, but sometimes they’re really mean," the singer stated.
"But what I don't understand," he added, "and a lot of other people that follow the music say the same thing. They're like, 'Have you not listened to the f**king words in 20 years? He's been saying all this stuff through his music all this time. What are you, just dancing to it because it's groovy? You're not really getting the message?'"
At least it's hoped that SOAD and RATM fans all get the point now — it's not just about the music, it's also about the illuminating message that is being conveyed by these ferocious tunes. Thankfully we'll always have the Twitterverse to educate and inform fans who aren't as clued in.
