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System Don't Mind Their Music Being Used In Iraq Soldiers' Videos |
Posted by sugar_buzz on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 07:31 AM
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System, Korn, Staind Don't Mind Their Music Being Used In Iraq Soldiers' Viral Videos
Just as Vietnam was called the first TV war, the current conflict in Iraq could be remembered as the first viral-video war.
Viral video, the buzz word of the last few months (especially with marketers), is the term used to describe Internet videos like the "Star Wars" kid, "Brokeback to the Future" and "MySpace: The Movie" that have become phenomena thanks to e-mail and Web sites like YouTube.com and iFilm. But while those were clearly created to get a good laugh, there's a far different viral-video campaign blossoming that centers on American soldiers in the Middle East.
Essentially, troops are using affordable cameras and laptops to shoot and edit videos that chronicle their experience in and out of combat. And since most are set to modern rock music and feature the sort of quick cuts and stylistic shots often associated with MTV, the effect is like watching a music video.
"Wow this is cool — it's better than the real video," Staind singer Aaron Lewis said as he screened a video of "So Far Away" that juxtaposes frightening explosions with scenes of soldiers jokingly Saran-wrapping another troop to his bunk. "It's just crazy to see the footage of them right there in the middle of it, doing it all."
And that's exactly the point. While news channels have covered conflicts thoroughly since Vietnam, the viral videos offer a more uncensored view.
"I have seen ones where you can see people blowing up and all that kind of stuff," said Korn singer Jonathan Davis, whose music has been used by the video-makers. "But even the tame ones serve a purpose. They put faces on the people out there doing it, they're in the barracks and stuff, which is good."
"It is truly an indie media, from soldiers who are the ones who really know what's going on," said Tom Morello after screening a video that uses Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name." "It's not being filtered through some corporate-owned news service or whatever. So I think that their insights to what's happening there are important ones, being set to music that they like."
And not just music they like, but aggressive, political music that reflects the subject matter.
"The intense nature of the song really adds more emotion to the video," said Chris Wentzel, a civilian who used soldiers' footage he found online to make a clip for Drowning Pool's "Bodies." "If music wasn't used in the videos it would kind of take away from the video as far as emotion."
After Davis screened a clip that uses Korn's "Dead Bodies Everywhere," he knew exactly what the filmmaker was going for.
"It's a video of them killing people, so there's going to be dead bodies everywhere, which totally gives it a new meaning," Davis said of the song, which he wrote about working at a coroner's office before Korn formed. "I remember working at the funeral home, and you had to [inject humor] or you would have gone crazy from all the death being around you. And I think this is a way for them to do that, where they get their laptops and get their camera, 'Oh, check out my video.' It's like a way for them to deal with what they're doing. 'Cause they're killing people, man — I don't care who you are or what it is, it's still killing people and it's still got to be taxing on your mind."
And for that reason, Davis is supportive of the viral videos, even though they are made without permission from the bands and are therefore technically illegal.
"I don't know what the record company is going to say about that, but what's it hurting?" Davis said. "It's reality. People hear stuff from me all the time, they don't get to see that; they just see the powder-coated stuff. But if you really saw what's going on over there, you could see something different."
"It's such an integrating time, technologically, for music and art, and it's a great thing," said System of a Down singer Serj Tankian, whose music has also been used in the videos, and who have been outspoken in their opposition to the war. "As long as people express themselves with the intentions of positive change, and as long as it's not used to hurt others, I've got no problems personally with them using it."
Morello called the videos "a very democratizing thing to do," but also saw a potential downside.
"When someone's putting your music to their images, you have no artistic control over what the product is, so you could put that song to a recruiting video, which could completely miss the point," he said. "There's definitely a lot of room for misinterpretation, but I think in ['Killing in the Name'] the content is pretty clear. It's a song that is explicitly about confronting and standing up to illegitimate authority. And there's no better time to stand up to illegitimate authority than right now — whether you're in the armed services or you're in high school."
The way both Lewis and Davis look at it, morally supporting the use of their music in viral videos is just another way to support the troops, something Staind and Korn have done with special concerts.
"Whatever way that I can to let them know that myself and the rest of us are very supportive of them," Lewis said. "It's an honor to be a part of something that they felt so close to."
"I don't care about who said to go in there," Davis added. "They're told to do their job, and they're supposed to follow orders, and that's what they do."
--Corey Moss
<a href=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1536763/20060720/korn.jhtml?headlines=true>MTV News
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Comments
mbeene_2006
25.07.06, 09:38
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Cool Article
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petersa
25.07.06, 09:57
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Does anybody know which SOAD song was used and where I can find it?
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ang+serj
25.07.06, 10:33
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It's Holy Mountains. I don't know where to find the video. But clik the mtv news link and scrowl down and than clik the overdrive link. You will get a 6min video of that artcle. And Serj and John is in it.
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OLSGS
25.07.06, 11:42
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Very nice article. It would be very disturbing to see dead bodies everywhere, but it's reality you know. And that's really sad. This is a great way for soldiers to cope what they're doing: killing other people. Even though you know that you're being patriotic by killing enemies, you're still killing people and that's gonna stay with you. At least these are not some propaganda held by corporations to make money. It's pure and that's awesome. Very nice article.
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mom45
25.07.06, 13:59
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Thanks for the article Lisa! And thanks for telling me about the mtv news link to the video. I enjoyed watching it, and hearing Serj's & John's opinions.
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kennethsa91
25.07.06, 17:43
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Thanks for the article :)
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Lune
25.07.06, 18:22
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Interesting article. Thank you.
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Moonette
25.07.06, 19:16
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This article is a couple days old.
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alma
25.07.06, 19:23
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hey, nice article. Very interesting. It's cool that music can at least help a little bit to cope with all the shit that's going down. Fuck these wars, fuck these killings, fuck this world, didn't we have enough?
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demonpurr13
25.07.06, 19:51
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hmm very interesting.. although i think its SICK that they video and take pics of their kills at war.. i know i wont be watching those videos online, it sickens me to think that our troops are getting pleasure out of taking pics of dead bodies and dead children.. disgusting.. but its cool that the bands dont mind their music being used!
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Eskimoes
26.07.06, 04:15
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Thers a video for soldier side too.
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36dam36
26.07.06, 04:48
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[quote="alma"] **** these wars, **** these killings, **** this world, didn't we have enough?[/quote] yes. there is a lot of stupid wars killings and earth in general*pauses for a minute and rolls eyes in anger* cool article........ i love quoting people.................
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shovelman
26.07.06, 15:05
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Here's one i made http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4R26bi1bzA
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