Popular Culture Review 29.1 (Spring 2018) | Page 94

It ’ s funny that you bring this up because it became clear to me several years ago that when you start talking about politics , you immediately divide your audience in half . And what in the beginning was , you know , quite tonguein-cheek , kind of one-liner stuff started to , unfortunately , define me as a songwriter , and now people think that I ’ m a political songwriter , which I ’ m not . In fact , we write about all kinds of different things , but looking at the landscape right now , these are really , really crazy [ times ]. Look at , like you said , the natural disasters — everything that ’ s going on , the inability for anyone just about anywhere to get along , and it just makes you wonder , “ How did we become so devolved ?” It ’ s like the Decline of Western Civilization part three . 14
A brief sweep of the track listing , however , betrays a heavy interest in contemporary politics : “ The Threat Is Real ,” “ Dystopia ,” “ Post American World ,” and “ Foreign Policy ” ( a cover originally written by the band Fear ) are a few more overt examples of the heavy influence of current events on the album . It ’ s undeniable that the animated film videos to accompany the first released tracks are charged with political sentiment , staunchly fearmongering warnings of the threats to liberty and democracy .
I begin and end with Black Sabbath , who just wrapped up their final tour , cleverly titled “ The End ,” which circled the globe twice over the last two plus years . While they ’ ve been playing “ War Pigs ” pretty consistently for 35 years , there has never been an accompanying video – the song is obviously pre-MTV era . However , since technology has developed significantly since their 1970 Paris concert , which is the only real video widely available of them performing “ War Pigs ,” they now use film footage as a backdrop to their performance ( as many bands do ). Given that this particular song , more than any other of their many hits , has taken on a life of its own , it ’ s fitting to look at “ War Pigs ” as the ultimate anti-war anthem . The lyrics are fairly general , and easily applicable to any government , any war , any era – and in all fairness , mankind has not developed a stronger sense of humanity over the last four decades . Our smart bombs , drones , and guided missile systems still make mistakes ; superpowers still maintain armaments and threaten peace on a regular basis .
Throughout the song , footage of atomic bomb detonations features in tandem with live camera feeds from the show . The footage looks like it comes from the atomic testing done during
14 Full Metal Jackie , “ Megadeth ’ s Dave Mustaine Not a Political Songwriter : ‘ We Write About All Kinds of Different Things ,” 20 October 2017 . Loudwire . Retrieved 04 December 2017 . http :// loudwire . com / megadeth-dave-mustaine-not-political-songwriter /.
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