See Serj Tankian Compare Holy Wars to ‘Your Mom’ in New Lyric Video
Serj Tankian mocks would-be martyrs and jihadists waging war in the name of religion on “Your Mom,” a track off his recent Elasticity EP. He plays up the song’s cartoonish side in a new lyric video.
In between animations of soldiers carrying guns and karate-kicking moms, Tankian rolls his eyes dramatically and raises his eyebrows as he sings about “radical greed” and “despicable fools.” At the end of the clip, he laughs at the idea that jihadists believe they’ll be given 72 virgins after they die.
Despite the heavy subject matter, Tankian’s sarcasm and animator D.S. Bradford’s tongue-in-cheek visuals make the tune feel lighthearted. “As I listened to the beginning of the song, with the more mellow acoustic guitar, I envisioned a brave bird flying over a countryside, unaware of the danger waiting in the ashen, war-torn lands ahead,” Bradford said in a statement. “This didn’t stop the bird from gliding into danger and took the form of ‘Your Mom.’ As the fighters continue their campaign of destroying the Earth with their bombs and chaos, the mom summons the strength from her connection to Mother Earth and becomes the personification of justice against the fighters. She kicks their asses and returns to the form of a bird, perched on the carcasses of the destroyers and restores the Earth’s balance.”
Tankian previously released videos for the tracks Elasticity tracks “Electric Yerevan” and “Elasticity.” In other news about the singer, a recent documentary, Truth to Power, focused on the System of a Down frontman’s dual careers in music and activism. “The story of Serj Tankian’s struggles is also the story of [his ancestral homeland] Armenia’s struggles,” Rolling Stone’s review of the film reads. “By the time he comes around to answering ‘Can music change the world?’ tears are flowing. Perhaps the real message here is that to effect real positive change, you must become one with your cause.”
