System, Korn, Staind Don't Mind Their Music Being Used In Iraq Soldiers' Viral Videos
'[It] totally gives the song a new meaning,' says Korn's Jonathan Davis.
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. See what soldiers have to say about their viral videos — and what Tom Morello, Korn and others have to say about their music being used in them.
"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 (see "New System Clip Features Cast Of Millions, Cartoon Saddam"). "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."
Have something to say about this story or the war in general? You Tell Us.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
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/153...headlines=true
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