ThoughtCrime
ThoughtCrime
Has it always been this way or did I just I just open my eyes today?
No riots or rebellion, No thought or social change
Slogan after empty slogan, force fed as god knows what
We’ve become a product of our own rebellion and now we’re all stuck as pawns
and they won’t escape with the heavy lines they’ve drawn
Anthems of a counter-counter culture
You put a price tag on rebellion and it’s never quite the same
Targeting audiences with your over blown expenses
but do we get what we deserve?
This is all we are, no gimmicks or games in our cover art
Don’t need to rely on costume design to get your eyes
and ears to come and meet mine, I’m so sick of all the insincerity
I’ve missed where all we are is empty
My four chord Bar, more honesty in my volume knob
than there is in your whole damn guitar
It’s all we are.
- Departures.
When I was initially introduced to the subculture and musical styling of “punk rock”, it was a sound unlike any other before it (Forgiven that I was 13 years old at the time). It had urgency, passion, and most of all- honesty. It was a counter culture for those who didn’t believe in the crooked ideals and skewed morals of the world. It was okay to be an individual and most of all, it was accepted to be no one else outside of yourself. It preached unity, tolerance and activism. As the years went by though, I realized that my young naive self had possibly romanticized the true inner workings of this “rebellion”. “Individualism” really meant catering to the ideals of your new “thought provoking” peers. “Activism” meant preaching out against racism while still letting homophobia and sexism walk right through the door. “Unity” meant going to shows and sneering/fighting with everyone who was a suspected “poseur”. All the while some efforts were notable, the culture has more or less become a fraud and ironic.
Counter culture in modern times is now a plethora of buzzwords, passing ideologies, saccharine filled hooks, party goons with mac books and brightly colored t-shirts. It no longer has a meaning and no longer has a purpose. “Counter-Culture” has simply turned into the product it once swore it would and could never be.
Obviously the title “ThoughtCrime” is a reference lifted from George Orwell’s 1984. It was what they referred individualistic thought to in the story and is hauntingly fitting and ironic for a song based on a culture for “individuals”. I ask anyone who comes across this entry to stop your life for just one moment and think. Think of yourself not as your occupation, your education, social status, your car, or what you wrote in your “about me” on facebook. You might be surprised on what you discover.
Join the counter-counter culture.
