Political Interpretations

[Zane]

I strongly believe BURN IT DOWN is on the Arab Spring.

Very interesting. I've always had trouble connecting to BID because of the weird "personal" take on the song. However in the political context it makes a very good point. Your interpretation reminds me of everything that is occurring in Syria right now where the citizens are banning against their president. Thanks for writing your interpretation. I really enjoyed it. People are doing great with their interpretations! I want to read more, more, more.

I never imagined that was what Blackout was about. Very interesting thread! I fully believe that that is what the song is about. Very good work. I've spent hours listening to Blackout trying to figure out what it was all about.. Now I know. ATS really is a concept album, dealing with the destruction of humanity and the world pretty much. Some of the song, lyrically, seemed out of place to me, like they were personal songs, but now I can see that all the songs are about the same concept, just some aren't as vague. Amazing. The only ones I don't think are about this concept are WTCFM and The Messenger, but only because Chester said he had originally wrote that song for his children.

Yeah, I agree WTCFM is just about impossible to relate to politically on its own. However, I've always seen WTCFM as a part of the concept album story. Within the story the main character would be of course escaping "haughtily" from their pursuer saying "Try to catch up motherfucker" and "when they come for me, I'll be gone". It's the part of the story where the character is being very cocky of themselves.

As for The Messenger, I think it fits perfectly within the concept story. It's kind of that conclusion chapter of a story where the author puts in a summary and final input on the themes of the story. The Messenger offers Linkin Park's view on how humanity can deal with the horrors described in the story. Where nuclear destruction, mankind's self destruction, hate, and government turmoil can all be fixed with our love for each other: "love keeps us kind"

[Calvin]

Mike's bit in Blackout might be a direct reference to when the first atomic bomb was dropped. 'Floating down as colours filled the light' vividly portrays a vast plethora of colours i.e. the explosion blocking out the sun (filled the light) as well as 'floating' bearing connotations of a dream as if the bomb being dropped didn't seem like it was real due to the pure evil it would do. 'We look up from the ground in fields of paper white' is again tapping into what the victims of the atom bomb are seeing as they await their doom ('we look up' hints at inferiority as the onlookers are positioned below the destruction they are about to become victim to, helpless and vulnerable). The next line, 'And floating up, you pass us in the night', could relate to those government officials/politicians responsible for the atom bomb being dropped (leaving the innocent in the darkness and destruction 'you pass us in the night') remaining above the victims as if they still maintain superiority as well as possibly bearing a more physical meaning as they will prosper and get rich travelling in airplanes in the sky far above ('floating' reinforcing the dreamy sense further). 'A future gazing out' does not leave much to interpretation as it simply means those responsible still have much to look forward to in the future (which reaffirms my interpretation of 'you pass us in the night') and 'A pass to overwrite' could be the aforementioned 'blackouts' that governments do in order to censor newspapers, magazines etc. but may also relate to the feelings of regret spread across humanity due to our wish to forget the past and replace the negative memories with positive memories. 'So come down far below' is again calling upon the perception of the onlookers of the bomb who are embracing the weird object falling from the sky 'come down' though 'far below' may be contradictory as though the bomb dropped pretty quickly, it seemed like the bomb had a long distance and thus took a long time to fall from the sky. Finally, 'We've been waiting to collect the things you know' focuses on how the innocent victims were oblivious to what was about to happen and were merely awaiting knowledge of what the near future would hold and of what those who dropped the bomb (referred to as 'you') knew as they were fully aware of the destruction about to take place.

This part of the song to me is almost as if the victims are speaking to all of us, even if we weren't responsible but as a race in general, from the grave as souls 'floating' aimlessly and recalling the final moments of their lives after being murdered unjustly because they cannot find peace within themselves. Though the lyrics are present tense it seems like Mike meant for us to take it as the individuals already know what is to happen but are speaking present tense with confusion and wonder because they are reluctant to believe the horror that is to befall them.

Or some such bullshit.

[Gloomy Mushroom]

Interesting to see people's reactions to my initial Blackout half assed interpretation.

[Xero21]

The difference between my interpretations of ATS vs others is a lot of people relate ATS strictly to WWII. I don't. There's obviously some tie-in, with the Oppenheimer quote and all, but I don't think ATS tells a specific story from beginning to end. I think it flows like a story, but rather than telling one story, it just strongly suggests themes, ideas, and situations.

I think ATS could be applied to WWII, the Cold War/Vietnam, or present day.

[Gloomy Mushroom]

The reason why I think Blackout was interpreted the way I did, was because of Mike's cultural background especially when his grandfather came to America in the time everyone was afraid of the Germans afraid of the Japs that's another reason why I think Blackout is about Hiroshima. Also because the 20th Century saw industralisation like no ever time seen which ended up humanity being complete twits to each other because of the evolution of modern warfare.