Classical Composer Reaction & Analysis to Aerials (System of a Down) | The Daily Doug (Episode 447)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- #soad #aerials #soadreaction
In this #metalmonday episode of #thedailydoug, I'm listening to Aerials from System of a Down. Unfortunately, the version of this reaction that includes the official video was blocked, but we still get to hear the audio and peel back the song's layers to reveal its power and point of view. The song uses relatively simple harmonies and melodies, but it really packs a punch. I hope you enjoy!
Reference Video: • System Of A Down - Aer...
Daily Doug Merch: www.bonfire.co...
Catch up on my full album reactions at my Patreon!
JOIN THE NEW EXCLUSIVE DAILY DOUG COMMUNITY!
Patreon: / doughelvering
Instagram: / doug.helvering
Facebook: / helvering
Twitter: / helvering
Vimeo: vimeo.com/user...
The Daily Doug Directory: docs.google.co...
DUUUUDE!
Seriously, please keep doing these real time piano overlays. Wildly entertaining, thank you sir.
agreed
Honestly it was really nice to hear
THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's really sick when music experts can transpose songs into piano, etc....it helps break down the melodies so much for people who like music!
Yes! I would love to hear your entire take on that song, so beautiful.
The way you jammed to that in real time was impressive.
I agree...it sounded beautiful! I just wish he would have kept going
Agreed !
It's a great song but essentially sticks within a single scale, so it's quite fun and easy to jam with 😊 have done so many times myself on bass
@@brandonmadsen9591that’s a part of the reason why it’s so powerful. This song has a great balance between the rational and emotional aspects of music. The chords and rhythm is indeed simple, but Serj’s vocal compensated that, which reinforces the powerfulness of the instrumentation. Simplicity can be unique and catchy as well, just have to play the cards right
Totally impressed too ✨
Great band, classic song and I love your piano embellishments, Doug!
Please please PLEASE include more of your own playing accompaniment Doug it's awesome!
I think one of the coolest and most interesting/dynamic SOAD tunes is "Radio/Video." A guy like Doug would swoon.
Radio Video is certainly my fav SOAD tune because of the hard and soft changes and also the solo at last is pretty good
@@asmodius666 I love the traditional folk music influence as well, super prominent that song
Both of those albums. Every song. :)
@@thepiratecats801 you mean Hypnotize and Mesmerize? True
Yes absolutely Radio/Video , Cigaro , This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song , soooo many good songs from Mezmerize/Hypnotize!
Hearing it on piano like that makes me wonder what a full orchestra system show would sound like
I'm a year late but check Serj's solo stuff, absolutely amazing.
You should do your own piano version of this song.
Go watch gamazda. Beautiful pianist who covers this as well as tons of other metal songs. She's mind blowing you'll love it
@@bubbleshughes6169 thanks, I'll check her out.
vkgoeswild is my favourite one for piano covers of rock/metal... been to her concert once :).
watching you put that song together live on the piano was really amazing
I really like how you started to play along on the keyboard. It gave me an idea, there are a lot of people that are unaware of the similarities between metal & classical music, because on the surface they seem to be polar opposite. I think that it could be a cool feature in your reaction/breakdown videos if you were to play along with the song to demonstrate. You could possibly turn some metal heads on to classical that other wise would never have given the time of day. It also would definitely give your channel a unique feature that I haven't seen any other of the channels do.
Any metal fan who has not listened to Stravinsky or Rachmaninov is missing out. They went hard af
Bach wrote pure metal. Hell, he even shattered the windows in church and neighborhood both by maximum volume while doing work on organs in his early life. How is that not him being a grandfather of metal? Also, his compositions is what would later become prog metal I think.
and vice versa, turn classical heads into metalheads
I'm a classic 80's metalhead, and I've been jamming to Chopin and Tchaikovsky for just as long, among others :D
Given the band's cultural background it might be about mysticism / sufism, so one in the river and one after the fall means we come from a cosmic unity to have an individual life and come back to it after death. It also has similar things about "losing small mind" and getting "eternal prize". There was a Persian mystic called Rumi in the 13th century and his poems are incredible to read even today, and Serj definitely knew about him.
For me it's completely that.
Serj even named his son after rumi
Interesting hypothesis
I understood it totally differently. For me I directly thought that society acts as one before problems come, where it gets divided and falls down (waterfall) then pretends to be back together afterwards, when everything is good again.
but I'm high af so who cares...
@@RaeudigerRuediger then what would "when you lose small mind you free your life" mean in a social context? Things like "swimming through the void", "eternal prize", "we lose ourselves but we find it all" hint on some metaphysical theme and they sound similar to some writings of sufism.
The way you jump on the Piano... Amazing
Aerial's first verse, to me, is one of the most powerful messages ever to be put to music. It's a single line, a single, simple thought, but it means just _so damn much_ . The main meaning to me is more that we all the same: we come from "nothing" and we all return to "nothing". The waterfall - which is the briefest, but definitely most exhilarating period in this existence - is the only point in which we're separate entities, the droplets of water that plummet down from the river.
Well, I've found a single one at least that gets it right! It's surprising how nobody notices one of the most widely used ideas in literature: Heraclitus' river. Despite it is _powerful_ , it isn't uncommon at all - there are _tons_ of music with such a content:
_Cause we are the ones that want to play_
_Always want to _*_go_*_ , but you never want to _*_stay_*
↳ Heraclitus' river, struggle with _impermanence_
Yet, what makes this one uncommon is that nice bit you smartly spotted: the adding of _waterfall_ to that idea of Heraclitus' river:
_Life is a waterfall_
_We're one in the river_
_And one again after the fall_
↳ your previous explanation belongs here, it couldn't have been said any better :)
Then, it wraps things up with a subtle hint at how subjective knowledge (self-awareness mediated by senses & language, _small mind_ ) is incompatible with absolute knowledge (beyond our self-awareness: _all as a whole_ ). From a position of (near) absolute knowledge (religion, philosophy, whatever aided by _the word_ : never heard of God is a verb?):
_Swimming through the void, we hear _*_the word_*
_We lose _*_ourselves_*_ , but we find it all_
↳ From _small mind_ (subjective knowledge), we get language, and with it we slide into _all as a whole_ (absolute knowledge)... with this trade-off: our sensible experience of existence is lost :)
_Aerials in the sky_
_When you _*_lose small mind_*_ , you free your life_
_Aerials, so up high_
_When you _*_free your eyes_*_ , eternal prize_
↳ By renouncing sensitive experience (that one mediated by senses, _subjective knowledge_ ) you get higher (beyond self-awareness, _absolute knowledge_ )
@@yibril17 Nice. I hadn't gone that deep into the symbolism of it.
In a more straightforward sense, I feel like it's also saying "we're all, together, the same one _thing_ , for the vast majority of our existence". We're *one* in the river before the fall and we're *one* again in the river after the fall. Only in the waterfall do we perceive one another as "other", because it's only then that we're apart from each other. But it's only for the briefest of moments, comparatively, and it's such folly to see two droplets of water _from the same damn river_ as "different". I see it as sort of a call to unity, and a call to look at ourselves and see that we're much more similar than we are different.
Also, what you described actually reminded me of another song: A National Acrobat, by Black Sabbath. It has a similar concept of trading experiences and knowledges together with states of being.
That is how I primarily see it, but there are probably at least 5 distinct and valid other interpretations.
@@cobrasys Disclaimer: often, symbolism is not a deliberate action; I mean, whoever creates a piece of art may be using symbols, yet unaware of that. Example: every time you read/see something heart-related, chances are that author doesn't know that since heart is autonomous, formerly it was used to express something you can't control, as opposed to will. In turn, that fitted like a glove to represent ideas about determinism/free will... like love. It's such an old (accepted and shared) comparison, that it turned immemorial and tacit! Once you 'crawl backwards' into old literature, you realize that there are lots of such immemorial and tacit symbols, and once you know them you start recognizing them effortlessly, without going deep actually. So, I'm not telling that every symbol here was carefully thought out, but that there's _more_ (more than what the author could have intended).
"Only in the waterfall do we perceive one another as "other", because it's only then that we're apart from each other". Exactly! And that's not a mere interpretation of yours: philosophers (Unamuno) and religions (as mythic cosmogonies, like gnostic myths) have written about that ;)
It's perfectly right to see it as a "sort of a call to look at ourselves and see that we're much more similar than we are different". Why? It is an _unavoidable conclusion_ as soon as a certain form of knowledge does start aiming at _absoluteness_ (well-understood, religion & philosophy used to aim at that): once acknowledged how inane the self really is, how could _the self_ be a matter of discussion _again_ ? It can't! The discussion's scope has gone past that, way beyond!
Regarding your suggested song, I've checked it and certainly it's very, very similar in concept :) Now I dare to suggest you these ones (there are way more, these are just my favourites which share some of the same topics here):
Dark Tranquillity - Therein: Heraclitus' river (implicit) about impermanence, spiced up with entropy and the question _if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does it make sound?_
Epica - Blank Infinity: Heraclitus' river again, but with a sensing of purpose because of sorrow - very, very poetical tragic worldview!
Moonspell - Everything Invaded: would you like to expand on that idea of "we're all, together, the same one thing , for the vast majority of our existence" and "only in the waterfall do we perceive one another as 'other', because it's only then that we're apart from each other"? Warning: the vocalist (Fernando Ribeiro) is writer too: he authored a book that has written Fernando Pessoa all over it :)
Be'lakor - Valence: Subjective knowledge vs. absolute knowledge, 100% poetical. If you watch their official video, I made a comment about those lyrics: I can't believe they will go down into oblivion, unappreciated :(
PS: Jinjer's Pisces is another outstanding one, but since it was featured here long time ago... If curious, check 'Romantic Poets and Jinjer’s “Pisces”: Meaning, Duality, and the Human Tragedy'. That blogger there made very interesting observations, to which I added some analysis.
Sorry for such a long reply!
@@ganjiblobflankis6581 Well, that's the "art way", otherwise it would be a food recipe or a microwave user's guide, lol. Of course there are other distinct interpretations, yet each one of them isn't equally valid... copy/paste from a comment of mine:
_Maybe I digress a little, but it’s tied with what you state (which I agree with): “Meaning can never be objective and it can never be the artist’s prerogative.” So far that’s OK, I agree… but then the usually common wrong conclusion appears: “the following is not ‘the’ interpretation, only ‘an’ interpretation.” There aren’t just interpretations: there are some more befitting than others… I’ll elaborate._
_Of course the meaning can’t be the artist’s prerogative, but what was intended with statements along those lines (Roland Barthes, for example) was that the Piece of Art (poem, film, whatever) is the one that “speaks for itself” (conveys meaning ) without the “aid” of external narratives: it was aimed at the author’s “help” mainly (when not at certain critics/curators). The conclusion stating “there are just interpretations” allows for a misrepresentation of that previous rightfully made concept (“a piece of Art speaks by itself”) and subverts the whole idea: now the meaning is put into the public side!_
_The meaning doesn’t lie neither in the public, nor in the author: it lies in the piece itself alone (and its creation context, of course!). How much of that meaning is decipherable depends on the artist’s skills and the public it is aimed to; hence the quite recurring idea of comparing a Piece of Art with a riddle: an author being the riddler, the public being the one to solve it. At best, what interpretations do (the good ones) is to help with “hints”, as long as they are right there in the piece itself (and not some other place, like the author’s biography or claims)._
Like riddles, art must trick us into wrong answers too ;)
Doug has been bitten by the System bug :D. First time I see your head banging to System of a down. Very addictive band!
Nice analysis there, Doug. I really liked your take on the lyrics. Maybe check out System of a Down's song "Question". It has a load of different time signatures that I think you'll get a kick out of.
I've never seen somone play along to a song they're only hearing for the first time. I think that's a subscribe from me.
Serge is, to me, an absolutely riveting vocalist. And the (Armenian influenced?) harmonies are astounding.
Definitely Armenian (more broadly Caucasian) influenced, Georgian music has many similar aspects (which all in turn have many similarities to Arabian music)
I'm 50. My kid is 30. I was 30 when I bought her this album. She was 10. SOAD is in both of our top 10 bands OAT that we like. We can sing the words to every song by them. Talk about a mother-daughter harmonized duet! 🔥💥🔥💥👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻💥🔥💥🔥
im 25, my mom is 42. She was 23 when she bought this album. I was 6, grew up on alt metal, brazillian "national rock" and nu metal basically, slipknot, static x, limp bizkit, and so on. sometimes i'd sit on the couch with my parents while they played videogames, watching them play need for speed, and listening to soad, we looked more like siblings.
@@sockettgirl I love it! Music was one of the cool things I shared with my kid. Thanks for your great memories too!
This song still gives me chills even after all these years
Same. It's my favorite.
Same its like when the 1st time hearing it.. always like that when i played this song..
Wow, that was my favorite video of yours so far, great duration, great reaction and great educational part
Hi Doug, I would love to hear your thoughts on "Shadow Of The Abittior" by Trivium. Trivium is a very popular band and they're incredible musicians and songwriters, they've incorporated some orchestral elements into this song and the rest of their most recent album called In The Court Of The Dragon.
I don't think you've had any Trivium on the channel, they're definitely worth checking out for someone of your caliber. Have a great day Doug! 🤘🤘🤙🤙
I want to see Trivium too, but I'd prefer Shogun or The Revanchist.
Nice to watching you breaking these songs out in real time, vcery educational in a musical perspective!
Thanks!
Hi Doug :)
From what I understood from hearing Serj talk about it, the concept is of circus freaks looking up at the aerialists overhead, wishing they were there too
Dude can you play the whole song by piano please and post that. That was like the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
I truly love when people who really know about music listen for the first time rock/metal songs and find out so much interesting things in them, it gives mi years of life
Thos real time piano overlays are actually super entertaining. I wish more people were skilled enough to do them real time like that but then again.....not everyone is a classical composer. Great vid 👍
I think you should check out some stuff from their 2005 albums "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize". Both include a lot more harmonies and Daron on lead vocals for some tracks
Amazing to see you be able to play the song along with them from the very 1st listening.
5:05 this has just made my day. Thank you.
That was cool. I think you would enjoy reacting to the Serj solo song "Empty Walls" too.
OMG I loved this reaction, you really could feel the intensity of this song, which despite sounding simple, is so well written that for me it's easily one of the band's best songs.
Please bring more SOAD to us!
Okay, I just need you to play a piano version of this song. Just a piano solo of it all! Beautiful. ❤️
Well that's amazing! Seeing you follow it on piano made me want for an acoustic unplugged Aerials, that would be a treat 🍨
Serj is known for writing lyrics phonetically, based on sound rather than meaning, but these are some of his more linear lyrics
Honestly, some of that can give his lyrics even _more_ meaning
Great analysis!
The most intense and meaningful SOAD for me, the build-up at the end of the second verse always gets me, without fail. "Always want to play but you never wanna lose"
Hi Doug! I love your channel! I never commented so this is my first wish ever: I would love for you to react to Keith Jarret Koln Concert … Part 1 specifically if you wish only one song. Thank you :) and have fun!
BIG YES i recommend that jazz masterpiece
I feel like you’d enjoy Question! By System of a Down, it’s a great, unique song ❤
Loved the musical breakdown and seeing you jam along! It's fun and educational for musical neophytes like myself.
Would love to see a reaction to Tool's Invincible! Love the channel though!
You just made me wish they had added some piano in this song. That sounded amazing.
I think you should check the Riverside -"deprived (irretrievably lost imagination)"
The hidden track at the end, in my opinion, is Incredible. I feel like I'm part of some Ancient Peruvian Tribe, with 3 of my Brothers paddling a long canoe down some huge river!
It's purely.....well mostly instrumental.........but it instantly transported me to the place I just described......
It incorporates Armenian and more generally Caucasian musical components
Easily one of the best music reactions in all of TH-cam, thanks, Doug!
I must say that your piano musical additions added much joy to this reaction. My 8 year old son is on scholarship for piana. This video was awesome. Nice job!
It's been nearly twenty years since I've heard someone hear a song for the first time and proceed to cook that fucking hard.
Love it!
I'm so happy you review these songs in real time most of the people doing these videos stop the song and replay each like 10 second segment of the song 12 times before moving on and it destroys the songs
GO DOUG!!
He says "life is a waterfall, we're one in the river (before the waterfall) and one again after the fall (after the waterfall)", so no one is in the "life" but all around it
This guy just heard one of my favorite songs of all time and his reaction was "holy buckets" 😂
Holy buckets!
System of a down sounds even better with your piano on top. 😊 Reminds me that I always wished for something like a System of a down MTV unplugged project with classic instrumentation. That would be so interesting, to see what classic instrumentation does with their unique compositions.
If you want to branch out into another band that utilizes non traditional instruments for rock, I strongly urge you to check out The Tea Party, a fantastic Canadian band that got their start in the 90s. I think you’d particularly love their song “Sister Awake”.
Those madmen who used a bow to play a distorted guitar. I always liked "A Certain Slant of Light"
can you please do Homayoun Shajarian Rumi Poetry th-cam.com/video/NQQIEUDe6Qo/w-d-xo.html and Alireza Ghorbani ,Dorsaf Hamdani th-cam.com/video/azGh07lBAIg/w-d-xo.html
Another quality video, always look forward to watching these especially love the playing with the tune it’s crazy how can work it out on the spot 🤘
When you feel compelled to go to your piano and play along, those are your best reactions for me. It seems incredible that it is your first time listening to the song. I wouldn't care at all if you stop and rewind just to go deeper inside what's going on musically. Great reaction, cheers!
System of a Down's adherence to basic rock song structure belied me when I first heard them. After more listening there is so much creativity in their chord changes, harmonies, and lyrics that repeated listening has reallty made me appreciate them so much more. Somehow their songs never get old!
A quick comment about blocked viedos. The record companies are being very short sighted when it comes to blocking the videos on reaction channels. Have they learned nothing for the era of fighting Napster only to discover that they could make a 💩 load of money by making songs available for sale online? I can imagine channels like yours and others have driven individual song sales on Itunes and others. Hell, only about 5% of the reactions I watch are new music to me, and quite often I've heard the songs hundreds of times, but i do sometimes go and purchase the song regardless. These dinosaurs still in charge at the record companies need to open their eyes and realize how much revenue they are missing out on by blocking reactors videos. Okay, I'm done. 😀
Looking around for more soad reactions.
Find yours.
Really enjoyed. Tank you, made my day😘💛
Scorpions or Uli Jon Roth - The Sails of Charon. React to it at some point.
Just wanted to say I’ve binged your soad videos and I think you’re a really cool dude man. Keep up this great work 👍🏻
And the way you played the instrumental at the end of this was great
Love SOAD! One of the best bands of the last 25-30 years. Any one heard of Brocas Helm? Reminds me of Jethro Tull, but evil. Song suggestions?
Man! How you harmonized the tune was really awesome!
This was awesome man! It's pretty damn impressive how quickly you got it on the piano. Very talented!
Aerials one of my fav SOAD tracks. The song Spiders is highly underrated but my recomandattion for another SOAD reaction!
But.. you would really love Dimmu Borgir with Gateways (live version 'nothern light). The composition is spectacular
Love spiders 🖤
I love the full analysis of the song specially from someone who know his stuff!! Keep them coming please!!! Subscribed to the channel for sure.
Doug, can you react to Rebirth, from the brazilian band Angra?
You should really check out Hypnotize by System
i've watched many channels reacting to music but you are by far the best and most intricate, talented one. please do primus some time :D
Dang Doug, you got deep. It's probably exactly what they meant, but I just love the complex simplicity of their music. Great reaction as usual!
Doug, Sir, you definitely should make a piano version of Aerials, your piano playing along is sooo great.
I've always loved Aerials, both the lyrics and the music. So glad to view the reaction and agree with everyone else, the improv piano bits were awesome.
ayeeeee my man, YESSS, amazing understanding of structure and main sense
dude that was beautiful. that spontaneity is what we need more of from everyone.
dude, I really liked what you did with the keyboard!
Bro, that sounded so good with the piano my guy!
please, a piano version from you would be LIT
I must admit that I'd love to see you reacting to the more obscure site of metal, like Prison of Mirrors by Xasthur or Made as the Stale Wine of Wrath by Leviathan (USA)🦝
That was fucking great to watch!
I loved how you enjoyed your time
Love when Doug starts playing with the music
It's awesome to see someone enjoy this song so much. This has been one of my all time favorites for years. If you'd like to react to another please do Prison Song, trust me you won't be disappointed
Spiders is my favorite song by System of a Down.
Doug I need you to react to The Stage by Avenged Sevenfold and it’s music video. Very good song with chapter-like sequences, a powerful message that is driven home with the video. It would be a fun experience
this is probably my favorite SOAD song. just heavy enough but has its calm times and the transitions work so well
@5:42 my man gets it
Always interesting to see the reaction of an experienced musician such as myself. I know you've already listened to Octavarium, the song, by Dream Theater, but I would be really interested to see your analysis of the whole album, because there are some really interesting tracks on that album. I would definitely watch that. As always, thank you for your fun and interesting videos.
You really should listen to Toxicity, too!
Aerials are used to transmit and receive messages.
I've tried to figure out the lyrics too: "Aerials way up high," with, the word, high sung like an exhalation of breath or smoke.A pot reference? "When you lose small mind you free your life," or another way to put it: Turn on, Tune in, Drop out. So I've always thought of this as a drug song. Put your aerials up and free your mind to receive messages. I love the cello's in this. They really add to the heavy sound.
Such a fun channel.
Thanks for everything Doug
One of my all-time favorite tunes, and I loved seeing Doug playing along. This is great!
lonely day, psycho, toxicity, protect the land
Those are all good songs to check out,
also mezemerized and hypnotized are also some of my favorites albums
You mentioned how you thought the guitar sounded cool when it started. Two big reasons he has that cool original guitar sound is #1 Because Daron uses really heavy bottom strings (E A D) and skinny top (E B G). #2 It's drop C tuning, which is drop D plus every string tuned down one step. So from low to high, it's C G C F A D. The low tuning means looser strings which gives it that kinda twang clean sound. Also that low ass tuning makes it just heavy as shit. And yes, I agree, the main riff is very easy on the ears. He struck gold with that chord progression.
My first time hearing that intro I thought it was played on a bass because it kinda has the tonality of a bass (think Schism by tool without the overdrive).
I LOVED the part of your analysis at the piano. For an initial analysis you certainly understood it aurally quite quickly…. Made me suspicious if you did prior aural analysis or are just THAT good. I’m gonna go with the latter. Love you, your videos, and SOAD!!
I conquer with the comments about the Hypnotize/Mesmerize albums. There is SO much emotion behind those albums.
Sounds amazing with the piano
more of symphony x please thanks
I've always loved this song, but now for the first time it reminded me of the greek philosopher Heraclitus, who said "It is not possible to step into the same river twice" because the world is continuously changing. We only get once chance at each moment, and there is no way to pause or go back. "We're one in the river, and one again after the [water]fall." The universe drags us along with it, whether we like it or not.
Just found your channel, new sub. Your playing skills on that piano is brilliant! Loved to hear more.💯👍
Would love to have perfect pitch like you doug!. I only really know what root note songs are if I know how to play them on guitar but otherwise I'd just be guessing 😅
I remember an interview with SOAD and they were asked about the meaning of the Aerials lyrics. There really isn't one.
Beauty in composing open lyrics, the listener gets to visualize whatever him or her resonates with.
For me, in parts, it's kinda an alien advanced civilization telling us how do we behave and how stuck in this reality and planet by keeping a small mindset, looking for the wrong things, and thus living minor lives
Jethro Tull used to be really great about this. My mom used to call it "painting with lyrics." They don't really have an explicit meaning, but they generate vivid mental images.
Might be subconscious too though. Whether there really isn’t one or not but usually when writing lyrics there’s at least one thought that’s present that drives what you are writing even though in the end you can say it’s really about “nothing”
@@AnarchyShogun your mom is in good company. Chris Cornell once said "I'm not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colorful images. I think that's more what entertainment and music should be."
Well Serj was always big on people making the songs their own. He said a lot of their songs mean something different to each of the band and should to their listeners as well. There is a meaning if you find one. Otherwise just enjoy the jam.
I just want to say that u're a genius sir.
Those piano bits, got the notes right in that section before even listen. Thank you.
Might have posted this on another of the SoaD ones, but hearing this album always takes me back to riding the bus to middle school. This whole album, and much of their stuff, to be honest, holds up incredibly well. Always love when they show up here!