“ Tomorrow we’ll rise so let’s fight today”
Back in high school, my music was all over the place, but it was mostly hard rock and metal. Call it the angsty teenage years, call it a path to discover what my identity was, I call it old tastes that I am not much into anymore. I can attribute a lot of my tastes though to Pandora and my friend Matt, who came in my freshman year. It was thanks to him, that I was first introduced to Hollywood Undead, in Spanish class.
It was such a strange band when I first heard them. It sounded like a mixture of rock and rap that just made me scratch my head and go “huh.” But it wouldn’t be long before I decided to listen to more from this band, including the song being discussed today, Undead. Why wouldn’t this band be popular though ? The lyrics always seem to be used to get pumped up and the songs seem to also be incredibly catchy. So then what seems to be the problem with this band and the song ?
Well it seems to be a case of toxic and aggressive masculinity. These guys suggest that if someone is talking smack or ticking you off, you get violent and go to lengths of defending what you stand for with violence. With lyrics like “ And when you’re running your mouth, our razor blades come out” lead us to give men the idea of what it takes to be a man and act violently against all the haters that are against them. This is obviously not how men should react if they are feeling ticked off or dealing with negative comments as it is not healthy and will lead to issues down the road.
I should make a point that Hollywood Undead advertises themselves with masks on, not showing there real faces. I have no idea if this is an attempt to seem tough looking and thuggish, if they think it looks cool, or if this is an attempt to hide their true selves behind violent aggressive masks. We shouldn’t handle our emotions like this, as it just builds up til we lash out. We need to remove the masks and deal with things as they come up.
Undead’s lyrics may be catchy and used to pump yourself up, but they are not the best ways of representing proper actions of manliness. Use this song with either extreme caution or a realization that this is not the appropriate way to act. You may look cool, Hollywood Undead, but you are not the way that we should act.
