Q is for Question! by System of a Down

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, click the link for more information.

“Question!” is a song by the Armenian-American Rock back System of a Down. The opening scene of the music video shows a boy all grey hued shooting a red bird with a slingshot then switches to a scene of the band members playing music in a theater for a play. The theme of the play is life, death, and reincarnation and revolves around two lovers who are shown both as children and as adults. As the music reaches its climax, the woman collapses after eating a red berry and the man screams in grief. The video closes with an intense scene of a woman giving birth followed by a shot of a newborn baby wrapped in red cloth. The color red is central to the video, tying together the bird, the girl, the woman, and the baby in a cycle of rebirth.

Shavo Odadjian, the band’s bass player, produced the video (and co-directed it alongside Howard Greenhalgh) after allegedly having an image of the video in a nightmare. He claimed that he had no intention of producing the video before he had the dream and, in fact, did not want any special treatment over the other possible producers so he submitted his idea for the video anonymously. The video was shot in the Los Angeles Theater, which opened in 1931 and is now closed. “It’s an amazing old theater that is due for renovation,” Serj Tankian, lead vocals and acoustic guitar player for the band, said of the place. “I’m glad they haven’t renovated it yet, because it has the right character for what we were looking for. It has a fairy tale vibe.”

This song is fairly intense, and not just because of the type of music. What a strong question that is to ask, “what happens when we die?” That must be the reason behind the exclamation point. Question! What do you guys think? You can check out the full lyrics to the song here.