Pop Culture: Planet Zero
Shinedown gets it
Tomorrow I am going to see one of my favorite bands at the Ball Arena in Denver: Shinedown. They have been together since 2001 and have had seven albums. Besides having an edgy rock and roll sound with guitar solos and cerebral lyrics that were rare even 20 years ago (does anyone even use guitar anymore?), they have one other uncommon trait: an anti-woke / anti-cancel culture message.
In an age of AI-generated lyrics and chord progressions from the 7-11 clearance shelf, concept albums are another work of art from a bygone era. Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and Dark Side of the Moon, as well as Queen’s Night at the Opera are master classes in the genre. Shinedown has created one for the ages in Planet Zero from 2022.
The title track is the pejorative moniker bassist Eric Bass had for the United States during the Planned-demic.
“It was my nickname for it,” Bass, joined by frontman Brent Smith, tells Billboard via Zoom. “It seemed like there was zero intelligence, zero tolerance for anybody’s opinion, zero accountability for anything. We kinda looked at each other and were like, ‘Let’s write a song about what’s going on on planet zero.'”1
The lyrics are unmistakable and direct, and set to layered and edgy power riffs:
Down here on planet zero
They swing that gavel hard
No words, no peace, no advocate
No signs of life so far
Better pray for the soul of the citizen
Better pray that you're not erased
On your knees, for the life you're livin'
On your knees or you'll be replaced
The song America Burning continues the dystopian message of violence, intolerance, and with thinly veiled references to BLM and Antifa violence. It does so with angry, fist-pounding metal riffs; the song sounds just like its message:
Where you can act out loud and rattle the cage
And remove any doubt that you're enraged
Like a fool I guess at the end of the day
You might be woke but not awake
Pray for your family and cry yourself to sleep
Pledge your allegiance to the flag under your feet
Is this apocalypse now?
Who let the animals out?
Hip hip hooray, say something shocking
Who doesn't love a parade with gasoline and grenades?
Don't be afraid, it's just America burning
There’s also a jab at critical race theory:
Hip-hip, hip hooray they say
You've got it made
Your theory might be critical, but who's in charge?
If victimhood is currency, then you won't starve
While the band for the record claims to be apolitical, they let their music speak for itself. Lead singer Brent Smith says about Planet Zero: the intention was to write a song and take a side: “It’s written by the people for the people”2 Most in the entertainment world have joined the echo chamber of mask-wearing shills for the Man. Think Neil Young, Joni Micthell, Neils Lofgren … you know, all the relics from the 60s and 70s who defined their careers by never trusting the government and big companies. Suddenly they’ve become such compliant, obedient subjects.
There is little doubt about where these guys stand - and it is decidedly outside the woke echo chamber.
Every track is meaningful and fits into the theme; there are no “deep cuts” or filler tracks.
The song “A Symptom of Being Human” speaks strongly to depression and anxiety. The Machiavellian mandates of just-stop-the-spread-of-COVID-at-all-costs completely dismissed the downside of lockdowns. The red on that ledger included isolation, being prevented from visiting your dying parents, and having entire Little League seasons canceled, just to name a few. Feelings of despair that may have been under control prior to lockdowns now had time to fester. The number of true deaths from COVID was probably exceeded by lockdown-induced suicides. Government-approved ads gave a disingenuous message of “we’ll get through this together” while actual policies prevented ANYONE from being together.
Shinedown’s song is the real thing; their poetry comes from a place of genuine empathy that is echoed perfectly in the melancholy acoustic guitar arpeggios. The message is clear: “Feel alone sad and desperate? Well, so do I…let’s meet up at the lunatic ball with all the other people you never knew were going through the same thing“
If Pink Floyd had written Bily Joel’s You’re Only Human, it would be just like this:
Sometimes I'm in a room where I don't belong
And the house is on fire and there's no alarm
And the walls are melting too
How about you?
I've never been the favorite, thought I'd seen it all
'Til I got my invitation to the lunatic ball
And my friends are comin' too
How about you?
Don't worry, it's all just a symptom of being human
A second track called Dysfunctional You speaks to the same mental health themes very directly. Yes - things seem bad, but there is never zero hope. “You are not a unicorn; what masquerades as “normal” in someone else is really just a different set of demons.” It is set to a perfectly crafted, hypnotic, back-and-forth metronome of simple 4-note measures:
Suicide, suicide, one, two, three
Maybe these drugs are addicted to me
Can you hear me in there?
Is there anyone there?
And go on and be your dysfunctional self
Life's too short to play someone else
'Cause being normal is just a trap
But you're never so gone that you can't turn back
Scattered throughout the album are short tracks spoken by a monotone Orwellian narrator with names like This is a Warning, Do not Panic, and Delete. They serve as connective tissue to further the dystopian themes of the album.
It has become a world where free speech and dissent are suppressed and censored as “misinformation”. Shinedown gets it; their music has always had depth, but Planet Zero is both a masterpiece and a catharsis. I have listened to all tracks on this album over and over, and I am eagerly anticipating the energy of their live performance.
I don’t have to tell these guys to “Beware of Truth” because they already speak that language - or sing it.
Further up and Further in!
https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/shinedown-planet-zero-new-album-interview-1235023021/
https://americansongwriter.com/brent-smith-of-shinedown-just-wants-honesty-debuts-new-single-planet-zero/