Queensryche Pays Back

Years ago I attended a record signing (yes – record signing) for a little band opening for AC-DC while I was assigned to Fort Lewis. I’d only heard a couple of Queensryche songs at that point but they were accessible and rocked enough as the band autographed a copy of their new album “Rage for Order” for me.  I was happy that the drummer commented on my Gumby watch, which I lost at the concert that night.  I lost the signed album later.  They were mostly notable to me at that time because I had met them (“met” being a stretch) and because their set looked like the Nostromo from Alien.  But later, when I was in Germany, they cranked out Operation Mindcrime, one of the most pointed political comments of the day and one that holds up very well now. 

Got no love for politicians
Or that crazy scene in D.C.
It’s just a power mad town
But the time is ripe for changes

There’s a growing feeling
That taking a chance on a new kind of vision is due

I used to trust the media
To tell me the truth, tell us the truth
But now I’ve seen the payoffs
Everywhere I look

Who do you trust when everyone’s a crook?

(from the 80′s boys and girls)

Now they are out with “American Soldier” and debuted it on the Sirius – SM “American Soldier Weekend”.  I didn’t really know about the connection between lead singer Geoff Tate and the military but Christa Titus reports on his interest here.  His father was a Veteran of Korea and Viet Nam.  He gets another bonus from me because of his Dad’s cool name.   More to the point, Tate and the band are donating downloads directly to some troops and some proceeds to the National Military Family Association.  Their website looks like something that IAVA might have built and has discussions, comments, and links. 

This busy singer took several hours out of his rest at a rock festival to sit for a lengthy interview with a friend of mine from Vocals Magazine.  The interviewer is a hard-charging Soldier in his other life.  Tate wrote an editorial for www.Military.com where he notes:

As one of the Soldiers states in the opening line of the song “Unafraid” on Queensryche’s new album, “People sometimes lose the vision of where it all came from … they’re living in the laps of luxury in a country that was built on over three and half million deaths. “Our military men and women make sacrifices, and I for one never stopped to realize just how enormous these sacrifices are. I took it all for granted.

“How can you know me until you’ve walked in my boots?” This is a very old saying and I think a very appropriate description of this album of music. These are Soldier’s stories, their words and even their voices. This hour of music is a walk in a Soldier’s boots.

As you listen to the record and hear these songs and stories, I hope you will be moved. I urge you to not stop there but to talk to the people in your life, the people you know that have served our country. Ask them to share their stories. Then thank them.

I couldn’t have said it better and even my own Mother told me to never try to sing it.  But Geoff Tate and Queensryche do.  Check it out.