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“American Soldier” by Queensryche
March 23, 2009
What does the rock band Queensryche and the US Military have in common? If you’re not a fan of Queensryche or perhaps even if you are, you’d probably say not a thing. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Queensryche is an American Heavy Metal band that was formed in 1981 in Bellevue, Washington. The band is comprised of the following members, lead vocalist Geoff Tate, Michael Wilton lead and rhythm guitars and backing vocals, Eddie Jackson, bass guitar and backing vocals, Scott Rockenfield drums, percussion and keyboards and Parker Lundgren on guitar.1
Album Cover of Queensryche's American Soldier album, as seen on Queensryche's website.
Their newest album is a special album for the band and one that is in honor of the American Soldier and one that is completely different from what Queensryche usually produces. In the past, the majority of their music has been based on personal experiences of the band members. For this album, lead singer Geoff Tate actually interviewed Soldiers, to provide basis for the lyrics of the songs on American Soldier. Queensryche’s album, American Soldier will tell their stories and you’ll actually be able to hear some of their voices, on the album, as they talk to Tate. Visit the band’s website and find out how you can support our Troops by purchasing American Soldier. I’ll include a link at the end of this post.
Queensrÿche, Rhino Entertainment and JamsBio.com have joined together in a special project honoring the AMERICAN SOLDIER. Whether you’re an active duty soldier, a reservist, a veteran or a loved one, help us celebrate the strength and courage of those who serve our country by sharing (1) stories of service and sacrifice, (2) song dedications to military personnel at home and abroad, and (3) your list of top-5 songs related to war and life on the frontlines.
You can now enjoy early access to HONORING THE AMERICAN SOLDIER. As an important member of the military or metal community, we’re letting you know first about this exciting opportunity for your community to contribute to this unique project and pay tribute to our servicemen and woman by sharing music memories, song dedications and top-5 lists.
JamsBio.com is already host to dozens of touching memories and dedications to soldiers, from servicemen and women and their loved ones about service, sacrifice, life on the frontlines and home front. Here are just a few:
My Soldier, a memory from armywife704 of Fort Bragg, NC
My Brother Comes Home, a memory from kwalz of Kansas City, MO
Radar Love, a memory from wedge of Redmond, WA
3-9-66, a dedication from Dave030966 of Inverness, FL
Far Away in Korea, a dedication from lovelogan of Olney, IL
Songs about Soldiers & Service, a JamsBio user-generated top-5 list
Songs about Freedom, a JamsBio user-generated top-5 list
The project officially kicks off on March 31st and will run for two weeks. At that time, we’ll be adding exclusive multimedia editorial tributes, including videos on the making of Queensryche’s epic concept album, American Soldier, featuring voices from actual soldiers interviewed by lead singer Geoff Tate.Take a sneak peek and add your tribute now at JamsBio. Then help us spread the word about HONORING THE AMERICAN SOLDIER by:
Informing your community about this special tribute by posting an image, writing an article, blog post or through an email inviting them to contribute,
Forwarding to any active military, veterans or others who will be interested, and
Emailing us with any suggestions at !
About JamsBioJamsBio offers a rich platform on top of a database of over 4 million songs to share your memories of music; review albums, songs and concerts; dedicate music to that special someone; create and debate Top-5 music lists; play games to test your knowledge of music; and keep a pulse on the world of music through our Magazine’s original columns, podcasts, and news articles from our contributors around the globe. Already the site has hundreds of thousands of posts, lists and games played by people sharing great music and profound life experiences that we can all relate to.
JamsBio is a property of Mouth Watering Media, LLC.2
Singer Geoff Tate recently wrote an editorial, that was featured on Military.com . In the article, he explains his motivation behind the album American Soldier and his dedication to telling their story through the band’s music. I’m currently trying to see if I can arrange an interview with Geoff Tate via telephone. If I’m able to do so, I’ll make sure and provide a follow-up to this story. I’d like to share what Geoff had to say.
Over the last few tumultuous years, things have become very political. War brings that out. People agree and disagree, and we Americans find it comfortable to debate politics with clever bumper stickers. One sticker slogan that pushed my buttons was one that declared, “I support our troops!” For months I asked myself what it meant. Was I missing something? Wasn’t this statement obvious? Isn’t this one thing that most of us can agree on?
The more I thought about it the more I thought of my own meanings for this ambiguous statement. Of course I support our troops … or do I? What is it that I do support? What do I even know about our troops? Even though I was raised in a military family I had never been a Soldier and I’ve certainly never been in combat.
I felt compelled to understand what a Soldier is. Just what is the soldier’s perspective? What does the Soldier experience before, during and after war. The only way to do this was to ask them and to listen to what they had to say.
I started by asking my dad who is a veteran of Korea and Vietnam about his experiences. This was new territory for us as we had never talked about such things and as he spoke about the challenges that he had faced as a young man I began to understand him differently and see how he became the person he had become. As we were talking, I grabbed my video camera and filmed our time together so I could share his thoughts with my wife and children.
After seeing the taped conversation with my dad, my wife said, “You need to write a song about this. You need to share this with other people.” As we spoke further about it we both realized that with more interviews with more Soldiers from different conflicts, we might then begin to understand the meaning of supporting the troops.
I didn’t realize the depth of the journey I would take and how much I would learn. Throughout hundreds of hours of conversations with soldiers from WWII to the present conflict in Iraq, I found myself humbled and awed by their dedication, loyalty and supreme willingness to give everything and anything for our way of life. They lay their lives on the line and live through things that most of us can’t even imagine. They stand in the “Gap” so that the rest of us can live our lives and pursue our dreams. We sleep easy because they are watching our backs.
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.
Sound Off…What do you think? Join the discussion.
Copyright 2009 Geoff Tate. All opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com3
Take some time and visit Queensryche’s website. Listen to the songs, participate in the discussions, and read what you can do to be a part of donating to the National Military Family Association. Portions of album proceeds will be donated to the above charity, to help military members and their family members. My hats off to Geoff Tate and Queensryche, who have put their money where their mouth is. Their actions speak volumes!!! Thank You for what you’re doing to support our Troops!
National Military Family Association
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensr%C3%BFche [↩]
- http://www.queensryche.com/2009/03/17/honoring-the-american-soldier/ [↩]
- http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,187049,00.html?wh=news [↩]
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6 Responses to ““American Soldier” by Queensryche”
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Terri, I’ve been a HUGE Queensryche fan for years! One of my first concerts was the Damaged Justice tour in 1989 when they headlined with Metallica! The BEST concert to this date in my mind. I still have Queensryche on my iPod as I work out. It’s good to see that one of my favorites is doing this for the troops. I’ve pre-ordered my copy of the album on iTunes already.
[...] Terri, from A Soldier’s Mind, is also working with the band and has a post up. [...]
[...] week or so ago, I wrote this article on the new album by the band Queensryche. An album that tells the story of the American fighting [...]
Thank You
Just read a good interview with Geoff Tate. He talks about American Soldier near the bottom.
http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/04/art-space-talk-geoff-tate-queensryche.html
I’m a huge Progressive Metal fan and have been keeping track of the progress of this album for some time. While on R&R from Iraq a few weeks ago I got the American Soldier album and a signed poster from all the Band Members and Geoff’s daughter Emily who sings on the album. I have a daughter Emilys age and ever time I hear her sing “Home Again” it brings a tear to my eye. Very different kind of album for QR but it scores an “A” from this fan. And it is very refreshing to hear of Seattle Liberals who actually take the time and listen to soldiers stories to get a new perspective of the comfortable world they live in. Thank you Mr. Tate.
MSgt Jeff Oden, Taji Iraq