Is Zach Bryan a Marxist?!.. Probably not.. but why not critique Capitalist Greed through music?

            I feel that over the past few weeks and months I have been so insanely busy that I haven’t really had the opportunity or time to explore a lot of new pop culture.  Instead, I feel that I have been engaging with music, and particularly old music that I used to listen to a few years back.  One of those artists is Zach Bryan.  One of his songs that has stuck out to me a little more than usual, especially during this module of Marxism and Marxist Criticism is, “Damn Cold Vampires.”

            I think the premise of this song is how there are entities or organizations that will try to take advantage of people and exploit them for money.  In particular, the song itself has heavy hints of critiques and criticism toward the music industry but I think it could be taken as corporate greed or also critiques of capitalism in the sense of its abuse to creators or people that are lower in class or working-class people. 

            The lyrics that stick out to me are, “Them damn cold vampires, been keeping me awake, Tryna build an empire, of things that they can take, Don’t let ‘em steal your hope, child, Turn it something green, damn you and damn all, your ties to this machine, ties to this machine.”  Don’t let them steal your hope child and turn it into something green.  I think this is the artist’s way to stand up for himself and not to be bought and sold out/controlled/manipulated by a record label or recording/producing company that will eventually take all his work and make a lot of money off of him.  I think the lyrics are strong and can apply in many different industries and aspects of life.  Overall the songs intent is a critique/call out of corruption or greedy entities preying on others talent or abilities, just to make money or turn it into something green.

            The clip from Aliens: Burke’s Sabotage from the module reminded me of this song and how it points out/calls out the critique of large organizations that are trying to prey on and exploit individuals just to make a profit.  Burke was fully willing to let innocent people be hurt/possessed/impregnated by aliens just to get them back to earth and make money.  I think this song is comparable to this theme in Marxist criticism where it shows/demonstrates how wrong it is to be complacent with greed and taking advantage of innocent people for money because those things shouldn’t happen, let alone be normalized.