"Hooked" Explained plus thoughts on Energy and Climate Change

If you haven't seen our new music video "Hooked", check that out here:


When F5 hit me with the final product of "Hooked", I thought the message was conveyed exactly how I wanted it, and was hopeful that most viewers would get it.  A lot of people I've talked to seem to have taken something from it other than what I intended, which is fine for most of my songs because I like them to be open for interpretation, but this one really isn't.  The message is cut and dry and very important to me, so I wanted to write a little bit about it.

First of all, it's not about drugs.  The drug addict in this video is a metaphor, or symbol, for the United States.  The drug in this video is motor oil, which is a literal metaphor for petroleum.  I think the metaphor holds consistent for all lyrics and scenes in the video.  You have the drug dealer, which represents foreign oil companies.  An added scene could have included the addict mining his own "drug" as well, and destroying his own house or "habitat", but we kept that out.  In the video, the dealer jacks up the price of the drug, just as the addict needs more and more of it, making it difficult to obtain enough.  This holds true for the US/Petroleum parallel as well.  The "intervention" scene represents the many experts telling us that we need to curtail our oil dependence, and although we know that is true, we are unable or unwilling to do so.  You can see the effects that the drug has on the addict's body (puking, shaking, altogether instability), which is similar to the dire consequences the oil addiction has on the nation, especially the environment (and the economy once the addiction has destroyed enough.)  The addict's violent behavior and thefts of the drug represent U.S. military aggression that results in either taking oil or ensuring that we can get it somehow.  The chaos at the end of the video is more of a peek into the future than a direct historical parallel.  I believe if this country doesn't do more to switch off of oil and regulate big oil corruption and pollution, the consequences will be fierce.  The addict in the video dies from it.  Over dramatic? Maybe, but at this point I think we need to overemphasize some things to get this important point across.  I've included the lyrics at the bottom of the post if you'd like to analyze the parallels more in depth.  I also want to note that I know that the United States is not the only country with an oil problem.  It's the entire world.  It was just easier to portray the metaphor by using one country.

This is an issue that I'd like to dive into more in my music.  Regardless of what these Chevron commercials tell you, renewable energy needs to be the main goal.  Maybe it's not the most cost effective right now, but we should be focusing efforts to get it there.  Switching to renewables is a POSITIVE move for the economy long term, despite what your candidates paid for by Oil companies would like to tell you.  It's going to have to be done sooner or later, and the longer we wait and squeeze every drop of money we can out of oil and coal (another topic for a later date), the more damage that will be done.  The best thing we can do is support new green initiatives with your money and your vote, and make it known to the powers that be that the future matters.  Companies like The Heartland Institute, who use Big Oil money to fund fake scientific think tanks to give people reasons to doubt man made climate change, should be protested vehemently for their role in trying to destroy the future of our global climate.   I'm going to be bringing this fight to my music and also make some lifestyle changes, and hopefully some of you can join me in that.  If there are any resources that you think touch on this subject (articles, reports, anything) send them my way, I'd be happy to read them and increase my knowledge on the subject.

Here is a very optimistic article I read today.  Maybe some wishful thinking, but still some good indisputable numbers here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/are-we-wildly-underestimating-solar-and-wind-power/2012/06/19/gJQAh4GMoV_blog.html


"Hooked" Lyrics:

Never for a second did he think it’d come to this

A man as young as this, you’re thinking why’d you Run the risk?

You call it simple life, he called it punishment

With his future In the vice it’s the high he’s gonna get

Blood pumpin

Let the drugs come in

He wants nothing

But the rush again

And then he never thought twice

when they told him it was safe

now Its weaving through his life

Flowin through his veins

He loves it

Fill him up again

And the comfort

It could usher in

He felt weak and he needed a doctor now he’s

elite and it’s cheaper than water

all a sudden, caution

this addiction isn’t slowing

watch it man

the fixes still are growing

it’s taking more and more

hits, more to get him going

the worst part about it

really isn’t knowing

what’s the consequences for not stopping the progression?

will he just get taught a lesson will this go to far to step in new directions?

and now the price goes up, and so does the use

but he wants the finest cuts and doesn’t know what to do

or how to buy the stuff, the nightmare’s coming true

but he’s getting higher up, and he won’t undo

all the time it took, to get the Midas touch

fuck it, light it up! like

Chorus:

It felt so good and it worked so well

But it taints my blood and I hurt myself

I said it felt so good, and it worked so well

But it taints my blood, and I hurt myself.

Put the needle to his skin and inject it

There’s no feelin’ like his head gets

no slowing up its spreading

The gates opened up and the world could get it

He knows he’s got a problem, now, but to solve it

He’s got to want to solve it, but man it feels awesome

These other options are exhausting,

He can’t stop it without getting nauseous

So shoot the mother fuckin’ drug up in the blood stream

He never had enough guts to come clean

But everybody knew he was up to something

An intervention, the result was nothing

Smoke, snort, incision, get that black liquid in him

Doesn’t matter what method, just back in his system

When he can’t pay the dealer, in fact, he would kill him

But his own body would

Chorus

 We’ve never had dope like this

They say we have no crisis

My God but the further down the road life gets

Don’t quit… The more I show my fist

Cuz it kills from the inside, builds on the out

We still wanna get high, and sit on the couch

find alternatives, aim and narrow in

OK here it is Oil is our heroin

Oil is our heroin