"Lost in Hollywood"

System of a down-Lost in Hollywood - MyVideo

By Jenny Schulz & Julia Wallor

The song “Lost in Hollywood”, by System of a Down, is obviously negative concerning to Californias “dreamfactory” Hollywood. It is written in a kind of letter from a person whose friend went to Hollywood to become a big star.

“I´ll wait here 
You´re crazy”

The writer of the letter tells his friend that he is waiting back home while his friend goes to Hollywood. He also says that he thinks his friend is crazy to try something that so many people tried before and failed.

“Those vicious streets are filled with strays,
You should have never gone to Hollywood.”

This line is supposed to show how hard the life in Hollywood and its “vicious” is and that one ends with the “strays” when the big dream of becoming famous does not come true. “You should have never gone to Hollywood” obviously means that the risk to fail is much bigger compared to the chance of succeeding and that one should therefore not try to become big in Hollywood and rather stay home.

“They find you,
To time you,
Say you´re the best they've ever seen,
You should have never trusted Hollywood.”

Many people are told they had potential and could become a star and should therefore sign contracts with this or that manager or agency, but in the end they are dropped as soon as they do not bring enough profit anymore.

“I wrote you,
And told you,
You were the biggest fish out here,
You should have never gone to Hollywood.”

The writer tries to convince his friend to come back because although he is a “big fish” in what he is doing at home it is not enough to become big with in a place like Hollywood. That is what most people who go there do not realize at first but will learn in a hard way afterwards.

“They take you,
And make you,
They look at you in disgusting ways,
You should have never trusted Hollywood.”

Stars are usually not treated as human beings anymore but as public objects. They are “money machines” for their agencies and their life’s are not worthy for more than public entertainment which is here showed through “They look at you in disgusting ways”.

“I was standing on the wall,
Feeling ten feet tall,
All you maggots smoking fags on Santa Monica Boulevard”

This line tells a story apart from what was told before. In his childhood Darian Malakian (ex-guitarist from SOAD) and his friends could see the streets of Hollywood from a high wall. What they saw were all the people who failed in Hollywood and then became drug dealers, prostitutes or other criminals. “All you Mggots smoking faggots” is repeated many times in this song which emphasizes the amount of people who fail compared to those whose dreams really come true.

“Phoney people come to pay,
Look at all of them back to stay,
Phoney people come to pray.”

Finally the song says that Hollywood is some kind of a “centre of attraction” for phoney people who are drawn to Hollywood and stay there no matter if they come to “pay” or to succeed.

All in all one can conclude that Hollywood is a place that promises the fulfillment of dreams that are out of any reality and that it can and already has ruined the life of many people who thought they could become big stars but are just as ordinary people as everybody else.