Fear of a Blank Planet

There’s a growing problem in our world. It’s been on the rise for quite a while now. Why are suicide rates increasing the way they do? Kids are getting pumped with drugs because they are not mentally equal to the rest of the class. The constant pressure; of knowing if you aren't the top of your class you will never be successful. And if you aren't succeeding then you are failing. Sensationalist media constantly tells them that the world is fucked. No one bothers to tell them to look out the window and see that, through news reports of gruesome murders, and failing economy, outside your house it’s just another sunny day. Today's incompetent adults push kids like this because they need to be able to handle the world’s growing problems. There's no time to stop and breathe for them. No one tells them that they can be moderately successful and live happily. What’s wrong with the world to them? Everything. How can they change that? They can't. Upon all of this pressure, and all of these expectations, there is the hypocrisy of not letting today's youth be self sufficient, not letting them make mistakes that they would learn from. This over protection will not let them grow into confident or happy people. It’s like we’ve put them in this box that they must conform perfectly into, otherwise they cannot be happy. They have to take exactly the right steps, or they are a failure. Heck, they can’t even be happy with being a failure. Being happy is relatively impossible. Not even being happy, but just being content with who you are and the world around you is getting difficult. Happiness is a passing dream, a desert mirage. Don’t let the boy listen to heavy metal. He might start thinking for himself. Don’t let him stay at his friends house he might develop social confidence. Don’t let him play games, they distract him. Wait he’s not listening? He’s doing poorly in school? Give him some adderal, Maybe he will focus some more. We can’t possibly blame a failing school system that we put together.
Now this boy needs to take stimulants to keep him as mentally sharp as the rest of the world. He can’t possibly succeed without them. And if he doesn’t succeed then he will be a no body. If he is insignificant on a grand spectrum he feels worthless. Why are they so ignorant to his escapism? The poor boy feels like he is dying inside, and chooses to ignore all of his problems by playing video games, listening to loud music, and staying shut in from the entire world. He escapes into the very few things that the world is trying to take away. Everyone knows this isn’t healthy, but few realize that the alternative is death. The world has shut him away. He no longer can deal with it. There’s doctors trying to figure out what they can pump into him that will fix this, but it’s not him that’s made any errors. He’s just a kid. No longer innocent, but now a victim of a world who doesn’t know how to function.

Lunatics run this world. I’ve fucking had It.

Okay, I know this is pretty predictable, but for anyone who's really missing the major theme here...

"How can I be sure I'm here? The pills that I've been taking confuse me I need to know that someone sees that There's nothing left, I simply am not here"

"The prescription drugs You'll never find a person inside"

The entire song is fairly straightforward. Really, I think the narrator has legit reasons to be depressed, and sees the medications for what they are - distraction, numbing agents, something to bury the real issues and himself, and consequently, he sees many things in life just like that. He sees society for all its bullshit and emptiness, its want to just turn away and bury things in meaningless sense stimuli to numb pain and distract. And he's clearly missing something fundamental and important to him. Maybe he doesn't even know what that is anymore. Pretty terrible.

Great song.

First of all, I'm gonna say that these lyrics are just what I can interpret. I know that parts of it are wrong, but I think I got most of it right. Hopefully when the album actually comes out the band will release official lyrics, but until then if anyone gets any different lyrics, definitely post them.

Lyrically, the song doesn't leave much to speculate about. It's a comment on modern American culture, or more specifically, the effect of said culture on today's youth. The song is written through the eyes of a troubled teenager, growing up saturated with violence and sex from the mass media and dependent on medication (Presumably anti-depressants, given the references to things like disconnection from friends and family and the overall dark outlook of the whole song). The title just reinforces my point, "Blank Planet" probably meaning a world dependent on technology and shallow, materialistic values.

Musically, the song is great. It's instantly become one of my favorite PT songs, and I can't wait to get the whole album when it comes out.

Spot on about the song meaning but I hear the lyrics a bit differently

Sunlight coming through the haze No gaps in the blinds To let it inside The bed is unmade, some music still plays

TV, yeah it's always on A flicker of the screen A movie actor screams I'm basking in the shit flowing out of it

I'm stoned in the mall again Terminally bored Shuffling around the stores And shoplifting is getting so last year’s thing

Xbox is a god to me My finger on the switch My mother is a bitch My father gave up ever trying to talk to me

Don't try engaging me The vaguest of shrugs The prescription drugs You'll never find a person inside

My face is smothered on Curiosity is good enough for me I'm tuning out his eyes Pills are on the rise

How can I be sure I'm here? The pills that I've been taking confuse me I need to know that someone sees that There's nothing left, I simply am not here

I'm through with pornography The acting is lame The action is tame Explicitly dull, or rather a lull

Your mouth should be boarded up Talking all day with nothing to say Your shallow proclamations All misinformation

My friend says he wants to die He's in a band, they sound like Pearl Jam Their clothes are all black The music is crap

In school I don't concentrate And sex is kinda fun, but just another one Of all the empty ways of using up the day

How can I be sure I'm here? The pills that I've been taking confuse me I need to know that someone sees that There's nothing left, I simply am not here

Bipolar disorder Can't be any boarder Bipolar disorder Can't be any boarder

Don’t try to be liked You don't mind You feel no sun You steal a gun To kill time You're somewhere You're no where You don't care You catch the breeze It still relieves So now where?

Bipolar disorder, often referred to as manic-depression in the general literature, is a psychiatric condition defined by periods of extreme mood. These moods can occur on a spectrum ranging from debilitating depression to unbridled mania. Individuals suffering a bipolar disorder generally experience fluid states of mania, hypomania or what is referred to as a mixed states in concert with clinical depression - Wikipedia.org

Superdude - I find this to be an interesting comparison. I'm not sure I see quite as many parallels as you (not that I don't agree with you). Perhaps what's so interesting is how the parallels that they do share are so strong and yet they are such different people.

They're both numb and wondering why they can't feel anything. AP thinks that by striving to perfect his body that he will somehow become more human and that by killing others he will stimulate some sort of feeling. FOAB feels that he has tried to connect with people in the standard ways and that it has all been in vain. He really just gives up and accepts his numbness (convinced that there is no person inside) and eventually gives up entirely on life.

I think the biggest difference is that AP is born without emotion...he is truly a psychopath and has no compassion for other humans whatsoever. FOAB is a product of a broken home and a broken society (the whole album is such an interesting comment on growing up today in the computer age).

I'm glad you posted this...I wouldn't have thought of this otherwise...

By the way, just something interesting; the title is actually a play on words after Public Enemy's record "Fear of a Black Planet", which I find kind of funny.

I agree with CoyoteLongshot's interpretation of the song. I can't wait for the release of the album - I really look forward to another album that tell's a story and is not just another patch-work of various songs.

I like how the tone of the lyrics change with the verse and chorus. The verses paint a picture of a bored and angry kid, while the chorus digs deeper into his psyche to find fear and confusion.

In the coda at the end, I read the lyrics as 3rd-person.

An interesting song. I hope the rest of the album is at least this good.

Wow... good ear, Jack. Your lyrics are definitely more accurate. I'll put 'em up.