I've heard Ronnie say he really likes this song because it really reflects him so I think it's a song from the perspective of a heavy metal musician. The first verse seems to be the speaker validating his music. He (and his anger) has been a prisoner and he's the "first to escape," meaning he's the first to voice the frustation that heavy metal is more apt to explore than other kinds of music. The second part of the first verse points out that he's in the minority, but the majority isn't right, he is because he isn't silent like so many others.
The Second verse seems to be playing on the image metal artists are given in the popular of media (monsters, freaks, etc.) but still with a rejection of this notion that they are wrong because they go against the majority.
The third verse has the speaker talking about how he thinks he's morally right (very few metal artists would consider themselves, "evil," rather they would say they are examining evil and tackling it) but everyone thinks he's just foul ("a whore"). People say that he is "giving nothing/A taker" (his music has no worth, is just garbage, a common criticism of heavy metal) and a "maker of war" (people often criticize metal of being violent or inspiring violence). The speaker rejects this and says he'll fight back "with a smile," not out of malice but because he knows the things people say about him aren't true.
On the way out, we have some more of this defiant talk such as in "Don't follow behind/Just leave me on the outside" where the speaker says he'd much rather stay on the outside of the mainstream rather than actually try to convert it. We also get this interesting line of "I am hunger/Feed my head," where the speaker is saying he's fueled by this criticism and will take it, knowing nothing will stop him from doing what he wants.
I think it definitely works like is said before if you go with "Computer God" framing the whole album but if you take it by itself and add in Ronnie's comments, I think my idea works too.
I've heard Ronnie say he really likes this song because it really reflects him so I think it's a song from the perspective of a heavy metal musician. The first verse seems to be the speaker validating his music. He (and his anger) has been a prisoner and he's the "first to escape," meaning he's the first to voice the frustation that heavy metal is more apt to explore than other kinds of music. The second part of the first verse points out that he's in the minority, but the majority isn't right, he is because he isn't silent like so many others.
The Second verse seems to be playing on the image metal artists are given in the popular of media (monsters, freaks, etc.) but still with a rejection of this notion that they are wrong because they go against the majority.
The third verse has the speaker talking about how he thinks he's morally right (very few metal artists would consider themselves, "evil," rather they would say they are examining evil and tackling it) but everyone thinks he's just foul ("a whore"). People say that he is "giving nothing/A taker" (his music has no worth, is just garbage, a common criticism of heavy metal) and a "maker of war" (people often criticize metal of being violent or inspiring violence). The speaker rejects this and says he'll fight back "with a smile," not out of malice but because he knows the things people say about him aren't true.
On the way out, we have some more of this defiant talk such as in "Don't follow behind/Just leave me on the outside" where the speaker says he'd much rather stay on the outside of the mainstream rather than actually try to convert it. We also get this interesting line of "I am hunger/Feed my head," where the speaker is saying he's fueled by this criticism and will take it, knowing nothing will stop him from doing what he wants.
I think it definitely works like is said before if you go with "Computer God" framing the whole album but if you take it by itself and add in Ronnie's comments, I think my idea works too.
I agree with your explanation
I agree with your explanation