Empty Walls

{{Infobox song

| name = Empty Walls

| cover = Empty Walls Serj Tankian.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| released = September 10, 2007 (Internet)
October 15,[http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/single_reviews/s/1020596_serj_tankian__empty_walls_reprise Serj Tankian – Empty Walls (Reprise) – Single reviews] 2007 (CD)

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Alternative metal

| length = 3:49

| label = Serjical Strike/Reprise

| writer = Serj Tankian

| producer = Serj Tankian

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title = Lie Lie Lie

| next_year = 2007

}}

"Empty Walls" is a song by Armenian American musician Serj Tankian. It is Tankian's debut solo single and the opening track off of his first solo album, Elect the Dead.[http://www.tunedmagazine.co.uk/viewfull.html?article=46 Serj Tankian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213101116/http://www.tunedmagazine.co.uk/viewfull.html?article=46 |date=February 13, 2012 }} Tuned. July 18, 2007. Accessed September 7, 2007.Harris, Chris and Yasmine Richard. (July 20, 2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070822142602/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1565133/20070719/tankian_serj.jhtml System Of A Down Frontman Serj Tankian On Intimate Solo LP] MTV. Accessed September 7, 2007. The song has been described as a "traditionally pummeling rocker".Brown, August. (July 15, 2007). [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-fasttracksa15jul15,1,7208136.story?ctrack=1&cset=true Tankian works outside the system]{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. Los Angeles Times. (Free registration required.) Accessed September 7, 2007.

"Empty Walls" was released on September 10, 2007, as a digital download and September 25 as a CD single. It can also be found on a 2 track Reprise promo issue dated September 4, 2007{{Cite web |url=http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/39663/2005146322238914811_rs.jpg |title=Elect The Dead 2 track promo |access-date=January 9, 2008 |archive-date=September 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140920163950/http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/39663/2005146322238914811_rs.jpg |url-status=dead }} as well as in edited form on promotional copies that have been sent out to radio stations.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

An acoustic version of the song also appears on the limited edition of Elect the Dead.[http://store.warnerbrosrecordsstore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=1548612&sid=1479ECED7AED407595DA87981915D5FD Warner Bros. Records online store] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011194922/http://store.warnerbrosrecordsstore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=1548612&sid=1479ECED7AED407595DA87981915D5FD |date=October 11, 2007}} (September 27, 2007) The "Victorious Club Mix", as featured on the single, was produced by DJ LethalRush.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

The music video for the single was released onto Serj Tankian's official YouTube link on October 26, 2009. The video, which shows activity in a children's playroom that echoes the events of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent war in Iraq, contains an amended version of the last verse where it repeats "empty walls" instead of "fucking walls" and "goddamn walls".[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CxKA1uETxE Official video]

Music video

Serj released one of the videos on September 11, 2007, matching the video's War on Terrorism theme. The music video was directed by Tony Petrossian[http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/article/?id=46989 System Of a Down singer to make album videos] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070907222446/http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/article/?id=46989 |date=September 7, 2007 }}, by Metal Hammer, August 28, 2007. Accessed September 7, 2007. and was uploaded to YouTube on September 12, 2007. The video shows young children playing in a daycare center with their play imitating the War on Terrorism.

The video opens with a felt Homeland Security Advisory System scale (accompanied by a seal reading "U.S. Department of Playground Sekcureity"), followed by a young girl building two towers of blocks. A boy launches a toy airplane into the towers, knocking them down and upsetting the girl, and she is shown to want revenge.

Various scenes in the video refer to the War in Iraq: the children preparing for play war, a teddy bear being pulled down (referring to the symbolic pulling down of Saddam Hussein's statue), a presidential figure with a sign declaring "Mission Accomplished", a child in a cage reminiscent of one of the Kenneth Bigley hostage videos, the aforementioned collapse of the block towers, a child dressed and positioned in imitation of a published picture of Satar Jabar from the Abu Ghraib prison, and several children pulling another from a toy house to play execute him with a can of silly string (in reference to the Hamdania incident). A boy inside a toy car puts on goggles and is driven into a plastic ball pit wall to cause a burst of confetti, symbolic of the many suicide bombings at US Army checkpoints. The children performing acts similar to those of the US military are clearly distinguished by wearing helmets reminiscent of soldiers' helmets.

Meanwhile Serj, dressed in a top hat and suit, sings as they play. The video concludes as the children all look out the daycare window and solemnly watch a Marine Corps detail load a flag-draped casket into a hearse. Meanwhile, the dead Marine's grief-stricken parents are looking in horror and disbelief at the day care, after seeing what the children have done.

The video has also appeared on Much Music's Video on Trial.