Draft:Critical Acclaim

"Critical Acclaim"
Song

"Critical Acclaim" is the first single from Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album. A two-minute teaser was posted on the band's MySpace profile to achieve popularity towards the song over until the iTunes release date, however on August 20, 2007, Avenged Sevenfold uploaded the full version on their MySpace. The full song was released on iTunes August 28, 2007.

Introduced by a twenty-two second long organ melody followed by a guitar solo, "Critical Acclaim" is based around two guitar riffs - one which is repeated during the verses, the second one after every chorus and before and during the third guitar solo.

Lyrical meaning

The song's lyrical meaning is a direct criticism of The Democratic Party and other people who, according to the band, are in their turn criticizing the soldiers of the United States of America for engaging in the Iraq War conflict. "They've never contributed a fucking thing to the country they love to criticize." This is a part of the lyrics often repeated, which states that some people love to criticize their country, The United States, but they do nothing to fix or understand the "problem" they are criticizing. The song also touches on other important politcal issues. These issues are not as evident and apparent until further observation of the lyrics is preformed. These other issues start with abuses of welfare displayed in the line "You stand in front of me and bite that hand that feeds." Other criticisms include those of powerful institutions such as Hollywood and wealthy liberals (referred to in the lyrics as "High Society") that take no responsibility for their own problems and instead "point fingers." In this same portion of the lyrics is a negative and hostile reference to the results of the 2004 U.S. Election and the claims that it was rigged in favor of George W. Bush. It is a criticism of those who were angered by the results as well as those who claimed many times that the election was stolen. ("All the way from the East to the West, we got this High Society looking down on their very foundation, constantly reminding us that our actions are the cause of all their problems. Pointing fingers in every direction; blaming their nation for who wins elections. They never contributed a fucking thing to the nation they love to criticize." Avenged Sevenfold lead singer M. Shadows has close friends who have experienced military service in Iraq.

The Rev provides the vocals for the chorus of the song, as well as some background vocals and screams.

The song is available as downloadable content for the music video game Rock Band.