The symbol of the metronome is central to Sound of Noise, as despite the apparent nihilism of the film’s musical “terrorists”, they are still beholden to the careful and unwavering timing of the beat. They are embarking on a musical revolution, attacking the elitists and their incomplete vision of music, and robbing the environment of its sounds by using them to create music. The artifacts of musical creation are not sacred to this troupe of revolutionaries as those artifacts are symbolic of the old music that they feel has lost its human characteristics. They use their instruments, both literally and figuratively, going so far as to hurl a drum set out of the back of a moving van to foil their pursuers. Music is foremost a creation of humanity, and they feel that the orchestral music of the power elite, or the aggravating pleasantries of the municipal whistle music being broadcast from loudspeakers on every light-pole has lost this core of humanity. They aimed to take the music back, and use the drab industrialized Scandinavian cityscapes as instruments for their attack of musical anarchy. Powerful art should contain elements of societal subversion, as an artists’ primary task is to force society to look at itself, warts and all, and see the contradictions, beauty, and ugliness within.