System of a Down
System of a Down is an
Alternative metal band from
Hollywood (
California), formed in
1995.
Their name was inspired by a poem written by band member
Daron Malakian entitled "Victims of a Down" (featured on the back of their first album). Fellow band member Serj Tankian felt that "System" was a much stronger word.
All four members are of
Armenian ancestry and are widely known for their outspoken social and political views found in many of their songs. System of a Down is a part of the
Axis of Justice, a non-profit organization formed by Tankian and
Tom Morello that is dedicated to bringing together musicians, music fans and
grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice.
In the beginning (1995-1996)
System of a Down came about after a band from L.A called Soil (which featured Serj and Daron) broke up. Serj and Daron formed a new band straight away, and they already knew Shavo Odadjian from when their previous band shared a recording studio with Shavo's previous band. Shavo was originally the bands manager and promoter. Later Shavo quickly accepted the offer to join the band as the permanent bassist. Since then managerial duties have been undertaken by highly successful Velvet Hammer Music and streetwise founder David "Beno" Beneviste. One of their first releases was ‘Sugar,' which has become one of their most famous songs to date, and they have played it at almost every live performance. They found a drummer,
Andy Khachaturian, who joined the band. They then released three demo tapes, now easy to find anywhere, that can be found
here.
Debut album (1997-2000)
|
System of a Down's self-titled debut album |
After the third demo was released Andy left the band and John Dolmayan was hired to replace him. The band signed on to Rick Rubin's label and in the summer of 1998, System of a Down released their debut album,
'System of a Down' . They enjoyed moderate success with their first single
'Sugar' becoming a radio favorite, followed by the singles
'Spiders' and
'War?' . After the release of the album, System of a Down toured extensively, opening for
Slayer before making their way to the second stage of
Ozzfest. Following Ozzfest, they toured with
Fear Factory and
Incubus before headlining the Sno-Core tour with Puya, Mr. Bungle and Incubus providing support. In 2000, the group contributed their cover of the
Black Sabbath song
'Snowblind' to the Sabbath tribute album
Nativity in Black 2.
Mainstream success: Toxicity/Steal This Album! (2001-2003)
The rock group's big break arrived when their second album
'Toxicity' debuted at #1 on the American and Canadian charts, eventually achieving multi-platinum certification. The album has since sold 6 million copies worldwide. It was still on top in America on the week of the
September 11, 2001 attacks and the political environment caused by the attacks added to the controversy surrounding their hit single
'Chop Suey!' causing it to be taken off the radio as it contained politically sensitive lyrics at the time such as "trust in my self-righteous suicide." Regardless, the video gained constant play on
MTV as did the second single,
'Toxicity' .Even with the controversy surrounding
'Chop Suey!' for which they earned a
Grammy nomination, System of a Down still received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with their hits,
'Toxicity' and
'Aerials' . In May of 2006,
VH1 listed
Toxicity in the #14 slot in the
40 Greatest Metal Songs.
In late 2001, a few unreleased tracks made their way onto the Internet. The group released a statement that the tracks were unfinished material. Soon after, the band released the final versions of the songs, which were recorded at the same time, but hadn't been used for
Toxicity. The result was their third album,
'Steal This Album!', released in November 2002.
Steal This Album! resembled a burnable
CD that was marked with a felt-tip marker. 50,000 special copies of the album with different CD designs were also released, each designed by a different member of the band. The name of the album is a reference to
Abbie Hoffman's counter-culture book,
'Steal This Book' and as a message to those who stole the songs and released them on the Internet. John said in an interview "I don't care if fans download our songs from the internet but I don't like it when fans get our songs before the release date". The singles
'Innervision' and
'I-E-A-I-A-I-O' were released as radio-only promos and received constant airplay on alternative radio. A video for
'Boom!' was filmed with director
Michael Moore as a protest against the
War in Iraq.
Mezmerize/Hypnotize (2004-2006)
|
System of a Down on the cover of Revolver Magazine |
From 2004 to 2005, the group produced a double album,
'Mezmerize/Hypnotize', with the two parts released six months apart. The first part,
Mezmerize, was released in May 2005, to favorable reviews by critics. It debuted at #1 in the United States, Canada, Australia and all around the world, making it System of a Down's second #1 album. First week sales rocketed to over 800,000 copies worldwide. The explosive Grammy Award-winning single
'B.Y.O.B' which questions the integrity of war, worked its way up the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single,
'Question!' was released with bassist Shavo Odadjian co-directing the music video. Following the release of
Mezmerize, the band toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada with
The Mars Volta and
Bad Acid Trip supporting. Following the release of the
'Hypnotize' single, the second part of the double album,
Hypnotize, was released in November 2005. Like
Mezmerize, it debuted at #1 in the US, making System of a Down, along with
the Beatles and rapper
DMX, the only artists to ever have two studio albums debut at #1 in the same year. Their second single off the Hypnotize album,
'Lonely Day' was released in March, in the US. In February of 2006, System of a Down won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for their single
'B.Y.O.B' , beating out other established artists such as
Nine Inch Nails and rock veteran
Robert Plant. SOAD will headline
Ozzfest 2006 in cities where tour founder Ozzy Osbourne opts not to appear or is not playing on the main stage.
Hiatus and the future of the band (2006-present)
In May of 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Guitarist Daron Malakian has confirmed the break will probably last a few years, but insists that the band is not splitting up. He tells MTV, "We're not breaking up. If that was the case, we wouldn't be doing this Ozzfest. We're going to take a very long break after Ozzfest and do our own things. We've done System for over 10 years, and I think it's healthy for us to get away from it for a while and come back to it later on. So, this is probably going to be... well, it's not a farewell tour, but it's going to be a little while before we go out again." He adds, "I'll always be a member of System Of A Down. That will never change. There isn't a rule that says you have to make records constantly, like clockwork, to continue being who you are." Malakian claims that he needs a break from the band because he wants to live his life more. He has written the majority of the music for the band for ten straight years.
Even though various members of System of a Down have insisted that the hiatus is NOT a break up, at the kick off of
Ozzfest '06, on June 29, the band appeared to be on the verge of a break up. In one particular instance, Daron improvised lyrics from
Lonely Day, changing them to "Such a lonely day, hanging out with the band/ This motherfucker, I can't stand" while looking at vocalist
Serj Tankian. However, according to Lauren Valencia of Velvet Hammer (System's management company) not only was that statement never made but the band is closer than ever.On July 8th, while playing Lonely Day, Daron improvised the lyrics to, "Such a lonely day, with the band/I love these guys right here." Tankian quickly followed that by stating "everybody should mind their own business!" During their performance in Houston, Daron also took a moment to say, "There's been a lot of rumors about us breaking up. Well don't fucking listen to them. Us four right here, we will always be System of a Down!"
During the Hiatus, Daron will be in a band called
Scars on Broadway, and will have its debut album out in fall. Shavo might be participating in this, but he has plans with the
Wu-Tang Clan. Serj plans to keep recording as a solo artist in "Serjical Strike", while John plans to open a comic book store online, which should be up online in November 2007.
System of a Down's final performance before their scheduled hiatus will take place on August 13, 2006 in West Palm Beach, FL.At Ozzfest, System of a Down made it clear that they support Lebanon (birthplace of Dolmayan and Tankian) in Israel's attacks against it; by having a Lebanese flag in the projector on their stage.
|
The cover of System of a Down's latest album, Hypnotize. |
System of a Down's main influence is mostly from early
alternative rock bands, as well as from heavy metal, punk rock, jazz, fusion, Armenian folk music (Harout, Paul, Armik) classic rock, blues, industrial genres, and definitely Middle Eastern music from Lebanon (Dolmayan and Tankian were born there). The band has used a wide range of instruments, including
baritone electric guitars,
electric mandolins,
sitars,
12-string guitars and
Middle Eastern ouds. Daron has stated on several accounts that his songwriting is inspired heavily by
The Beatles.
There is some contention over the band's
genre.
System of a Down has been labeled as "nu metal" by some fans and media since their incarnation. This can be attributed to the release of their first album, which occurred during the "nu metal" boom of the mid-to-late '90s, though they'd actually been making music and touring before nu-metal had been created. The song structure is also arguably done mostly conventionally.
Those who disagree with the nu metal label argue that System of a Down feature guitar riffs strongly reminiscent of those found in
thrash metal. There are guitar solos in certain songs on every album, the bass doesn't act as the main instrument nor is it played in the typical slow and loud nu-metal fashion, and the drumming tempo doesn't rise above the midtempo range of the chorus and bridges. The lyrics deal mostly with political and social issues or just pure randomness, rather than personal issues.
Others believe that System of a Down's genre and song structure varies by song and album so one label can not be used to describe the band.
Guitarist
Daron Malakian has said in a
Guitar World interview that he is glad System of a Down has not slipped into the nu metal genre. During a 2005 concert, he announced, "They used to call us nü-metal, now they call us
prog rock. I think they'll call us anything that's popular."
In a 2005 interview with the
Houston Press, Malakian said, "Lately, we've been doing interviews, and people have been like, 'You guys are really leading the way for the new prog movement,' and I'm like, 'What?' Because a couple of years ago, these guys were comparing us to
Limp Bizkit and
Korn, and now that we're still here and those bands aren't, they're talking about prog. It's just kind of aggravating that people always have to have something to compare us to, or bunch us up with. I'm not saying we're the most original band in the world, but I don't really feel that we fall into a heavy-metal category or a pure rock category. There's a lot of stuff mixed up into one."
All four of the band members are of Armenian ancestry, and they have pursued recognition of the
Armenian Genocide by the U.S. and Turkish governments through both music and political action. The lyrics of many of the band's songs deal with this issue. "
P.L.U.C.K." (Politically Lying Unholy Cowardly Killers) is a song about the Genocide and was used in the movie "
Ararat". In the album booklet, the band dedicates "this song to the memory of the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Turkish Government in 1915." The
Armenian Genocide is still highly sensitive in certain communities. The government of Turkey denies that the events were genocide. The song "
Holy Mountains" was revealed to regard to the Armenian Genocide by Tankian on the
Axis of Justice radio network. Another song thought to be about the Armenian Genocide is "X".
*
Serj Tankian -
Vocals,
Keyboards,
Samples,
Guitar*
Daron Malakian -
Vocals,
Guitar*
Shavo Odadjian -
Bass, backing vocals*
John Dolmayan -
Drums (1997-Present)
Previous members
*
Andy Khachaturian -
Drums (1995-1997)
Albums
System of a Down (1998)
Toxicity (2001)
Steal This Album! (2002)
Mezmerize (2005)
Hypnotize (2005)
Singles
Sugar (1998)
War? (1999)
Spiders (1999)
Chop Suey! (2001)
Toxicity (2002)
Aerials (2002)
Boom! (2003)
Innervision (2003)
B.Y.O.B. (2005)
Question! (2005)
Hypnotize (2005)
Lonely Day (2006)
Kill Rock 'n Roll (2006)
B-Sides & Demos
Demo Tapes:
*"
Demo Tape 1"
*"
Demo Tape 2"
*"
Demo Tape 3"
System Of A Down (Self Titled) Recording Sessions:
*Marmalade (demo)
Toxicity/Steal This Album Recording Sessions:
*Defy You (Alternative version of Nuguns)
*Cherry (also called Virgin Tea)
*Forever (also called Outer Space/Fortress)
B-sides:
*Storaged
*Marmalade
*Prison Song (Version 2)
*Shame (featuring
Wu Tang Clan)
*Friik!
*Blue
*Honey
*Johnny
Chef Aid Soundtrack:
*Will They Die 4 You (Featuring
Mase,
Puffy, and
Lil' Kim)
Nativity in Black II:
*Snowblind (
Black Sabbath song covered by System of a Down)
Dracula 2000 Soundtrack:
*Metro (
Berlin song covered by System of a Down)
*
Official homepage*
SoaDFans (The Official Unofficial Fan Site)*
SoaDOnline*
SoaD-online.net
