SYSTEM OF A DOWN
System of a Down (also known by the acronym SOAD, or SoaD and often shortened as System) is an Armenian-American rock band from Southern California, formed in 1993. It consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar), Daron Malakian (vocals, guitar), Shavo Odadjian (bass, background vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums). All four members are of Armenian descent, and are widely known for their outspoken views expressed in many of their songs confronting the Armenian Genocide of 1915 by the Ottoman Empire as well as the ongoing War on Terror.
The band has achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and won the award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song BYOB. On August 13, 2006, the group went on indefinite hiatus.
History
Soil (1992–1994)
The roots of System of a Down lie in the band Soil (not to be confused with the Chicago-based band SOiL), a band from Los Angeles that included Serj Tankian on vocals/keyboard and Daron Malakian on vocals/guitar, as well as Dave Hakopyan (who would later play in The Apex Theory/Mt. Helium) on bass and Domingo Laranio, a local Hawaiian drummer. Shavo Odadjian joined Soil near their end as their bass player, even though he had been playing guitar for most of his life. After three years, only one live show, and one jam session recording, the band developed into System of a Down.
Beginning (1995–1997)
After Soil split up, Serj, Shavo and Daron formed the new band, System of a Down, based on a poem that Daron wrote, “Victims of the Down”[citation needed], but Shavo Odadjian, who was originally the band’s manager [citation needed], believed that the word “System” would appeal to a much wider audience. After Shavo became the band's bassist, he passed on his managerial duties to Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group and to founder David “Beno” Benveniste.[citation needed] The band then found a drummer, Andy Khachaturian. System of a Down quickly made what is known as their early Untitled 1995 Demo Tape, which had very early recordings of “Mr. Jack” (called “Bacon”), along with songs called “Flake”, “Toast” and an early recording of “The Metro”, a cover of the Berlin song of the same name. Two other songs, “X” (called “Multiply”) and “Honey” were live demos at the time and were played at band recorded Demo Tape 1, which had early versions of “Sugar”, “Suite-Pee”, and “P.L.U.C.K.”, as well as “Dam.” Demo Tape 2 was released in 1996 and had a rough demo of the song “Soil” as well as the most known unreleased tracks such as “Honey” and “Temper.” At the beginning of 1997, SOAD recorded their final publicly-released demo tape, Demo Tape 3, which had rough versions of “Peephole”, “War?”, and “Know.” In mid 1997, Ontronik Khachaturian left the band due to a hand injury(he subsequently co-founded The Apex Theory, which included former Soil bassist Dave Hakopyan). Soon after playing at the Whisky-A-Go-Go and Viper Room with new drummer John Dolmayan, the band caught producer Rick Rubin's attention and he told them to keep in touch with him. Showing great interest, they recorded Demo Tape 4 near the end of that year. This demo, however, was made only to be sent to record companies. The tape was not released to the public until years later when it was leaked onto the Internet. After Rick helped them get signed onto American/Columbia Records, SOAD began to record in his studio. In 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band award from the Rock City Awards.[1] Prior to 1998, SOAD’s live shows were called “The Dark Red Experience”. Many of the songs featured on the demos would eventually make their way onto the band's debut album.
Debut album (1998–2000)
In the summer of 1998 (June 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 single "Spiders." After the release of the album, the band toured extensively, opening for Slayer and Metallica 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, The Cat and Incubus providing support. On November 1998, System appeared on the Chef Aid album for South Park, providing the music for the song "Will they die 4 you". Near the end of the song, Serj can be heard saying "why must we kill our own kind?". Although System is credited on the album, Chef (South Park) doesn't introduce them as he does for all other artist on the album. In 2000, the band contributed their cover of the Black Sabbath song "Snowblind" to the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black 2.
Toxicity and Steal This Album! (2001–2003)
The group’s big break arrived when their second album Toxicity debuted at #1 on the American and Canadian charts, eventually achieving multi-platinum certification.[citation needed] The album has since sold over 12 million copies worldwide.[citation needed] 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 “(I don’t think you) 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!” which earned a Grammy nomination, System of a Down still received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with “Toxicity ” and “Aerials”. In May 2006, VH1 listed Toxicity in the #14 slot in the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
In 2001, the band went on tour with Slipknot in the United States and Mexico. After seeing the success of the tour, System and Slipknot went on a Pledge of Allegiance Tour with Rammstein in 2002. 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 had not been used for Toxicity. The result was 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. The song “Innervision” was released as a promo single 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 and Hypnotize (2004–2006)
From 2004 to 2005, the group produced a double album, which they released as separate installments six months apart from each other, notably including album cover artwork by Malakian's father which was designed to connect the two separate album covers. The first album, Mezmerize, was released on May 17, 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 Grammy Award-winning single "B.Y.O.B.," which questions the integrity of military recruiting in America, worked its way up the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single, "Question!" was released with 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.
The second part of the double album, Hypnotize, was released on November 22, 2005. Like Mezmerize, it debuted at #1 in the US, making System of a Down, along with The Beatles, Guns 'N Roses, and rappers 2Pac and DMX, the only artists to ever have two studio albums debut at #1 in the same year.[2] In February 2006, System of a Down won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for "B.Y.O.B.," beating out other established artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Robert Plant. Their second single off the Hypnotize album, "Lonely Day" was released in March in the United States. System of a Down released "Kill Rock 'N Roll" and "Vicinity of Obscenity" as their next promo singles. The band headlined Ozzfest 2006 in cities where tour founder Ozzy Osbourne opted not to appear or wasn't playing on the main stage.
System of A Down's songs were used in the 2006 film Screamers, directed by Carla Garapedian. They appeared in the movie, in an interview talking about the importance of helping create awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. An earlier engagement started exclusively in Los Angeles on December 8, 2006. Also, "Lonely Day" appeared on the soundtrack for the 2006 movie Disturbia.
System of A Down was honored at the USC v. Cal game at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Los Angeles, California in 2006. The Trojan Marching Band, along with Dolmayan and Odadjian, performed three System of a Down songs: "Toxicity", "Sugar", and "Hypnotize". System of A Down's song "Lonely Day" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance in the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, but lost to "Woman" by Wolfmother.
Hiatus, semi-reunions, and future of the band (2006–present)
In May 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Malakian has confirmed the break will probably last a few years, which Odadjian specified as a minimum of three years in an interview with Guitar magazine. He told 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 ten years, and I think it's healthy to take some rest."
May 2006 also saw the UK publication of a biography of the band entitled System Of A Down: Right Here In Hollywood by writer Ben Myers. It was published in the US in 2007 through Disinformation.
During their performance in Houston, Texas, Malakian also took a moment to say, "There's been a lot of rumors about us breaking up. Well, don't listen to them. Us four right here, we will always be System of A Down!" However, Malakian also announced he was forming a band called Scars on Broadway, which was joined by Dolmayan. Their debut self-titled album was released on July 29, 2008. Odadjian will be working on a project with RZA of Wu-Tang Clan named AcHoZeN as well as his urSESSION website/record label. Tankian plans to keep recording as a solo artist/producer. "Empty Walls" is his first single off his debut solo album Elect the Dead, which was released on October 23, 2007. Dolmayan, alongside working with Scars on Broadway, planned to open a comic book store online by November 2007.
System of a Down's final performance before their hiatus took place on August 13, 2006 in West Palm Beach, Florida. "Tonight will be the last show we play for a long time together," Malakian told the crowd during Sunday's last performance. "We'll be back. We just don't know when."
Shavo Odadjian told Launch Radio Networks in 2007 that System of a Down is "alive and well", but just aren't working together.
In an April 2008 interview with Kerrang magazine, guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan gave their takes on the band's future. When told that many people are going to wonder what the future of the band is, Malakian responded by stating that "We'll all know when the time is right." Dolmayan added, "It'll just happen." Malakian went on to say:
Yeah. It'll feel good and happy. I can respect this situation [System's hiatus] more than I can respect the situation where two people are like, 'The lead singer fucked my girlfriend!' and that kind of bullshit. Nah, man. The lead singer is a special person to me and I am to him. And that's how we ended off. Same with Shavo, same with John. And it will always be. It was a big part of my life. We were onstage together for a long time, man. We went through shit as a band and friends – we slept in RV's together!
In an interview with Tankian about Big Day Out 2009, a show involving playing his Elect the Dead album live with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, and his upcoming second studio album. "Every few months I am honored to hear interesting rumors about whether the band is going to tour or break up permanently. I find them all to be very entertaining."
On October 31, 2009, Odadjian threw a Halloween party at the Roxy in which three of the members (Odadjian, Malakian, and Dolmayan) played three songs including "Suite-Pee" (off System of a Down), Scars on Broadway's "They Say", and an unknown song. Franky Perez from Scars on Broadway joined them for these songs.
On November 20, 2009, at the Avalon in Hollywood, Malakian, Dolmayan, and Odadjian joined the Deftones on stage at the show benefiting bassist Chi Cheng and played hits "Aerials" and "Toxicity".
On January 11, 2010, bassist Odadjian posted on his official twitter account "Are you guys ready for System?". Two days after that, in a response to Billboard, however, Serj stated that System of a Down is still on an indefinite hiatus while adding "We always have offers to play, from festivals and stuff, but we have not decided to do anything as of yet".
On April 20, 2010, bassist Odadjian posted on the official System of a Down Facebook fanpage..
Style and influences
The stylistic variety and level of experimentation in System of a Down's music has made it difficult to describe, but System of a Down has, for the most part, maintained a single style throughout their body of work. This style has variously been termed alternative metal, alternative rock, art rock, experimental rock, hard rock, heavy metal,[11] nu metal, progressive metal and progressive rock.[22][23] Malakian has stated that "We don't belong to any one scene" and that "I don't like the nu-metal drop-A 7-string guitar sound; it is not my thing, at least not yet". According to Tankian, "As far as arrangement and everything, [our music] is pretty much pop. To me, System of a Down isn't a progressive band. [...] But it's not a typical pop project, obviously. We definitely pay attention to the music to make sure that it's not something someone's heard before."
The band has used a wide range of instruments, including electric mandolins, baritone electric guitars, acoustic guitars, ouds, sitars and twelve string guitars. According to Malakian, he would often write songs in E♭ tuning, which would later be changed to drop C tuning in order to be performed by the band. Malakian states that "For me, the drop-C tuning is right down the center. It has enough of the clarity and the crisp sound—most of our riffy stuff is done on the top two strings, anyway—but it's also thicker and ballsier."
The band's influences include Middle Eastern music, Ozzy Osbourne, Dead Kennedys, Frank Zappa, Slayer, The Beatles and Van Halen. The band's musical style has often been compared to that of Zappa. Malakian has stated that "I'm a fan of music. I'm not necessarily a fan of any one band." Dolmayan stated "I dont think we sound like anybody else. I consider us System of a Down."Odadjian stated "You can compare us to whoever you want. I don't care. Comparisons and labels have no effect on this band. Fact is fact: We are who we are and they are who they are."
Awards and nominations
System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, of which has won one in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song B.Y.O.B.. The band has also been nominated for several Kerrang! and MTV awards.
- Grammy Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | "Chop Suey!" | Best Metal Performance | Nominated |
| 2003 | "Aerials" | Best Hard Rock Performance | Nominated |
| 2006 | "B.Y.O.B." | Best Hard Rock Performance | Won |
| 2007 | "Lonely Day" | Best Hard Rock Performance | Nominated |
- Current members:
- Daron Malakian – Vocals, guitar (1994–2006)
- Serj Tankian _ Lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar (1994–2006)
- Shavo Odadjian – Bass guitar, live backing vocals (1994–2006)
- John Dolmayan – Drums (1997–2006)
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