System
of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System,
is a rock
band from Southern California, formed in 1994. It
consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm
guitar), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals), Shavo Odadjian
(bass, background vocals) and John Dolmayan
(drums).
The
band achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums; from
which three debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. 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 "B.Y.O.B.". The group went on hiatus in
August 2006, but reunited in November 2010, embarking on a worldwide tour in
2011.
History
Soil (1992–1994)
Serj
Tankian, Daron Malakian, and Shavo Odadjian all attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School
while children, although because of their eight-year age difference they did
not meet until 1992 while working on separate projects at the same recording
studio.They formed a band named Soil
with Tankian on vocals and keyboards, Malakian on vocals and guitar, Dave
Hakopyan (who later played in The Apex Theory/Mt. Helium)
on bass and Domingo "Dingo" Laranio on drums. The band hired Shavo
Odadjian (another Rose and Alex Pilibos alumnus) as manager, although he
eventually joined Soil as rhythm guitarist. After three years, only one live
show, and one jam session recording, Hakopyan and Laranio quit the band,
feeling that it was not going anywhere.
Demo tapes and signing (1994–1997)
After
Soil split up, Tankian, Odadjian, and Malakian formed a new band, System of a
Down. The group took its name from a poem that Malakian had written titled
“Victims of the Down." The word "victims" was changed to
"system" because Odadjian believed that the alteration would appeal
to a much wider audience and also because the group wanted their records to be
alphabetically shelved closer to their musical heroes, Slayer. Odadjian
switched from guitar to bass and passed on his managerial duties to Velvet Hammer Music and Management
Group and its founder David “Beno” Benveniste.[citation needed] The band
recruited drummer Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian, an old
school friend of Malakian's and Odadjian's who had played with Malakian in a
band called Snowblind during their teens.
System
of a Down quickly made what is known as Untitled
1995 Demo Tape, which was not commercially released but appeared on file
sharing networks around the time of the band's success with Toxicity about six years later. Demo Tape 2 was released in 1996. At
the beginning of 1997, System of a Down recorded their final publicly released
demo tape, Demo Tape 3. In mid
1997, drummer Khachaturian left the band because of a hand injury (he
subsequently co-founded The Apex Theory, which included former Soil bassist
Dave Hakopyan).Khachaturian was replaced by John Dolmayan.
The
band's first official release of a professionally recorded song was on a
collection called Hye Enk
("we're Armenian" in English), an Armenian
Genocide recognition compilation, in 1997. Soon after playing at
notable Hollywood clubs such as the Whisky-A-Go-Go
and Viper Room
the band caught famed producer Rick Rubin's attention who asked them to keep in touch with
him. Showing great interest, the group recorded Demo Tape 4 near the end of 1997. Unlike the previous demo
tapes, however, Demo Tape 4 was
made only to be sent to record companies (although it has since been
leaked onto the internet). Rubin signed the group onto his American/Columbia
Records, and System of a Down began to record in Rubin's studio,
laying down tracks that would eventually be released on their debut album.
Also in 1997, the
group won the Best Signed Band Award from the Rock City Awards.
Debut album (1998–2000)
In
June 1998, System of a Down released their debut album, System of a Down. They enjoyed
moderate success as their first singles "Sugar" and "Spiders" became radio favorites and
the music videos for both songs were frequently aired on MTV. 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.
In
November 1998, System of a Down appeared on South Park's
Chef Aid album, providing the music
for the song "Will They Die 4 You?" Near the end of the song Tankian
can be heard saying, "Why must we kill our own kind?" a line that
would later be used in the song "Boom!" Although System of a Down is
credited on the album, South Park character Chef doesn't introduce them as he does for all
other artist featured on the record.
System
of a Down's former drummer, Ontronik Khachaturian, briefly reunited with the
band at a show at The Troubadour in 1999, filling in on
vocals for an ill Tankian.[2]
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)
On
September 3, 2001, System of a Down had planned on launching their second album
at a free concert in Hollywood as a "thank you" to fans. The concert,
which was to be held in a parking lot, was set up to accommodate 3,500 people,
however, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 fans showed up. Because of the large excess
number of fans the performance was cancelled by police officers just before the
group took the stage. No announcement was made that the concert had been
cancelled. Fans waited for more than an hour for the group to appear, but when
a banner hanging at the back of the stage that read "System of a
Down" was removed by security, the audience rushed the stage, destroying
all the band's touring gear (approximately $30,000 worth of equipment) and
began to riot, throwing rocks at police, breaking windows, and knocking over
portable toilets. The riot lasted six hours, during which six arrests were
made. The band's manager, David "Beno" Benveniste, later said that
the riot could have been avoided if the group had been permitted to perform or
had they been allowed to make a statement at the concert regarding the
cancellation. System of a Down's scheduled in-store performance the next day
was cancelled to prevent a similar riot.
The
group's big break arrived when their second album Toxicity debuted at No.1 on the American
and Canadian charts, despite the events of September 11. The album eventually
achieved multi-platinum certification and has
since sold over 12 million copies worldwide. It was still on top in
America during the week of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the
political environment caused by the attacks added to the controversy
surrounding the album's hit single "Chop Suey!"
The song was 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
album's 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
No.14 slot in the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
In
2001, the band went on tour with Slipknot
throughout the United States and Mexico. Following a performance in Grand
Rapids, Michigan, Odadjian was harassed, ethnically intimidated, and was physically
assaulted by security guards backstage, who then dragged him out of the venue.
Odadjian received medical attention from police and later filed a suit against
the security company. Despite the incident, the tour was a success and System
of a Down and Slipknot went on the Pledge of Allegiance Tour with Rammstein
in 2001.
In
late 2001, unreleased tracks from the Toxicity
sessions made their way onto the internet. This collection of tracks was dubbed
Toxicity II by fans. The group
released a statement that the tracks were unfinished material and subsequently
released the final versions of the songs as their third album, Steal This Album!, which was 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
as well as a message to those who leaked the songs onto 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)
Between
2004 to 2005, the group recorded the follow-up to Steal This Album!, a double album, which they released as
separate installments six months apart from each other, notably including album
cover artwork by Malakian's father, Vartan Malakian, 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 No.1 in the United States, Canada,
Australia and all around the world, making it System of A Down's second No.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 No.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 No.1 in the same year.
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.
Whereas
on System of a Down's previous albums most of the lyrics were written and sung
by Tankian and the music was co-written by Tankian and Malakian (and sometimes
Odadjian) much of the music and lyrics on Mezmerize/Hypnotize
were written by Malakian who also took on a much more dominant role as vocalist
on both albums, often leaving Tankian providing keyboards and backing vocals.
Concert
footage and interviews with the band concerning the importance of helping
create awareness and recognition of the Armenian
Genocide were featured in the 2006 film Screamers, directed by Carla Garapedian.
An interview with Tankian's grandfather, a survivor of the Genocide, was also
included in the film as well as Tankian's and Dolmayan's meeting with (then)
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert during which the two musicians
campaigned for the United States government's official recognition of the
Genocide. Footage of Tankian and Dolmayan marching with protesters outside of
the Turkish embassy in Washington D.C. was also used in Screamers.
System
of a Down was honored at a University of Southern California
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.
In
May 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Malakian confirmed the
break would 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 The Disinformation Company.
Hiatus (2006–2010)
Malakian
announced he was forming a band called Scars on
Broadway, which was joined by Dolmayan. 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.
Tankian
released his debut solo album Elect the Dead
in the autumn of 2007 to great critical and commercial acclaim. Malakian and
Dolmayan released Scars On Broadway's debut self-titled album on July 29, 2008.
Dolmayan, alongside working with Scars on Broadway, formed his own band, Indicator, as well as
opened Torpedo Comics, an online comic book store.Odadjian pursued his project
with RZA
of Wu-Tang Clan,
a hip-hop group named AcHoZeN, worked on his urSESSION website/record label, and
performed as a member of funk legend George Clinton's backing band.
Reunion and tour (2011–present)
On
November 29, 2010, following several weeks of internet rumors, System of a Down
officially announced that they would be reuniting for a string of large European
festival dates in June 2011. Among the announced tour dates included UK's Download
Festival, Switzerland's Greenfield Festival, Germany's Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, Sweden's Metaltown,
Austria's Nova Rock Festival and Finland's Provinssirock.
In their reunion statement posted on their website, the band was unclear as to
the extent of their reformation. It read, "We have no master plan of sorts
– we are playing these shows simply because we want to play together again as a
band and for you, our amazing fans. On March 1, 2011 the band announced they
will play several shows in western North America in May and June. The reunion
tour commenced on May 10, 2011 in Edmonton,
Alberta. On May 4, 2011, Brazil event organiser and promoter Roberto Medina announced
that System will be headlining, alongside Guns N' Roses,
his Rock in Rio 2011
festival on October 2 in Rio de Janeiro.
System's
first tour through Mexico and South America began on September 28, 2011 in
Mexico City,
ending in Santiago,
Chile
on October 7, 2011. From late February to early March 2012, they will
headline five dates at the Soundwave festival. This
will be the band's first visit to Australia
since 2005.
Asked
in October 2011 whether System of a Down will record a new album, drummer John Dolmayan
replied, "We're gonna take it day by day. [...] For the people who are
waiting for an album — I know there's a lot of people waiting for an album; I'm
waiting for an album just like they are. It's gonna happen when it's right and
when we can make something that tops what we've done in the past. Because we
don't really wanna rest on our laurels — where what you've done in the past is
what you depend on. Well, I don't wanna do that, and I know the rest of the
guys don't wanna do that. Instead of resting on our laurels, we wanna throw
them away and create something new and specific for this generation that they
can say that's their System of a Down.
On
August 11 and 12, 2012, System will play the Heavy MTL
and Heavy T.O.
music festivals in Montreal and Toronto, respectively.
On
April 23, 2012, it was announced on the band's website that they would do a
summer tour of the eastern United States and Canada with special guests, Deftones.
Style
Lyricism
System
of a Down's lyrics are often oblique or dadaist,
and have discussed topics such as drug abuse,[
politics
and sexual intercourse.
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 as well as the ongoing War on Terrorism.
Music
The
stylistic variety and level of experimentation
in System of a Down's music has made it difficult to describe, but the
group 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,
avant-garde metal, experimental
rock, hard rock, heavy metal, new prog,
nu metal,
progressive metal and progressive rock.
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. In interview with Mike Lancaster, he also said, "People
always seem to feel the need to put us into a category, but we just don't fit into
any category. 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.
Influences and comparison to other artists
The
band's influences include Middle Eastern music, Ozzy Osbourne,
Dead Kennedys,
Frank Zappa,
Slayer and
Van Halen.
One reviewer claimed that their music encompasses different sounds, from
sounding like "Fugazi
playing Rush" to sometimes "tread[ing] close to Frank Zappa
territory. Malakian has stated that "I'm a fan of music. I'm not
necessarily a fan of any one band. Dolmayan stated "I don't 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
|
Nominated
|
|||
"Aerials"
|
Nominated
|
||
"B.Y.O.B."
|
Won
|
||
Nominated
|
General
- In 2005, System of a Down won for Best Alternative Act in the Europe Music Awards
- In 2006, System of a Down won the "MTV Good Woodie Award" for their song "Question!"
- In 2006, System of a Down's song "Toxicity" was No.14 on the VH1 Top 40 Metal Songs list
Band members
Soil's first line-up
(1992–1993) |
|
Soil's second
line-up
(1993–1995) |
|
System of a Down's
first line-up
(1995–1997) |
|
System of a Down's
standard line-up
(1997–present) |
|
Occasional contributors
- Arto Tunçboyacıyan – percussion, composition (on Toxicity: "Science" and "Arto". Steal This Album!: "Bubbles" and some live concerts in 2005)[47]
- Harry Perry – rhythm guitar (Ozzfest 2006)
Discography
Main article: System of a Down discography
- System of a Down (1998)
- Toxicity (2001)
- Steal This Album! (2002)
- Mezmerize (2005)
- Hypnotize (2005)
Official website www.systemofadown.com
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