System of a Down

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{{Infobox musical artist |Background = white |Border = black |Name = System of a Down |Img = Systempress2.jpg |Img_capt = Photo of the band, from the official web site. From left to right: Daron Malakian, John Dolmayan, Serj Tankian, Shavo Odadjian |URL = Official Website |Formed = 1995 |First = System of a Down |FirstYear = 1998 |Disbanded = |Latest = Hypnotize |LatestYear = 2005 |Genre = Alternative Metal |Label = American/Columbia |OGenres = |OLabels = |Similar = |Projects = |Albums = |Songs = |Reviews = }}

System of a Down (sometimes referred to as S.O.A.D., or System) is an alternative metal band from Hollywood, California that formed in 1995. The band consists of Serj Tankian (vocals, keyboard), John Dolmayan (drums), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals) and Shavo Odadjian (bass). The members are well known for the outspoken social and political views found in their songs. All four members are of Armenian ancestry. The band is also a part of the Axis of Justice, which is a non-profit organization formed by Tankian and Tom Morello of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine. Its purpose is to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice together.

1 History, style and influences
2 Nu-Metal dispute
3 Members
- 3.1 Previous members
4 Discography
- 4.1 Albums
- 4.2 Singles
5 External links

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History, style and influences

System of A Down use a wide range of instruments, including baritone electric guitars, electric mandolins, sitars, 12-string classical guitars, and many other West Asian instruments. Their main influences are most noticeably from earlier alternative rock bands. They also draw influence from the heavy metal, punk rock, jazz, fusion, Armenian folk music, classic rock, blues, and industrial genres.

In 1998, the band released their debut album, System of a Down. The album was produced in part by Rick Rubin. The band enjoyed moderate success, with their first single 'Sugar' becoming a radio favorite. The singles 'Spiders' and 'War?' followed. 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 band contributed their cover of the Black Sabbath song "Snowblind" to the Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black 2.

The band's big break came when their critically-acclaimed sophomore 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. The album was #1 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: "Trust in my self-righteous suicide," for example. 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 late 2001, some unreleased tracks recorded during the making of Toxicity made their way onto the Internet. The band released a statement that fans were listening to unfinished material, and soon after the band went into the studio to re-record these songs. The result was their third album, Steal This Album!, released in November 2002. The CD resembled a burnable CD that was marked with a felt-tip marker. The album is unique in that it contains no booklet. 50,000 special copies of the album with different CD designs were also released, each designed by a different member of the group. The album is a reference to Abbie Hoffman's counter-culture book titled Steal This Book. 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.

Image:System of a Down Revolver.jpg From 2004 to 2005, the band produced a double album, Mezmerize/Hypnotize, with each being released separately. 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 their second #1 album. First week sales rocketed to over 800,000 copies worldwide. The explosive Grammy Award-winning first single "B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bombs)," which questions the integrity of war, worked its way up the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single, "Question!," was released next with bassist Shavo Odadjian co-directing the 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 Mezmerize/Hypnotize 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, Led Zeppelin, and rapper DMX, the only artists to ever have two #1 studio albums in the same year. The album has had a strong critical response. Their second single of the Hypnotize album is "Lonely Day," released in March in the US.

System of a Down has announced that they are touring in summer 2006 in Ozzfest, headlining the tour with Ozzy.

During some live shows while tuning his guitar, Daron Malakian will play the intro to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

Serj Tankian also made a song for the album Strait Up, which was released for the memory of Lynn Strait, who was playing in the band called Snot, died in a traffic accident. Serj prepared the song Starlit Eyes for the album.

In 2005, System of a Down performed the song "B.Y.O.B." on Saturday Night Live. At the end of the performance, guitarist Daron Malakian screamed, "Fuck yeah!", which the live censors failed to omit. However, any other cursing in the song was censored on time.

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.

System of a Down is already writing their sixth album and rumored to go back to the studio before the end of 2006 or sometime in 2007. However, no additional information about the album has been announced yet. It is also not known if Rick Rubin will be producing the album, partly due to his role of producing Metallica's new album. [1]

In 2005's Ozzfest, Ozzy Osbourne had to cancel some of his appearances due to his poor health conditions. In 2006, Ozzy Osbourne is only headlining Ozzfest in select locations. In those Ozzfest locations where Ozzy Osbourne will not appear, System of a Down will be the headlining band of the tour.

There was a song leaked on the internet during the Napster phase called "Legend of Zelda" or just "Zelda" that was supposedly by System of a Down. This song is in fact by The Rabbit Joint and its real name is "Zelda".

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Nu-Metal dispute

There is some contention over the band's genre regarding whether they are nu metal, which can carry negative connotations to some, or heavy metal.

System of a Down have 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. The band also toured with Ozzfest, a festival that typically features many up-and-coming nu metal bands. Their music features guitar solos in the intro as well as solos, a common trait of traditional metal bands. However, the band does not show many other traits associated with the metal genre, thus voiding many fans' claims that S.O.A.D's music is metal.

Those who disagree with the nu metal label argue that System of a Down uses no rapping or turntables in any of their songs. Such hip-hop influences are typical traits of nu metal.

The band does not consider itself to be nu metal. 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."

Also 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. Lyrics tackle serious issues such as the Armenian Genocide as well jokes and humorous lyrics such as in "Vicinity of Obscenity" and "She's Like Heroin".

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