System of a Down
System of a Down | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Glendale, California, U.S. |
Genres | |
Discography | System of a Down discography |
Years active |
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Labels | |
Spinoffs | Scars on Broadway |
Members | |
Past members | Andy Khachaturian |
Website | systemofadown |
System of a Down is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of founding members Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals); Shavo Odadjian (bass, backing vocals); along with John Dolmayan (drums), who replaced original drummer Andy Khachaturian.[1]
The band achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums, three of which debuted at number one on the
All members of System of a Down are of
History
Soil (1992–1994)
Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian attended
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 a Down".[4] The word "victims" was changed to "system" because Odadjian believed that it 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.[5] 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.[6] The band recruited drummer Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian, an old school friend of Malakian and Odadjian who had played with Malakian in a band called Snowblind during their teens.[4]
In early 1995, System of a Down performed under the name Soil at the Cafe Club Fais Do-Do, a nightclub in Los Angeles. Shortly after the event, System of a Down made what is known as Untitled 1995 Demo Tape, which was not commercially released, but eventually 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).[4] Khachaturian was replaced by John Dolmayan.
The band's first official and professionally recorded song was on a collection called Hay Enk ("We're Armenian" in English), an
In 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band Award from the Rock City Awards.[9]
Self-titled album (1998–2000)
In June 1998, System of a Down released their debut album, 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 does not introduce them as he does most of the other artists featured on the record.[10]
Toxicity and Steal This Album! (2001–2003)
On September 3, 2001, System of a Down planned to launch 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 10,000 to 15,000 fans showed up. Due to the large excess number of fans, the performance was canceled by fire marshals just before the group took the stage without announcement of the cancellation. 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.[11][12]
The group's big break arrived when their second album,
In 2001, the band went on tour with Slipknot throughout the United States. Following a performance in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Odadjian was allegedly 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.[14] Despite the incident, the tour was a success and System of a Down and Slipknot went on the Pledge of Allegiance Tour together with Rammstein in 2001.
In late 2001, unreleased tracks from the Toxicity sessions made their way onto the Internet.
Mezmerize, Hypnotize, band hiatus and side projects (2004–2008)
In 2004, the group recorded the follow-up to Steal This Album!: a double album, which they released in separate installments six months apart. The releases notably included album cover artwork by Malakian's father, Vartan Malakian, and were designed to connect the two separate album covers. The first album,
The second part of the double album,
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.
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.
A biography of the band entitled System of a Down: Right Here in Hollywood, written by
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."
The band members continued with their own projects; Malakian formed a band called
Reunion and touring (2010–2020)
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.
System of a Down played their only 2013 U.S. performance at the Hollywood Bowl on July 29; tickets sold out hours after going on sale on March 22. On November 23, 2014, System of a Down announced the
In a November 2016 interview with
In a video Q&A session with fans on July 2, 2017, Shavo Odadjian was asked about the status of the next album and he responded, "I'm waiting for a new album too. It's not happening. I don't know. I don't know when it's gonna be. Not right now."[34] In a December 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Serj Tankian said that System of a Down wrote some new material but was uncertain of what to do with it. He then said that he doesn't want to commit to a new album due to the lack of committing to longform touring.[35]
Malakian singled Tankian out as the reason no new album had yet been released.[36] Tankian detailed his view of the band's past and present conflicts and their overall situation, saying, "As we couldn't see eye to eye on all these points we decided to put aside the idea of a record altogether for the time being."[37] Dolmayan blamed all of the members due to the personal and creative differences that have been preventing them from recording a new studio album.[38] Tankian also expressed uncertainty on whether the new album would be made or not but did not rule out the possibility. He went on to describe how he imagined the album sounding: "It's gotta be organic, it's gotta feel right in every way."[39]
Odadjian said that the band has material written from "like the last 10, 12 years", but expressed uncertainty on if it would form into a System of a Down album or not. He also said that Malakian and Tankian have visual differences on what the album should sound like, and that the band's inner tension had been building far longer than fans would be aware, despite having love and respect for one another nonetheless.[40] He would later say that there was no extant conflict between the members, expressing confidence that System of a Down would eventually record a new album and claimed that they have material written that would be their best to date.[41] However, Tankian contradicts this statement by stating that there was no talk of the band recording a new album.[42]
Malakian explained that there was a mixture between the matter of different creative perspectives for the band's hesitation to record a new studio album and the lack of desire to tour; however, he did not dismiss the possibility of an album being made, but that it would likely not happen anytime soon.[43] He felt that the fans don't care that the band wasn't making an album, "but I think a lot of the fans just want an album." He expressed hopes that the members would get together and record new music but was content with the direction of his band Scars on Broadway, noting the members' good friendship, "But at the same time, I don't see that happening anytime soon that we're all going to get together and make a new System of a Down album."[44] Malakian said that Tankian and the rest of the band members have been unable to come to an agreement over how to go about making new music, but insisted that there was no negativity between them.[45]
Despite System of a Down's ability to perform live, Odadjian expressed disappointment at their inability to record new music, explaining that there has been new material written by the other members in the form of a possible new album. However, without Tankian's presence, no recordings had been made. He questioned why the band still hasn't made an album, citing creative differences as the problem.[46] With the lack of commitment to record new music, Tankian, however, is in favor of releasing a collection of previously unreleased System of a Down songs from the band's past album sessions but would have to convince all the members in order to see its release.[47]
Dolmayan had started in 2014 a Kickstarter to fund a cover project, titled "These Grey Men", alongside friend James Hazley.[48][49] In 2020, he released the first single, a cover of Radiohead's "Street Spirit", on January 23.[50] Avenged Sevenfold singer M. Shadows contributes vocals to the track; Tom Morello contributes the guitar solo at the song's close.[51] The second single features System of a Down bandmate Serj Tankian in a cover of David Bowie's "Starman".[52] The album, titled These Grey Men, was released on February 28, 2020.[53] It consists of covers/reimaginations of other songs by artists such as Radiohead, AFI, Madonna, and Talking Heads, among others.
With the differences concerning the band members, Dolmayan became uncertain in wanting to make new music anymore. Although he did not want to put Tankian and Malakian at fault for the band's inability to record a new album, he said, "It takes four people to make this band, and it takes four people to unmake it. I think that we're all to blame. I could just blame Daron and Serj, because, quite frankly, they're the primary songwriters, so it's easy to blame them. But it's not just their fault. A lot of it is their fault, but it's not just their fault."[54] In an interview, Dolmayan exclaimed that putting the band on hiatus was a grave mistake: "I never wanted System to take a hiatus. I think it was a disastrous move for us because we never reached our peak." Dolmayan believed that the band could have risen through the charts if they had just kept going.[55] On December 17, 2020, Serj Tankian announced in a Rolling Stone interview that he would release an EP by the name of Elasticity under his own name. Tankian had planned to release the EP in October; however, due to COVID-19, he changed plans and released it in February 2021 instead. In the interview, he explained that the EP contains songs he had written for System of a Down that the band ultimately opted not to record.[56]
Artsakh benefit singles and possible sixth studio album (2020–present)
On November 5, 2020, in response to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, System of a Down released their first songs in 15 years, "Protect the Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz", both of which "speak of a dire and serious war being perpetrated upon our cultural homelands of Artsakh and Armenia."[2][57] Music videos were made for both singles, and "Protect the Land" marks the band's first music video in 14 years, since "Lonely Day". Proceeds from the songs were to help Armenia Fund and for humanitarian needs of displaced families from the war.[58][59]
As for a possible new album, Dolmayan told
In January 2023, Dolmayan claimed that Tankian "hasn't really wanted to be in a band for a long time [...] and quite frankly, we probably should have parted ways around 2006. We tried to get together multiple times to make an album, but there were certain rules set in place that made it difficult to do so and maintain the integrity of what System of a Down stood for." Despite the major setback, he said the chemistry to play live together as a band is still great.[63]
Artistry
Lyrical themes
System of a Down's lyrics are often oblique
Music
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated "Like many late-'90s metal bands System of a Down struck a balance between '80s underground thrash metal and metallic early-'90s alternative rockers like Jane's Addiction".[82] System of a Down's music has variously been termed alternative metal,[82][83][84][85][86] nu metal,[87][88][89][90][91] hard rock,[92][93][94] progressive metal,[95][96][97] heavy metal,[82][98] thrash metal,[99][100][101] art rock,[102][103] and avant-garde metal.[104][102]
Malakian has stated that "We don't belong to any one scene"
The band has used a wide range of instruments, such as
Influences and comparison to other artists
System of a Down's influences include
Band members
Current members
- Serj Tankian – lead vocals, keyboards (1994–2006, 2010–present), rhythm guitar (2001–2006, 2010–present)
- Daron Malakian – lead guitar, backing vocals (1994–2006, 2010–present), co-lead vocals (2004–2006, 2010–present), rhythm guitar (1994–2001)
- Shavo Odadjian – bass, backing vocals (1994–2006, 2010–present)
- John Dolmayan – drums, percussion (1997–2006, 2010–present)
Former members
- Andy Khachaturian – drums (1994—1997)
Timeline
Discography
- System of a Down (1998)
- Toxicity (2001)
- Steal This Album! (2002)
- Mezmerize(2005)
- Hypnotize (2005)
Awards and nominations
Year | Awards | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | Kerrang! Awards[125] | Best International Live Act | — | Won |
2002 | Grammy Awards[126] | Best Metal Performance | " Chop Suey! "
|
Nominated |
MTV Video Music Awards[127] | Best Rock Video | Nominated | ||
Best Editing | Nominated | |||
Billboard Music Awards | Modern Rock Artist of the Year | — | Nominated | |
MTV Video Music Awards Latinoamérica | Best International Rock Artist | Nominated | ||
Best International New Artist | Nominated | |||
2003 | Grammy Awards[126] | Best Hard Rock Performance | "Aerials" | Nominated |
MuchMusic Video Awards[128] | Best International Video - Group | "Boom!" | Nominated | |
California Music Awards | Outstanding Group | — | Won | |
American Music Awards[129] | Favorite Alternative Artist | Nominated | ||
Kerrang! Awards[130] | Best International Band | Nominated | ||
2005 | Kerrang! Awards[131] | Best Single | "B.Y.O.B" | Nominated |
Best Video | Nominated | |||
Best Album | Mezmerize | Nominated | ||
Best Live Band | — | Nominated | ||
Best Band on the Planet | Nominated | |||
American Music Awards[132] | Favorite Alternative Artist | Nominated | ||
Metal Storm Awards | Best Alternative Metal Album | Mezmerize | Won | |
MTV Video Music Awards[133] | Best Art Direction | "B.Y.O.B." | Nominated | |
MTV Europe Music Awards[134] | Best Alternative | — | Won | |
2006 | Grammy Awards[126] | Best Hard Rock Performance | "B.Y.O.B." | Won |
MTV Europe Music Awards[135] | Best Alternative | — | Nominated | |
ECHO Awards | Best International Rock/Alternative Group | Mezmerize | Won | |
mtvU Woodie Awards[136] | Greatest Social Impact | "Question!" | Won | |
2007 | Grammy Awards[126] | Best Hard Rock Performance | "Lonely Day" | Nominated |
2015 | Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Awards[137][138] | Best Film | Wake Up The Souls Tour
|
Won |
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External links
- Official website
- System of a Down discography at Discogs
- System of a Down at Curlie