System of a Down

This article covers the band System of a Down. For her debut album, see System of a Down (album) .

System of a Down
System of a Down (2012)
General information
Genre (s)	Alternative metal , heavy metal , nu metal , hard rock
founding	1995
Website	systemofadown.com
Founding members
Vocals , keyboard	Serj Tankian
Guitar , vocals	Daron Malakian
bass	Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian
Drums	Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian (until 1997)
Current occupation
Vocals, keyboard	Serj Tankian
Guitar, vocals	Daron Malakian
bass	Shavarsh Odadjian
Drums	John Dolmayan (since 1997)

System of a Down (abbreviated SOAD ) is a metal band founded in California in 1995 that combines different music genres . The band currently consists of founding members Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards), Daron Malakian (vocals, guitar) and Shavo Odadjian (bass), as well as drummer John Dolmayan , who replaced Andy Khachaturian in 1997 . All band members have Armenian roots.

Band history

In 1993 Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian, who was eight years younger than him, founded the band Soil (not to be confused with SOiL ). In 1994 the band met Shavo Odadjian , who went to the same Armenian private school in California as Serj and Daron. In 1995 Serj and Daron formed the band System of a Down . The band name "System of a Down" is derived from a Malakian poem called "Victims of a Down". Shavo, who was originally supposed to be the manager of Soil, first took over the rhythm guitar and later the bass in the newly formed band. Andy Khachaturian was used as the drummer , who left the band in 1997 due to a hand injury (until 1999-2002 singer of The Apex Theory , then singer of VoKee) and was replaced by John Dolmayan .

In the same year they got a record deal from Rick Rubin , who happened to see them performing in the famous Viper Room , and immediately began recording their first album System of a Down . They presented this as the opening act for Slayer on their tour for the first time in front of a large audience. Three years passed before the next album. Toxicity continued the musical style that had begun and brought the band the international breakthrough; the album was characterized by a mixture of hard, fast metal and slower, melodic passages with two-part vocals by Tankian and Malakian. In 2002 Steal This Album was released! which contains songs that were written and recorded during the Toxicity sessions but not yet released. Serj Tankian emphasized that Steal This Album! did not contain any B-sides, but merely ended the Toxicity project and made room for new songs. As in the previous albums, the positions of the band on US government policy flowed into the lyrics, which they strongly criticize.

Singer Serj Tankian (2006)

Another three years passed, during which Serj in particular devoted himself to various projects such as his own music label Serjical Strike . Mezmerize was released in 2005 . It achieved great commercial success and climbed to number one in the charts in twelve countries (including Germany). Mezmerize was only the first part of a pair of albums. Together with the album Hypnotize , which was released on November 18, 2005 , it formed a musical and content-wise unit. Both albums were linked by the track Soldier Side , which acts as an intro on Mezmerize and closes the album on Hypnotize. According to the band's own statement, they didn't want to bring the songs that were recorded at the same time onto the market at the same time, not to increase sales, but to give the audience time to deal with the material of both albums in peace. Since both albums each only have a short playing time and were sold at full price, the band was still criticized for this release policy.

After the two albums, the group decided in mid-2006 to take a break, in which the four members wanted to devote themselves more to their private lives and solo projects, as guitarist Malakian announced. Singer Serj Tankian was engaged in a solo project, while guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan formed a new band called Scars on Broadway , which is very similar to the music of System of a Down.

From June 2011, after a five-year break in Europe, the band went on tour. At the same time they released the compilation System of a Down , which summarized all previously published studio albums. Stations in Germany were the twin festivals Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, as well as Nova Rock in Austria, where they headlined, and a concert in Berlin.

System of a Down are still active as a live band. In 2013 the group played at the German festivals Rock'n'Heim and Rock im Pott . In 2015 System of a Down could be seen in the course of the "Wake up the Souls" tour in the centenary commemoration of the Armenian genocide in the Armenian capital Yerevan, among other places. In 2017, System of a Down headlined the festivals Rock im Park, Rock am Ring and Nova Rock; In 2019 they played at several festivals in North America. In 2018, however, Serj Tankian stated that, contrary to popular rumors, no new studio album was in preparation; he explained this with creative conflicts between himself and Daron Malakian, which had already overshadowed the work on Mezmerize and Hypnotize and led to the fact that the band has since been unable to record new material together.

style

System of a Down's music ranges from nu metal , heavy metal , grunge , progressive metal , psychedelic rock , punk rock and hardcore punk to Armenian folklore . Another characteristic of the band, whose members are of Armenian descent, is the political message of their ambiguous lyrics: System of a Down often criticizes contemporary US politics and the mass media. In addition, in some songs they draw attention to the genocide of the Armenians .

Humor plays another role in the band's music. This becomes clear with songs like This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song or Vicinity of Obscenity , which are determined by a largely senseless text and unusual musical design. Their origins also influence the melodies of their pieces: traces of Armenian folk music can be found in the song Radio / Video .

System of a Down is characterized by the alternating vocals of the front singer Tankian and the guitarist Malakian, as well as the hard transitions from aggressive and loud guitar and drum parts to rather gentle passages, in which Tankian's vocal class is better expressed.

Discography

→ Main articles : System of a Down / discography  and list of songs from System of a Down

Studio albums

Record cover of Steal This Album!

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1998	System of a Down	-	-	-	UK- Gold + silver (digital) UK	US124 platinum (33 weeks)US	First published: June 30, 1998 Sales: + 1,235,000
2001	Toxicity	DE23 gold (42 weeks)DE	AT16 gold (45 weeks)AT	CH31 gold (41 weeks)CH	UK13 × 2 Double platinum (47 weeks)UK	US1 × 3 Triple platinum (95 weeks)US	First published: September 4th, 2001 Sales: + 4,775,000
2002	Steal This Album!	DE14 (12 weeks) DE	AT24 (12 weeks) AT	CH25 (14 weeks) CH	UK56 gold (4 weeks)UK	US15th platinum (22 weeks)US	First published: November 26, 2002 Sales: + 1,150,000
2005	Mezmerize	DE1 gold (22 weeks)DE	AT1 gold (31 weeks)AT	CH1 gold (20 weeks)CH	UK2 gold (15 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (44 weeks)US	First published: May 17, 2005 Sales: + 1,890,000
	Hypnotize	DE4th gold (23 weeks)DE	AT3 gold (22 weeks)AT	CH4th gold (14 weeks)CH	UK11 gold (8 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (28 weeks)US	First published: November 22, 2005 Sales: + 1,380,000

Awards

• 2005: MTV Europe Music Award - Best Alternative
• 2006: Grammy - Best Hard Rock Performance (for the song BYOB )
• 2006: Echo - Best Alternative International

Band members timeline

literature

• Ben Myers: System of a Down: Right Here in Hollywood . Disinformation, New York 2007, ISBN 978-1-932857-88-7 .

swell

1. ↑ ultimate-guitar.com: The History Of: System Of A Down ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ System of a Down on Novarock 2011: Archived copy ( Memento from June 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ systemofadown.com: Archived copy ( Memento from January 1, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Chart sources (albums): DE AT CH System of a Down in the Official UK Charts (English) US

Web links

Commons : System of a Down  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• System of a Down at laut.de
• System of a Down at MusicBrainz (English)
• System of a Down at Discogs (English)