Toxicity

Toxicity
System of a Down's studio album
Publication (s)	September 4, 2001 August 27, 2001
Label (s)	American Recordings , Columbia CK 62240
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Alternative metal , nu metal
Title (number)	14 + hidden track
running time	40 min 4 s
occupation	Singing , keyboard , guitar : Serj Tankian Guitar, vocals: Daron Malakian Bass : Shavo Odadjian Drums : John Dolmayan
production	Rick Rubin & Daron Malakian
Studio (s)	March - July 2001, Cello Studios, Hollywood , California
chronology System of a Down (1998) Toxicity Steal This Album! (2002)

Toxicity ( Engl. For " toxicity " ) is the second studio album of American alternative metal band System of a Down . The album, produced by Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian , was released in Germany on August 27 and in the United States on September 4, 2001 via American Recordings and Columbia, respectively . Toxicity rose to number one in the US and Canadian album charts. To date, over twelve million copies of the album have been sold worldwide. The song Chop Suey! was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Metal Performance category.

Emergence

Songwriting and recording

While touring their debut album System of a Down , guitarist Daron Malakian began working on new songs in the band's own trailer . Singer Serj Tankian had already expressed the wish to sing more than on the first album. The song Chop Suey! was one of the first completed songs for the new album. According to Daron Malakian, the band worked on the vocals beforehand, adding more catchy melodies to increase the listening pleasure. Overall, the songwriting took six to seven months. After the tour of the debut album ended, the musicians took two weeks off before going into the studio.

The recordings began in March 2001 at the Cello Studios in Hollywood . According to drummer John Dolmayan , this studio was chosen because, in his opinion, it would have a "unique, incomparable sound". Also, have Slayer there her fourth studio album South of Heaven , received one of Dolmayans favorite albums. The album was produced by Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian, while Serj Tankian appeared as co-producer. Mixed was Toxicity of Andy Wallace , while Eddy Schreyer the mastering took over. Guest musicians worked Arto Tunçboyacıyan in the songs Science and colloquially Arto -called hidden track with. The latter is an adaptation of the song Der Voghormia , a traditional Armenian hymn .

A total of 32 and 33 songs were recorded for the album. Of these, 14 songs were selected because the musicians did not want a playing time of more than around 45 minutes. The choice of songs was not easy for the band. According to John Dolmayan, each member of the band wrote down the songs he believed would carry the best vibes. 16 of the unused songs were recorded on the album Steal This Album! released.

publication

The album cover was designed by former Linkin Park singer Mark Wakefield and shows a parody of the Hollywood Sign . Instead of the place name Hollywood, the band name appears. Bassist Shavo Odadjian had the idea for this . The musicians searched for a word for the album title that would best represent Hollywood, whereupon Daron Malakian eventually suggested Toxicity .

“It looks glamorous from above , but when you look inside ... it's toxic. When most people think of Los Angeles , they think of Rodeo Drive , not the bad corners. "

- Shavo Odadjian

For the songs released as singles Chop Suey! , Toxicity and Aerials were all made music videos . The songs Johnny , Storaged and Snowblind were used as B-sides of the singles . Snowblind is a cover version of a song by Black Sabbath .

The Japanese version of the album contains the song Johnny as a bonus , which is in eighth position. Two limited versions of Toxicity were released in Germany. One of these features a blue album cover and, as a bonus, includes a DVD with four live videos. The other version has a red album cover and includes a bonus CD with backstage recordings . A French version includes a bonus CD with live versions of the songs Sugar , War? , Suite-Pee and Know as well as a studio version of the song Johnny .

Track list and background

Track list
Prison Song - 3:21 Needles - 3:11 Deer Dance - 2:56 Jet Pilot - 2:06 X - 2:01 Chop Suey! - 3:31 Bounce - 1:55 Forest - 4:02 ATWA - 2:56 Science - 2:43 Shimmy - 1:51 Toxicity - 3:38 Psycho - 3:48 Aerials - 6:11

Prison Song takes a critical look at the US justice system. In the text Serj Tankian mentions that around two million people were incarcerated in US prisons at the time the album was released and that the proportion of inmates in the total population has doubled since 1985. In addition, the entanglements of US foreign policy in the global drug trade are discussed. Because of these connections, the US government is partly responsible for the fact that more than half of the inmates in US prisons are incarcerated for minor drug offenses.

Needles deals with drug abuse and its dangers. The song Deer Dance criticizes police violence against peaceful protesters . In Jet Pilot is about a horse who dreams of flying as a jet pilot over a bay. According to Serj Tankian, the horse was originally supposed to bear the name Otto, but Daron Malakian didn't like this name. Song X addresses the problems caused by overpopulation . In the text of Chop Suey! contains two references to the seven last words of Jesus before he died on the cross . The last word is called “Father, in your hands I lay my spirit” ( Lk 23.46  EU ) and the fourth word “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ( Mk 15.34  EU ; Mt 27.46  EU ). The working title of the song was Suicide .

“The song is about how society views deceased people differently depending on how they died. If I died from a drug overdose , people would say I deserved it because I abused drugs. "

- Daron Malakian

In the song Bounce , Serj Tankian complains about group sex . ATWA stands for "Air Trees Water Animals" or in German air trees water animals . The song is related to Charles Manson , who wanted to promote the unity of life on earth through nature under this catchphrase. Daron Malakian believes that Manson is in jail for the wrong reasons and had an unfair trial. The theme song Toxicity deals with the mental disorder ADHD , according to Daron Malakian . Psycho is about coked-up groupies that the band often encounters on their tours. Finally, Aerials describes the feeling of being lost while being harassed in a materialistic society. Often referred to as Arto , the album's hidden track deals with the genocide of the Armenians in 1915.

reception

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Toxicity   DE 23 09/10/2001 (42 weeks)   AT 16 09/23/2001 (45 weeks)   CH 31 09/09/2001 (41 weeks)   UK 13 09/08/2001 (47 weeks)   US 1 09/22/2001 (95 weeks)

Singles

Chop Suey!   UK 17th 11/03/2001 (6 weeks)   US 76 05/01/2002 (20 weeks) Toxicity   DE 88 03/25/2002 (9 weeks)   CH 90 04/07/2002 (4 weeks)   UK 25th 03/23/2002 (3 weeks)   US 70 05/11/2002 (13 weeks) Aerials   DE 80 08/12/2002 (6 weeks)   UK 34 07/27/2002 (2 weeks)   US 55 07.09.2002 (20 weeks)

Reviews

The German magazine Visions rated Toxicity eleven out of twelve points. The reviewer, who is not known by name, praised the band for their “innovatively orchestrated, intelligent songs, which form the platform for an extremely versatile singer”. With this album, System of a Down would “leave all competitors far behind” and would be the “first band since the Deftones that made a new record so independently and idiosyncratically”. Don Kaye from Blabbermouth.net gave the album the top ten. According to Kaye, System of a Down have "perfected their sound" and "established themselves as one of the few bands people will be talking about ten years from now".

Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann from the German magazine Rock Hard expressed himself more critically , who in his review was of the opinion that System of a Down, despite "some pseudo-aggressive outbursts of penetrating harmless son-in-law nature". The band would “not hurt anyone” and “swim with the current” and play “totally central, majority- friendly FDP rock”. Mühlmann rated Toxicity five out of ten points.

Chart placements

Toxicity reached number one on the US and Canadian charts. Placed in the top ten, the band achieved sixth in Australia , seventh in New Zealand and in Finland and the Flemish part of Belgium , where Toxicity was eighth. The album peaked at number 13 in the UK and number 16 in Austria . Toxicity was ranked 23rd in the German charts and 31st in Switzerland .

The three released singles made it into the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The most successful was Chop Suey! that reached number 17 on the UK singles chart, while in the United States Aerials was the biggest hit at number 55. In Germany, Aerials came in 80th, while Toxicity came in 90th in Switzerland . No single could be placed in Austria.

Gold and platinum

In the United States, around 220,000 copies of the album were sold in the first week after its release. Within six weeks, the album hit one million units sold, for which the album was certified platinum. The debut album took three years to reach this mark.

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	3 × platinum	210,000
Belgium (BEA)	gold	(15,000)
Brazil (PMB)	gold	40,000
Germany (BVMI)	gold	(150,000)
Europe (IFPI)	platinum	1,000,000
Italy (FIMI)	platinum	(100,000)
Canada (MC)	2 × platinum	200,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	platinum	15,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold	(50,000)
Austria (IFPI)	gold	(20,000)
Switzerland (IFPI)	gold	(20,000)
United States (RIAA)	3 × platinum	3,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	platinum	(300,000)
All in all	6 × gold 12 × platinum	4,465,000

meaning

The German magazine Visions and the American magazine Spin voted Toxicity each album of the year 2001. The US online magazine Loudwire led Toxicity ranked one of the eleven best metal albums of the 2000s and in eleventh place of the 50 best metal albums of all time. Loudwire also selected the song Chop Suey! the best hard rock song of the 21st century.

The readers of the British magazine New Musical Express put Toxicity at number six of the 20 best metal albums of all time. The readers of the German magazine Metal Hammer voted Toxicity 22nd of the 100 best metal albums of all time. The German magazine Visions had the album in their list of the 66 + 6 best metal albums of the third millennium in spring 2017.

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jon Wiederhorn: 14 Years Ago: System of a Down Unleash 'Toxicity'. Loudwire, accessed December 14, 2015 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Melanie Schmidt: Otto takes off . In: Rock Hard , Oct 2001, 114
3. ^ ^{A b} Nigel Roberts: All Systems Are Go. Shoutweb, accessed December 21, 2015 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Elmar Salmutter: Magical moments . In: Metal Hammer , September 2001, page 64
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Spencer Kaufman: 10 Things You Didn't Know About 'Toxicity'. Loudwire, accessed December 13, 2015 . 
6. ^ ^{A b} Jeanne Fury: System of a Down on Ho's, Bad Asses and Columbia Records. (No longer available online.) NY Rock, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on December 20, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ^ People Sentenced For Drug Offenses In The US Correctional System. (No longer available online.) Drug War Facts, archived from the original on December 23, 2015 ; accessed on December 13, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ^ Chop Suey by System of a Down. Songfacts.com, accessed December 13, 2015 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} Jon Wiederhorn: System Of A Down's Schizophrenia Aggravated On Toxicity. MTV , accessed December 21, 2015 . 
10. ↑ Teri Vanhorn: System Of A Down Measure Growth With Toxicity. MTV, accessed December 21, 2015 . 
11. ^ Toxicity by System of a Down. Songfacts.com, accessed December 13, 2015 . 
12. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
13. ↑ oA: System Of A Down - Toxicity. Visions , accessed December 17, 2015 . 
14. ↑ Don Kaye: System of a Down Toxicity. Blabbermouth.net , accessed December 16, 2015 . 
15. ↑ Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann : System of a Down - Toxicity. Rock Hard, accessed December 16, 2015 . 
16. ^ System Of A Down Mezmerizes Music Fans Worldwide. PR Newswire, accessed December 16, 2015 . 
17. ↑ Award in Australia
18. ^ Award in Belgium
19. ↑ Award in Brazil
20. ↑ Award in Germany ( Memento of the original from November 10, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
21. ↑ Award in Europe
22. ↑ Award in Italy
23. ↑ Award in Canada
24. ↑ Award in New Zealand
25. ↑ Award in the Netherlands
26. ↑ Award in Austria
27. ↑ Award in Switzerland
28. ↑ Distinction in the United States
29. ↑ Award in the United Kingdom
30. ↑ SPIN's 20 Best Albums of 2001. Album of the Year, accessed December 17, 2015 (English). 
31. ↑ Loudwire staff: Top 11 Metal Albums of the 2000s. Loudwire, accessed December 17, 2015 . 
32. ↑ Loudwire staff: Top 50 Metal Album of All Time. Loudwire, accessed December 17, 2015 . 
33. ↑ Spencer Kaufman: No. 1: System of a Down, 'Chop Suey!' Loudwire, accessed December 21, 2015 . 
34. ↑ 20 greatest metal albums ever - as voted by you. New Musical Express , accessed December 18, 2015 . 
35. ↑ The 100 Best Metal Albums. Part 2 In: Metal Hammer, May 2005, page 52
36. ↑ oA: The 66 + 6 best metal albums of the millennium . In: Visions, issue 289, pages 52–66

Web links

• Toxicity at Allmusic (English)