System of a Down, sometimes shortened to System and abbreviated as SOAD, is an Armenian-

American heavy metal band from Glendale, California, formed in 1994. The band currently consists
of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards), Daron Malakian (vocals, guitar), Shavo Odadjian (bass,
backing vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums).[1]

The band achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums, three of which
debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four
Grammy Awards, and their song "B.Y.O.B." won the Best Hard Rock Performance of 2006. The group
briefly disbanded in August 2006 and reunited in November 2010, embarking on a tour for the
following three years. System of a Down has sold over 40 million records worldwide.

Contents [hide]

1 History

1.1 Soil (199294)

1.2 Demo tapes and signing (199497)

1.3 Self-titled album (19982000)

1.4 Toxicity and Steal This Album! (200103)

1.5 Mezmerize, Hypnotize and separation (200406)

1.6 Reunion and touring (20102015)

1.7 Planned sixth studio album (2016present)

2 Musical style, lyricism, and influences

2.1 Lyricism

2.2 Music

2.3 Influences and comparison to other artists

3 Awards and nominations

4 Members

5 Discography

6 References

7 External links

History

Soil (199294)

Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School as children,
although due to their eight-year age difference they did not meet until 1992 while working on
separate projects at the same recording studio.[2] 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. In 1994, after only one live show, and one jam session recording, Hakopyan and Laranio left
the band, feeling that it was not going anywhere.

Demo tapes and signing (199497)

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".[3] 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. 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.[4] 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.[3]

In early 1995, System played as "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 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).[3] 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 with engineer Sylvia Massy, 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.[5]

Self-titled album (19982000)

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 does not introduce them as he does
every 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.[3] 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! (200103)

Guitarist Daron Malakian met Serj Tankian for the first time in 1993 before forming the band a year
later.

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.[6]

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 has eventually achieved 3x
multi-platinum certification in the US[7] 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 according to
the 2001 Clear Channel memorandum 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 number 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 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.[8] 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.[9] 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, Hypnotize and separation (200406)

Serj Tankian has gained a reputation for his large vocal range along with his unusual delivery.

Between 2004 and 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. 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, 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.[10] 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 was not playing on the main stage (with the exception of the show at Randall's Island,
where Ozzy Osbourne headlined the second stage before System of a Down's performance that
night).

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.

May 2006 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. Also in 2006, concert footage and interviews with the band concerning the importance of
helping create awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide were featured in the 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 the Turkish embassy in Washington D.C. was also used in
Screamers.

In May also, 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."[11] System of a Down's final
performance before their separation 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."[12]