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System of a Down (commonly referred to as System or abbreviated as SOAD) is an American rock band, formed in 1995 in Glendale, California. All four members are of Armenian descent, grandsons of Armenian Genocide survivors, and are widely known for their outspoken views expressed in many of their songs.

System of a Down has achieved commercial success with over five albums, performing singles such as "Chop Suey!", "Aerials", "B.Y.O.B.", "Lonely Day", "Question!", "Toxicity", "Hypnotize", and "Sugar". Their works have earned them one Grammy Award amongst three nominations.

System of a Down is a part of the Axis of Justice, a non-profit organization formed by band member Serj Tankian (along with Tom Morello), dedicated to bringing together musicians, music fans, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice.

In the Beginning[]

In the Beginning of System of a Down there was Soil, Soil was a band with Serj and Darron with the band and Shavo later in the band.. Sadly the band broke up after 3 years and became what they know best SoAD!

System of a Down![]

System of a Down quickly started after Soil broke up and Darron came up with the name System of a Down from a poem he had wrote titled "Victims of a Down". Andy Khachaturian was a drummer for their first demo tape, Unknown 1995 Demo Tape was what it was titled for no one knows what it was until much later, Khachaturian left the band due to a massive hand injury. System of a Down played with their new drummer John Dolmayan in a bar and was found by the producer of all their albums Rick Rubin. With Rick Rubin they made a new demo tape but was not made public for years, it was leaked onto the internet. In 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band award from the Rock City Awards.

System of a Down hits shelves[]

In 1998 the group got their first album System of a Down was made and processed. Their first single "Sugar" is their first ever single and became VERY popular everywhere. They were invited to play a tour but was kick off due to their not signing with Taproot.

There is a Toxicity in our city![]

About time System of a Down have hit shelves again with another hit Toxicity! Toxicity hit #1 American and Canadian charts, they would eventually hit Multi platinum. They have to date sold 6 million copies of Toxicity and made numerous singles too. Here is an interesting fact from System of a Down, It was the top album 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 such as "(I don't think you) trust in my self-righteous suicide. Toxicity was also on Fuse and MTV a lot and made them very popular

Go Ahead Steal this Article![]

Steal This Album! was released in November, 2002. The cover was basically in terms a Burned CD with STEAL THIS ALBUM! Trying to represent the simulations to someone putting the songs on a blank CD and then just labeling it STEAL THIS ALBUM! It was normal called Toxicity II when it leeched onto the internet with per to per mp3 file sharing network. The name of the Album was from the book "Steal This Book" by Abbie Hoffman, possibly I.E.A.I.A.I.O, and Fuck the System! has some resemblance to his life. Boom! was made to help stop war in Iraq.

In the 2005 era[]

From 2004 to 2005, the group produced a double album, Mezmerize / Hypnotize with the two parts released six months apart. The first album, Mezmerize, was released on May 17, 2005, to favorable reviews by critics. It debuted at #1 in the United States, Canada, Australia and all around the world, making it System of a Down's second #1 album. First week sales rocketed to over 800,000 copies worldwide[citation needed]. 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 #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 #1 in the same year.

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 wasn't playing on the main stage.

Future Plans?[]

The band System of a Down has been successful for maybe almost 10 years, the band has become very good friends and have very different political and other view about society. Darron and John have recovered the band Scars on Broadway with a few other band members, they recently made a album titled Scars on Broadway. Darron stated in an interview that "They are not sure if they were going to come back together, if you are waiting for a Reunion then you are gonna turn blue and pass out". But also in multiple interviews and statements the bands reuniting is very possible and very unpredictable as so far to say. John also is starting a comic business similar to his idol comic company "Marvel".

Serj Tankian, has also made his own album titled Elect the Dead. This album is about Iraq and various other things Serj believes in, people tend not to link the album due to it's different approach in musical style from System of a Down; but really that's what the band members want to be different from System. In this album John helps Serj with the drumming during the recording of the album. He now has a "Back up band" titled "Flying Cunts of Chaos".

As for Odadjian, he started his new thing with directing a video for the reuniting of the punk rock band Bad Brains. He is also doing music for the movie 300 BC. He is also said he is in a band with Wu Tang Clan titled ACHOZEN, they said they have already began recording.

As the future of the bands, all depends on the members.

Discography[]

for a better list click here

Demo Tapes[]

Year Title
1995 Untitled Demo Tape
1995 Demo Tape One
1997 Demo Tape Two
1997 Demo Tape Three


Studio Albums[]

Year Title Singles
1998 System of a Down 2
2001 Toxicity 3
2002 Steal This Album! 1
2005 Mezmerize 3
2005 Hypnotize 4


EPs[]

Year Title
1998 Sugar
2006 Lonely Day


Singles[]

Year Title
1998 Sugar
1999 Spiders
2001 Johnny
2001 Chop Suey!
2002 Toxicity
2002 Aerials
2002 Innervision
2005 B.Y.O.B.
2005 Question!
2005 Violent Pornography
2005 Hypnotize
2006 Lonely Day
2006 Kill Rock 'n Roll
2006 Vicinity of Obscenity


Official Bootlegs[]

Year Title
1999 Demo Tape Four
2001 KROQ Acoustic Christmas
2001 Toxic Traxx
2002 Toxicity II
2002 The B Sides
2002 Black Shim
2002 WTDIE
2002 Storaged Melodies
2003 Explosives
2003 Random Live
2003 KoRn VS SOAD
2005 Live At The Wireless
2005 Hurricane Fest

See Also[]

References[]

Links[]

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