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All four members are of ] descent, grandsons of ] survivors, and are widely known for their outspoken views found in many of their songs. System of a Down has achieved commercial success over five albums, with singles such as "]" and "]". System of a Down is a part of the ], a non-profit organization formed by band member ] (along with ]) that is dedicated to bringing together musicians, music fans and ] political organizations to fight for social justice. All four members are of ] descent, grandsons of ] survivors, and are widely known for their outspoken views found in many of their songs. System of a Down has achieved commercial success over five albums, with singles such as "]" and "]". System of a Down is a part of the ], a non-profit organization formed by band member ] (along with ]) that is dedicated to bringing together musicians, music fans and ] political organizations to fight for social justice.


==History==
===Soil (1993-1995)===
The roots of System of a Down lie in the band Soil, a group from ] that included ] on vocals and ] on guitar, as well as Dave Hagopyan (Bassist for ]) on bass and Domingo Laranio (Local Hawaii Drummer) on drums. Shavo Odadjian joined Soil quite down near the end as a guitarist. After three years, and only one live show and one ] recording, the band split up.


===In the beginning (1995 - 1998)===
After Soil split up, Tankian and Malakian then formed a new band, System of a Down, based on a poem that Daron wrote. The poem's title was "Victims of a Down", but Serj Tankian thought that Victim would only appeal to a narrow audience and the word System would appeal to a larger, more general audience. They called on ] whom they knew from when Soil shared a recording studio with Odadjian's previous band and when Shavo was their short-lived guitar player. Odadjian was originally the band's manager and promoter. Odadjian quickly accepted the offer to join the band as the permanent ]. Since then managerial duties have been undertaken by highly successful Velvet Hammer Music and streetwise founder David "Beno" Beneviste. One of their first releases was "]", which was found on the first demo tape, and they have played it at nearly every live performance since then. They found a drummer, ], who joined the band. They then quickly made an early Untitled 1995 Demo Tape which had very early recordings of "]" (called PIG), along with songs called Flake and Toast. There were also other tapes made, which contained early recordings of 36 (called .36), Roulette and X (called Multiply)<ref></ref>. After this they made Demo Tape 1, which had early versions of ], Suite-Pee, and ], as well as the rare track Dam. Demo Tape 2 was released in 1996 and had a rough demo of the song Soil as well as the most known unreleased tracks known as Honey and Temper. At the beginning of 1997 they recorded the final demo tape, Demo Tape 3 which had rough work of Peephole, ], and Know. In mid 1997, ] left the band due to a hand injury. Soon after playing at the Whisky-A-Go-Go and Viper Room with new drummer ], producer ] caught their attention and told them to keep in touch with him. Showing great interest, near the end of 1997, they made Demo Tape 4. This demo, however, was not released to the public. Rather it was made to be sent to record deals and it later leaked onto the internet. After Rick wanted them to be signed on to American/Columbia records, they began to record with his studio. Prior to 1998, their live shows were called, "The Dark Red Experience" {{Fact|date=February 2007}} and their logo was different from what it is now. In 1997 they won Best Signed band from the Rock City Awards.
<ref>http://www.rockcitynews.com/awards/ballot97.html</ref>

===Debut album (1998 - 2000)===
In the summer of 1998, System of a Down released their debut album, '']''. They enjoyed moderate success with their first single "]" becoming a radio favorite, followed by the singles "]" and "]".
After the release of the album, System of a Down toured extensively, opening for ] before making their way to the second stage of ]. Following Ozzfest, they toured with ] and ] before headlining the Sno-Core tour with ], ], The Cat and Incubus providing support. System was scheduled to play the 1999 ], but were kicked off by ] over his inability to sign the band ]. ] has since admitted that he was a "complete wanker" in relation to this "oversight"{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. The band have yet to comment on Durst's involvement or commentary. In 2000, the group contributed their cover of the ] song "]" to the Sabbath tribute album '']''.

===Mainstream success: ''Toxicity/Steal This Album!'' (2001 - 2003)===
The group's big break arrived when their sophomore album '']'' debuted at #1 on the American and Canadian charts, eventually achieving multi-platinum certification. The album has since sold 6 million copies worldwide.
It was still on top in America on the week of the ] and the political environment caused by the attacks added to the controversy surrounding their hit single "]" causing it to be ] as it contained politically sensitive lyrics at the time such as "trust in my self-righteous suicide." Regardless, the video gained constant play on ] as did the second single, "]". Even with the controversy surrounding "]" which earned a ] nomination, System of a Down still received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with "] " and "]". In May of 2006, ] listed ] in the #14 slot in the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
In late 2001, a few unreleased tracks made their way onto the ]. The group released a statement that the tracks were unfinished material. Soon after, the band released the final versions of the songs, which were recorded at the same time, but hadn't been used for '']''.
The result was '']'', released in November 2002.
'']'' resembled a burnable ] 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 ]'s counter-culture book, '']'' and as a message to those who stole the songs and released them on the Internet. Dolmayan said in an interview "I don't care if fans download our songs from the internet but I don't like it when fans get our songs before the release date"{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. The singles "]" and "]" were released as radio-only promos and received constant airplay on alternative radio. A video for "]" was filmed with director ] as a protest against the ].

===''Mezmerize''/''Hypnotize'' (2004 - 2005)===
From 2004 to 2005, the group produced a double album, '']/]'' with the two parts released six months apart. The first album, '']'', 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{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. The Grammy Award-winning single "]", which questions the integrity of war, worked its way up the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single, "]" was released with Shavo Odadjian co-directing the ]. Following the release of ''Mezmerize'', the band toured extensively throughout the ] and ] with ] and ] supporting.

The second part of the double album, '']'', was released on November 22 2005. Like '']'', it debuted at #1 in the US, making System of a Down, along with ], rapper ], and rapper ], the only artists to ever have two studio albums debut at #1 in the same year. Their second single off the Hypnotize album, "]" was released in March in the United States. System Of A Down released "]" as their third. airplay only, single.
In February of 2006, System of a Down won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for
"]", beating out other established artists such as ] and ]. The band headlined ] 2006 in cities where tour founder ] opted not to appear or wasn't playing on the main stage.

===Hiatus and the future of the band (2006-present)===
]
In May of 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. ] has confirmed the break will probably last a few years, but insists that the band would not be splitting up. 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 a rest."
On ] at the Ozzfest while playing ], Malakian improvised the lyrics to "]", saying "Such a lonely day, with the band/these motherfuckers I can't stand!".<ref>http://www.systemofadownonline.com/Article397.htm Comment about lyrics at Ozzfest</ref> However, later in an interview with ], Malakian stated that he said "this" (referring to the day) rather than "these" (referring to the band).

During their Ozzfest performance on July 29th in New York City, Serj altered some of the lines on toxicity by saying "The Toxicity of our city, '''its so shitty'''" (instead of "of our city" repeated) and "Disorder Disorder '''we're all on a border'''"(instead of a third disorder). Also while performing in New York City Serj altered lines to Sugar saying, "I Sit in my desolate room, no lights, no music '''JUST ICE CREAM'''" (instead of Just Anger).

During their performance in Houston, Malakian also took a moment to say, "There's been a lot of rumors about us breaking up. Well don't fuckin' listen to them. Us four right here, we will always be System of a Down!"{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
During the hiatus, Malakian and Dolmayan will be in a band called Scars on Broadway, and will work on its debut album in the fall. Odadjian will also be participating in the project. He will also be working on a project with ] of ]. Tankian plans to keep recording as a solo artist/producer in "]", while Dolmayan, on top of Scars on Broadway, plans to open a comic book store online, which should be up online in November 2007.<ref>http://www.soadfans.com/Article400.htm Comic book store info</ref>
System of a Down's final performance before their hiatus took place on ], ] in ], ]. "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."<ref>http://www.soadfans.com/Article427.htm Information on last performance</ref>
It was stated by Sharon Osbourne that System Of A Down were paid "about $325,000 a show."<ref>http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=66664</ref>
System of a Down's latest info is that their songs will be used in the new 2006 film "]". They will also appear in the movie, in an interview talking about the importance of helping create awareness and recognition of the ]. "Screamers" will be hitting theaters in large city markets such as New York City, Detroit, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Fresno and Boston. An earlier engagement will start exclusively in Los Angeles on Friday, December 8, 2006."
System of a Down was honored at the USC v. Cal game at the ] in Los Angeles, CA. The Spirit of Troy also known as the Trojan Marching Band performed three System of a Down songs. John Dolmayan and Shavo Odadjian were kind enough to play "]" along with the marching band.

Tankian recently said that he has wanted to work on his "solo record for years". As for the future of the band, he said that he does not know whether System of a Down is over or not. He also stated that "maybe in a few years" the band would "want to make another album. It's impossible to tell right now. It'll be later down the line; then we'll be able to tell what might happen."<ref>http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=64459 Future of the band</ref>

Bassist Shavo Odadjian was recently revealed to be directing the first video for the comeback of the hardcore punk band, Bad Brains. <ref>http://strangeglue.com/system-of-a-down-bassist-to-direct-bad-brains-video/810/</ref>

For the 2007 Grammys, System of a Down was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance for "]", but lost to ] and their song "]".


== Music style and influences == == Music style and influences ==

Revision as of 21:52, 3 June 2007

For the album of the same name see System of a Down (album).
System of a Down
Musical artist

System of a Down (also referred to as System or abbreviated as SOAD) is a four-piece, Grammy-award winning band, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles, California. All four members are of Armenian descent, grandsons of Armenian Genocide survivors, and are widely known for their outspoken views found in many of their songs. System of a Down has achieved commercial success over five albums, with singles such as "Chop Suey!" and "B.Y.O.B.". 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) that is dedicated to bringing together musicians, music fans and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice.


Music style and influences

System of a Down’s main influence is mostly from early alternative rock bands, as well as from heavy metal, punk rock, jazz fusion, Armenian folk music (Harout, Paul, Armik), classic rock, blues, industrial genres, and Middle Eastern music. The band has used a wide range of instruments, including electric mandolins, sitars, 12-string guitars and Middle Eastern ouds. They used drop C tuning exclusively in their first three albums. The latter two System albums used Drop Db tuning, except in the songs Question!, Dreaming and Attack, in which they reverted to drop C tuning.

Daron has stated on several accounts that his songwriting is inspired heavily by The Beatles. Shavo's and Daron's first influences were Kiss. Shavo has also stated in a video interview at Big Day Out that he would not like to do any collaborations, because they don't want to use other people to make themselves famous. Then he quickly changed his answer and said "Mike Patton" and that they would love to do anything with him.


Band members

Current members

Former members

  • Andy Khachaturian - drums (1995-1997), vocals (For one show, Serj was ill so Andy filled in.)

Studio, guest, and extra members

Discography

Main article: System of a Down discography

Audio samples

References

  1. ^ http://music.aol.com/artist/system-of-a-down/302874/main
  2. ^ http://www.purevolume.com/systemofadown
  3. "System of a Down Biography". Rockdetector. 2007-02-15. Retrieved 2007-04-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. Will Hodgkinson (2003-02-21). "Songs in the key of C". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-05-06. Chisholm moves on to some of the nu metal she listens to at the gym, including System of a Down and Linkin Park. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. Maria Armoudian (2003-02-06). "Rock's axis of activism". Salon.com. Retrieved 2007-05-06. Serj Tankian, lead singer of the multiplatinum-selling nu metal band System of a Down... {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. "American Recordings/Columbia Records Release Special Limited Edition of System Of A Down's #1 Album 'Toxicity'". PR Newswire. 2002-04-23. Retrieved 2007-05-06. Toxicity... was named Album Of The Year 2001 by Spin magazine who raved Toxicity is the most ambitious record yet to emerge from the nu metal scene. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. Adrien Begrand (2002-07-25). "Various Artists: The Pledge of Allegiance Tour". PopMatters. Retrieved 2007-05-06. ...combining aggro punk with old school metal and the off-kilter sounds of Frank Zappa... I'm not someone who's completely unfamiliar with nu-metal. When it's done well, it's extremely powerful, but few know how to pull it off properly... especially System of a Down's two albums. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

System of a Down
Studio albums
Singles
Tours
Related

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