System of a Down is an iconic metal band based in Glendale. By 2020, the band's discography includes several dozen albums. A significant part of the records received the status of "platinum", and all thanks to the high circulation of sales.
The group has fans in every corner of the planet. The most interesting thing is that the musicians who are part of the band are Armenians by nationality. Many are sure that this is what influenced the active political and social activity of the soloists of the group.
Like many metal bands, the band is on the "golden mean" between the underground thrash of the 1980s and the alternative of the early 1990s. The musicians fit perfectly into the nu-metal style. The soloists of the group in their tracks touched on various topics - politics, social problems, alcoholism, drug addiction.
The history of the creation and composition of the group System of a Down
At the origins of the band are two talented musicians - Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian. Young people attended the same educational institution. It so happened that Daron and Serge played in improvised bands, and even had one rehearsal base.
The young people were Armenians by nationality. Actually, this fact prompted them to create their own independent group. The new team was named SOIL. The senior school friend Shavo Odadjyan became the manager of the musicians. He worked in a bank and occasionally played the bass guitar.
Soon the drummer Andranik "Andy" Khachaturian joined the musicians. In the mid-1990s, the first changes took place: Shavo left the management and took the place of the band's permanent bassist. Here the first conflicts took place, which led to the fact that Khachaturian left the team. He was replaced by Dolmayan.
SOIL morphed into System of a Down in the mid-1990s. The new name inspired the musicians so much that since that time the band's career began to develop dramatically.
The first concert of the musicians took place at the Roxy, in Hollywood. Soon the group System of a Down already found a significant audience in Los Angeles. Due to the fact that the photos got into local magazines, the public began to take an active interest in the musicians. Soon the cult band was actively touring the United States of America.
Their three-track demo compilation was heavily played by American metal fans before making its way to Europe. In the late 1990s, the musicians signed a contract with the prestigious American label. This event strengthened the status and importance of the team.
Music by System of a Down
The first studio album was produced by the "father" of "American" Rick Rubin. He responsibly approached the task of creating a collection, so the band's discography was replenished with the "powerful" disc System of a Down. The debut studio album was released in 1998.
After the presentation of the debut album, the musicians played "on the heating" of the popular band SLAYER. A little later, the guys took part in the Ozzfest music festival.
In the future, the group appeared on numerous soundtracks, and also held joint performances with other musicians.
By the end of 2001, the debut album was certified platinum. In the same year, the musicians presented their second album, Toxicity. The collection was produced by the same Rick Rubin.
The team met the expectations of the fans with the release of the second album. The collection was certified platinum several times. The team easily occupied its niche among nu-metal musicians.
In 2002, the group's discography was replenished with a new album, which was called Steal This Album!. The new disc includes unpublished compositions. The name and the image on the cover (a handwritten inscription with a marker on a snow-white background) became an excellent PR move - the fact is that some of the tracks have been lying on pirated resources on the Internet for some time.
System of a Down this year released a poignant political video called Boom!, based on actual street demonstrations. The theme of the fight against the system is also actively disclosed in other works of the team.
In the late mid-2000s, Daron Malakyan took up producing activities. He became the owner of the Eat Ur Music label. A little later, Tankian followed suit and became the founder of the Serjical Strike label.
In 2004, the musicians got together again to record a new collection. The result of long work was the release of an epic record, which consisted of two parts.
The first part was called Mezmerize, which was released in 2005. The release of the second part of Hypnotize musicians scheduled for November. Fans and music critics warmly accepted the new work.
In an album that was full of wild and passionate melodies, the musicians so skillfully added gothic lyrics. The compilation contained a unique style that some reviewers called "oriental rock".
Break in the work of the group System of a Down
In 2006, the band's musicians announced that they were taking a forced break. This news came as a surprise to most fans.
Shavo Odadjian, in an interview with Guitar magazine, said that the forced vacation will last at least three years. In an interview with Chris Hariss (MTV News), Daron Malakian spoke about fans needing to calm down. The group is not going to break up. Otherwise, they would not have planned to perform at Ozzfest in 2006.
“We will leave the stage for a short time to finish our solo projects,” continued Daron, “we have been in System of a Down for more than 10 years and I think it’s great to leave the band for a while to return to it with renewed vigor – this is we are driven now ... ".
The fans are still unsettled. Most of the "fans" believed that such a statement was an unspoken manifesto of disintegration. However, four years later, the System of a Down band took the stage in full force to conduct a large European tour.
The first concert of the musicians after a long break took place in Canada in May 2011. The tour included 22 performances. The last one took place on the territory of Russia. The musicians visited Moscow for the first time and were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome of the audience. A year later, the team visited North America, performing with the Deftones.
In 2013, System of a Down was the headliner of the Kubana festival. In 2015, rockers again visited Russia as part of the Wake Up the Souls program. Immediately after that, they gave a charity concert at the Republic Square in Yerevan.
In 2017, information appeared that the musicians would soon present a collection. Despite the assumptions and guesses of journalists, the disc was not released in 2017.
The genre of music in which the group worked cannot be described in one word. Lyrical songs in their work are perfectly mixed with heavy guitar riffs, as well as powerful drum sessions.
The texts of the musicians quite often contain criticism of the political system of the United States of America and the media, and the band's video clips are "pure water" provocation. The musicians paid considerable attention to the problem of the Armenian genocide.
Tankian's vocals are an integral part of the band's image. Hits of the group from 2002 to 2007 regularly nominated for the prestigious Grammy Award.
Break in creativity
Unfortunately, the cult band has not pleased fans with new tracks since 2005. But Serj Tankian compensated for this loss with solo work.
In 2019, to journalists’ questions: “Isn’t it time for the System of a Down band to return to the stage?” the musicians replied: "Tankian does not want to work on a new album with a producer who previously promoted the band." However, the work of Ricky Rubin suited the rest of the team.
Tankian continued to shock the public with his antics. After showing the final season of the popular series Game of Thrones, the musician posted on his Facebook page a version of the project's hit that he had recorded.
The band System of a Down has an official Instagram page, where old photos, clips from performances and old album covers appear.
Interesting facts about the group
- The team consists entirely of Armenians. But of all of them, only Shavo was born in the then Armenian SSR.
- Performing against the background of the carpet is the “chip” of the group.
- The musicians once canceled a concert in Istanbul, fearing that they would be reminded of those musical compositions that dealt with the massacre of Armenians by the Turks.
- Initially, the band was to be called Victims of a Down - after a poem written by Daron Malakyan.
- Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett are the most devoted and at the same time stellar fans of System of a Down.
System of a Down in 2021
Team member Serj Tankian pleased fans of his work with the release of a solo mini-album. Longplay was called Elasticity. The record was topped by 5 tracks. Recall that this is Serge's first album in the last 8 years.
