Rock Group - System of a Down

West Coast Metal

An Ozzfest favorite, System of a Down formed in the mid 1990s. Band members Shavo Odadjian, Serj Tankian, and Daron Malakian pulled together from the remnants of a previous L.A. band to form their new SOD. It was only after about a year of gigs that the three-man band invited drummer John Dolmayan to join them. If the member’s names all sound foreign it’s because they all share an Armenian heritage.

The mid-nineties spawned a litter of hard rock and new metal bands like Godsmack, Disturbed, Korn and System of a Down. Each had its own distinctive sound, that was a contributory component in the raucous, raw and dark music movement. At the same time their careers have been gloriously punctuated with virtuoso work that has declared each band’s versatility and proven their place in the new metal ancestry.

American Recordings released SOD’s first studio album in 1998, titled System of a Down. Singles “Sugar” and “Suite-Pee” were later incarnations of early singles the band had already built an audience with, so of course it was no surprise that they continued to be popular. The band immediately found themselves part of the Ozzfest Tour. SOD’s second album, Toxicity, was influential to the band’s success in two ways: it contained some of their signature political lyrics that fomented the socio-political fallout after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and it was a huge commercial success, especially the single “Toxicity.”

Perhaps the defining work of SOD at least artistically and socially has been their impromptu album Steal This Album! The work could best be described as unplanned, but serendipitous. Incomplete tracks that never made it onto the Toxicity album were somehow discovered and anonymously leaked out onto the Internet. In response SOD quickly released the Steal album to underscore the event.

A couple of albums later, Mesmerize and Hypnotize, plus tons of touring and SOD is now reported to be on a break. Hopefully fans will welcome them back in the not too distant future.

System of a Down (1998):

1. Suite-Pee
2. Know
3. Sugar
4. Suggestions
5. Spiders
6. Ddevil
7. Soil
8. War?
9. Mind
10. Peephole
11. Cubert
12. Darts
13. P.L.U.C.K.

Toxicity (2001):

1. Prison Song
2. Needles
3. Deer Dance
4. Jet Pilot
5. X
6. Chop Suey!
7. Bounce
8. Forest
9. Atwa
10. Science
11. Shimmy
12. Toxicity
13. Psycho
14. Aerials

Steal This Album! (2002):

1. Chic ‘N’ Stew
2. Innervision
3. Bubbles
4. Boom!
5. N-guns
6. A.D.D.
7. Mr. Jack
8. I-E-A-I-A-I-O
9. 36
10. Pictures
11. Highway Song
12. Fuck the System
13. Ego Brain
14. Thetawaves
15. Roulette
16. Streamline

Mesmerize (2005):

1. Soldier Side
2. B.Y.O.B.
3. Revenga
4. Cigaro
5. Radio/Video
6. This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I’m On This Song
7. Violent Pornography
8. Question!
9. Sad Statue
10. Old School Hollywood
11. Lost in Hollywood

Hypnotize (2005):

1. Attack
2. Dreaming
3. Kill Rock ‘N’ Roll
4. Hypnotize
5. Stealing Society
6. Tentative
7. U-Fig
8. Holy Mountains
9. Vicinity of Obscenity
10. She’s Like Heroin
11. Lonely Day
12. Soldier Side