How System of a Downs Chop Suey!
tore up the airwaves before getting banned post9/11.
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(And, lest we forget, they really rock.)
It goes gold before the band is even thinking about a follow-up.
We werent playing the safe nu-metal riff that was going on at that time, Malakian said.
Im proud we did it our own way.
Such is the legacy of System of a Down, whose breakthrough recordToxicitycelebrates its 20th anniversary this month.
It also bears the distinction of being the No.
Ive always spoken truth to power, he says.
I dont know if its a naive thing, but I say whats on my mind.
Of every song onToxicity, lead single Chop Suey!
is the one that most resonates today.
Its just a blessing.
Still, this censorship wouldnt dent its momentum, and Chop Suey!
recently became the first metal video to surpass one billion views on YouTube.
(All participants are credited by their role circa 2001.)
recording since Rage Against the Machines debut.
Shavo Odadjian (bassist): We were kids, bro.
I was 24 years old.
Youre making your sophomore record: If you fuck up on this, the bands gonna fall apart.
Serj had taken a more mature approach; he was comfortable being more abstract.
Malakian: I wanted to take the band into a more melodic place.
That evolved into whatToxicitybecame.
when we were driving down the road I dont know where we were in the country.
But I was fiddling around with the guitar, and it just came to me.
Though some of the bands songs are credited to all four members, Malakian is the primary songwriter.
He would sketch out a song on his own and bring it to the band.
From there, Tankian would write lyrics, while Odadjian and Dolmayan would flesh out the rhythm section.
As it turned out, his idea for Chop Suey!
would make it a responsive live hit.
Malakian: When I write a song, Ill usually bring in a theme.
For example, if someone dies in a car accident and he was drunk, we judge that.
Tankian: The vocal patterns are the guitar patterns and the drum patterns.
Its like, staccato, machine-gun wording, which is weird and also why it worked.
Tell me / Tell me what you think about tomorrow / Is there going to be a printed sorrow?
/ Tell me what you think about the people?
/ Is there going to be another sequel?
Tankian: Daron brought in the chorus the Trust in my / self-righteousness suicide lyrics.
Malakian: The middle eighth, I just had the [quietly growls] Father!
Serj added his part to that.
It had to do with Jesus and Father, why have you forsaken me that whole thing.
The puzzle came together perfectly.
Dolmayan: Chop Suey!
has a blast beat, a rock beat, and an almost Journey-like chorus.
The drums had to change five times for it to work.
And that little You wanted to!
makes a big difference in how you sing and feel the song.
What the Fuck Is This?
The finished version of Chop Suey!
inspired a mix of awe and confusion from its early listeners.
The overall mind-set was that putting out a song that has Suicide in it wouldnt work.
It was a brilliant idea because it didnt completely take Suicide away, just shortened it to Suey.
Paredes: If you read that song title, you dont expect to hear that.
It lent to the band being totally different and creative about how they approached everything.
Benveniste:An old friend of mine was a big producer at the time named Damon Elliott.
When we were mixing with Andy Wallace in New York, Damon was mixing in another room.
He walks in and goes, Beno, whats up oh, what thefuckis this?
This is a train wreck.
It was jarring, to be honest, but with repetitive listens you realize the brilliance.
Insanity in the Mosh Pit
The Chop Suey!
Tankian moves and swings like a street preacher, as a tattoo-covered Malakian shoots crazed stares into the crowd.
Marcos Siega (director, Chop Suey!
They were doing a few gigs, and I saw them live for the first time.
The idea for Chop Suey!
was, How do I capture them being in that space?
Odadjian: That was the first video I got involved in; after that, it became my thing.
It looks older now, but back then, that was revolutionary to do.
That motel we filmed in was down the street from where I grew up, in Hollywood.
There were gangs, hookers, homeless [people].
I witnessed a sexual act for the first time in my life, in one of those windows.
I was traumatized, and I went home and told my mom.
Siega:The motels were hourly rentals; the TVs had porn on them; there were syringes.
It was pretty gross.
Do I Get Excited?
Upon release in August 2001, the single and its music video made an immediate impact.
Though the song peaked at No.
I was getting calls from every industry person going, Oh, my God, what is that?
It reached that position on a very unique day in American history: September 11, 2001.
Horn: I had several clients, and one of them was Wyclef Jean.
At the time, that was how you got it.
They loved it; they were like, This is the hardest thing ever.
Weatherly: During its peak, it was probably played eight times a day.
And over the last 20 years, Chop Suey!
is probably one of the top-five songs KROQ played over that span.
Wed gotten information that we were going to be No.
1, so we stopped rehearsing, went to my car, and listened.
And we were No.
1 there for like 48 weeks straight.
Benveniste: It was the perfect storm.
The record debuts at No.
The riot is all over the newswire.
And then 9/11 happens.
Tankian: [9/11] is all I remember fromToxicity the actual toxicity.
I had a little apartment in North Hollywood, and my phone kept ringing.
I had probably drank the night before, and I didnt want to get up.
But I answered the phone, and it was my mom saying, Put on the TV.
I turn on the TV, and all of a sudden, the second tower falls.
At the same time, my phone beeps again, and I pick up.
Its my manager, and he says, Congratulations, youre No.
Its like, fuck: Do I get excited?
And is the tour still happening?
Dolmayan: Whats the bestandthe worst day of your life?
And how do you find happiness when other people are suffering?
You have to deal with the guilt of that.
Odadjian: The song had a totally different meaning before, and a different vibe.
Malakian: The day after 9/11, we were supposed to take a flight to New York.
Obviously, that flight didnt happen.
And the thing that was surprising for us was that people thought we had written these songs like prophets.
We had songs called Aerials, Jet Pilot, self-righteous suicide in our lyrics.
Thats when I realized that people were starting to take our band seriously.
They got stopped at the airport, and they put them on the ground.
And imagine this: Our tour was called Pledge of Allegiance.
Tankian: While all thats happening, theres a real panic.
You feel like things are out of control theres no government, no security.
But we were putting out a record, so our tour got delayed by a week or two.
It was one of the most uncomfortable, stressful times in our lives.
Dolmayan: I was called John Random Bag Check Dolmayan for quite some time.
Odadjian: In the Midwest and in the South, there were some remarks made.
They thought Armenians were Middle Eastern, because nobody knew what an Armenian was.
We were pigeonholed as camel jockeys, terrorists, all these crazy slurs.
That went away with time, but it sucks we had that kind of vibe.
But when youre young and shit like that happens, it fuels your fire.
The letter sparked immediate blowback especially as the band was just about to go on tour.
was one of them.
Tankian: I had written a statement called Understanding Oil and posted it a few days after 9/11.
But at the time, there was a lot of reactionism, there was a lot of fear.
So people didnt like that.
Malakian: The rest of us had nothing to do with that; he did that on his own.
All of us werent on the same page with it, to be honest with you.
And to this day, I think it couldve been done in a more tasteful way.
Paredes: There were quite a bit of calls; most of them, of course, were negative.
But several came in that were actually sympathetic to what he was trying to say.
Thats all he was trying to say.
Tankian: We were getting death threats and my label pulled down the essay.
The guys said, What, are you trying to get us killed?
No, Im just telling the truth.
Theyre like, So what!
Wakefield:Our immediate concern was damage control.
Horn: We all felt that letter could have come at a different time.
You know, these countries and their media have watched America do a lot of things.
This isnt a dig on America.
American foreign policy is known around the world.
And they werent as judgmental of the band making a statement like that.
Thats the nicest way I can say it.
They were horrible misadventures in foreign policy, and their consequences are being felt worldwide.
Dolmayan: [Clear Channel] made the mistake that a lot of people make in a tragedy.
In retrospect, thats a little weird.
Weatherly: We werent one of the stations that banned the record.
We listen to our audience and respect the artistic freedom of the artists.
Our audience appreciated that we took a stand.
Paredes: Of course, there were meetings called and discussions about how to handle it.
Then, the band went on hiatus at Tankians behest,as he cited dismayover their musical direction.
They reunited in 2011 to tour, but their attempts to record a new album have fizzled out.
Last year, they managedto release two new singlesto benefit an organization providing aid to Armenians.
But the members are pessimistic about the possibility of a new album.
Malakian: Chop Suey!
Dolmayan: I dont think well make another album.
Tankian: Time will tell.
Dolmayan: We might do a couple more tours.
But the mind-sets of my band that are really stupid, they dont seem to be going away.
And as people get older, they tend to be more resolved in what they do.
Odadjian: Weve gotten to a point where the creative differences are causing a rift between us.
Before, I think we were more understanding of each other.
Now, some people want to keep it a certain way, and other people want to change.
And we dont want to release anything thats not from the heart.
It gets tough to keep it together.
We enjoy playing live, and we enjoy each others company.
But when it comes to System of a Down, the band, thats where we have disagreements.
And then once I see it happening again, Im going to join in.
Dolmayan: We had our day in the sun, and its been a great ride.
But I see this as the waning of System of a Down.
The waxing is long gone.
It is what it is, man.
Ive been trying to get these assholes to make an album for almost 20 years.
