50 Fun Facts About System of a Down

Which System of a Down single, renamed from Suicide under record-label pressure, has passed a billion YouTube views?

Chop Suey! is the old title cut in half, as the band's bassist explained it: suicide, chopped. Its video, shot outside a Los Angeles motel, hit the billion mark in November 2020.

All four members of System of a Down share which ancestry, the heritage behind their early song P.L.U.C.K.?

Armenian roots run through the whole band: each member was born to immigrant parents or emigrated himself, and P.L.U.C.K. addresses the 1915 genocide that the singer's grandfather survived.

System of a Down's album Toxicity was sitting at number one in America during the week of which event?

The September 11 attacks struck a week after Toxicity's release, and radio group Clear Channel soon put one of its singles on a list of songs deemed inappropriate to air.

System of a Down picked a name that would be shelved alphabetically close to which metal heroes in record stores?

Slayer were the band's heroes, so Victims of a Down, the title of a Daron Malakian poem, became System of a Down to sit nearer them on the racks.

Which documentary filmmaker directed System of a Down's video for Boom!, built from footage of 2003 anti-war marches?

Michael Moore built the Boom! video from the worldwide protests of February 15, 2003, and MTV Europe banned it shortly after its release.

Which producer spotted System of a Down in Los Angeles clubs, signed them in 1997 and produced their studio albums?

Rick Rubin signed the band to his American label after seeing them at clubs such as the Viper Room, and guitarist Daron Malakian went on to co-produce the albums with him.

Singer Serj Tankian and drummer John Dolmayan of System of a Down were both born in which Middle Eastern capital?

Beirut was home to both families until the Lebanese Civil War drove them out; the singer was seven when his parents resettled in Los Angeles.

System of a Down supplied music for a track on 1998's Chef Aid, an album spun off from which animated series?

South Park's Chef introduces most of the acts on the album but skips System of a Down, who backed a track performed with P. Diddy and Lil' Kim.

The System of a Down track I-E-A-I-A-I-O recalls drummer John Dolmayan meeting which TV star in a liquor store aged 12?

David Hasselhoff, then the star of Knight Rider, greeted the starstruck boy with a cowboy-style point of the finger, a moment the singer later worked into the song.

The cover of System of a Down's album Toxicity reworks which California landmark?

The Hollywood Sign has its letters swapped for the band's name on the cover, and it stood close to home: Toxicity was recorded at Cello Studios in Hollywood itself.

Which System of a Down protest single won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance?

B.Y.O.B., short for Bring Your Own Bombs, is also the band's only US top 40 hit, peaking at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100.

System of a Down are a Southern California band, formed in 1994 in which city?

Glendale was the base when Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian built the group from the ashes of an earlier band, whose young manager stayed on to become their bassist.

System of a Down's Steal This Album! borrows its title from a 1971 book by which counterculture activist?

Abbie Hoffman called his manual Steal This Book, and the band adapted the name after rough MP3s of the songs leaked online under the title Toxicity II.

Which System of a Down album arrived in May 2005 as the first half of a double album finished six months later?

Mezmerize came out on May 17, 2005, six months ahead of its companion Hypnotize, and both halves entered the Billboard 200 at number one.

Which System of a Down single reached number one on both Billboard's Mainstream Rock and Alternative Songs charts?

Aerials, the third single from its album, also brought the band a second Grammy nomination, for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2003.

Serj Tankian co-founded the activist organisation Axis of Justice in 2002 with which fellow rock musician?

Tom Morello proposed the group after spotting racist tattoos in the crowd at a 2002 metal festival, and its tents later appeared at Audioslave and System of a Down shows.

Which band did guitarist Daron Malakian launch during System of a Down's hiatus, releasing a self-titled debut in 2008?

Scars on Broadway began with drummer John Dolmayan behind the kit, and its later albums carried the fuller name Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway.

System of a Down recorded a cover of Snowblind for a 2000 tribute album honouring which heavy metal pioneers?

Black Sabbath are among the band's stated influences, and Snowblind had also been the name of a teenage group featuring Daron Malakian and original drummer Andy Khachaturian.

Which touring festival gave System of a Down a second-stage slot in 1998, the summer their debut album came out?

Ozzfest took the band on after their debut album; the festival itself began when Lollapalooza rebuffed Sharon Osbourne's attempt to get her husband onto its bill.

The success of Sugar helped System of a Down land a support slot on which band's Summer Sanitarium Tour?

Metallica's stadium run was one prize for Sugar, a song that also earned the band a first headlining tour of their own.

System of a Down co-headlined the Pledge of Allegiance Tour in 2001 with which fellow metal band?

Slipknot shared top billing on the run, which also featured Rammstein and was partly recorded for a live Pledge of Allegiance CD.

The covers of System of a Down's two 2005 albums were drawn by Vartan Malakian, who is what relation to guitarist Daron?

His father, a painter from Mosul, designed the two covers so that the separate sleeves connect into a single piece.

System of a Down ended their 2015 Wake Up the Souls Tour with a free Republic Square concert in which capital city?

Yerevan hosted the band's first show in their ancestral homeland, the finale of a tour staged to mark the centenary of the 1915 genocide.

System of a Down broke a 15-year silence in 2020 with two fundraising singles about a war fought against which country?

Azerbaijan was at war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the singles Protect the Land and Genocidal Humanoidz raised more than $600,000 in aid.

A 2005 System of a Down song recalls Daron Malakian playing a celebrity baseball game alongside which sitcom star?

Tony Danza is name-checked in the song along with singer Frankie Avalon, who took the field in the same charity game.

The System of a Down song ATWA takes its title from an environmental creed promoted by which notorious cult leader?

Charles Manson used ATWA as shorthand for Air, Trees, Water, Animals, and the song is about his beliefs on the environment.

System of a Down's bassist teamed up with which Wu-Tang Clan member to form the hip-hop group Achozen?

RZA and the bassist built Achozen during the band's hiatus, and several of its songs ended up in the 2008 film Babylon A.D.

Away from System of a Down, drummer John Dolmayan opened a Las Vegas shop devoted to which collectibles?

Comic books have been his trade since childhood: the store is called Torpedo Comics, and he once commissioned comics artists to decorate his drum kit.

Beyond being bandmates in System of a Down, Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan share which family relationship?

Brothers-in-law since the drummer married the sister of the singer's wife, the two are also open political opposites, something the singer has called frustrating.

Which System of a Down member has directed most of the band's music videos and designs their stage lighting?

Shavo Odadjian, the bassist, co-directed the videos for Toxicity and Question!, the second reportedly after an image of it came to him in a nightmare.

Which 2007 album was Serj Tankian's solo debut, introduced by the single The Unthinking Majority?

Elect the Dead opened at number four on the Billboard 200, and bandmate John Dolmayan played the drums on it.

Released in May 1998, the song Sugar holds which place in System of a Down's catalogue?

Their first single, Sugar came from the self-titled debut album and returned a year later as the lead track of an EP.

Original System of a Down drummer Andy Khachaturian left in 1997 after breaking his hand in which way?

Punching a wall during an argument cost him a year of recovery, and John Dolmayan took over the drum stool for good.

What followed in Los Angeles when a free System of a Down show to launch their second album was cancelled?

A riot lasted six hours after a fire marshal called off the overcrowded show: fans wrecked about $30,000 of the band's gear and six people were arrested.

System of a Down's Lonely Day lost the 2007 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance to Woman, a song by which band?

Wolfmother took the award, but Lonely Day stands apart anyway: guitarist Daron Malakian wrote it and sings the lead vocal himself.

The hand on System of a Down's debut cover comes from a 1928 anti-fascist poster for which country's Communist Party?

Germany's Communist Party commissioned the poster from artist John Heartfield, and its slogan about a hand's five fingers inspired text on the back of the album.

Before System of a Down, Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian played together in which short-lived Los Angeles band?

Soil managed just one live show, at the Roxy, before two members quit in 1994 and the others started afresh under a new name.

The music video for System of a Down's Sugar cuts in footage from which classic German film?

Metropolis shares the clip with a nuclear test and scenes of public violence; director Nathan Cox's video became an MTV regular, to the band's surprise.

System of a Down's song Toxicity began life as Version 7.0, a title nodding to which company's popular software?

AOL software inspired the bassist's joke: by the time the song came out the program would have reached that version, so the title would be predicting the future.

Which 2006 documentary about genocide features System of a Down concert footage and interviews with Serj Tankian?

Screamers, directed by Carla Garapedian, shows the singer interviewing his grandfather, a survivor of the 1915 killings, and band members marching with protesters outside the Turkish embassy.

Serj Tankian of System of a Down reworked his solo debut as a live symphony with which city's Philharmonia Orchestra?

Auckland Town Hall hosted the concert, and New Zealand became a second home: by 2015 his family was dividing its time between Warkworth and Los Angeles.

Daron Malakian of System of a Down played guest guitar on Rebellion, a 2014 track by which band?

Linkin Park featured him on their album The Hunting Party, and in 2017 he joined them on stage at the tribute concert for their late singer Chester Bennington.

System of a Down's early single Spiders appeared on the soundtrack of which horror sequel?

Scream 3 carried Spiders on a soundtrack album heavy with nu metal, and the song is briefly heard in the film itself.

System of a Down's song Deer Dance is about the protests that surrounded which political gathering in 2000?

The Democratic National Convention met that August at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the band's home city.

System of a Down covered The Metro for the Dracula 2000 soundtrack; which new wave band recorded the original?

Berlin released The Metro in 1981 as a synthesizer-driven single, and the metal cover later resurfaced on the soundtrack of Not Another Teen Movie.

Serj Tankian co-wrote a 2011 stage musical with playwright Steven Sater based on which ancient Greek tragedy?

Prometheus Bound kept the ancient play's title, and the rock musical ran at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in early 2011.

System of a Down recorded their 1998 debut album at which Van Nuys studio, later the subject of a 2013 documentary?

Sound City, which opened in 1969, shared the debut sessions with a mansion studio elsewhere in Los Angeles, and Sylvia Massy engineered the record.

Serj Tankian of System of a Down says he discovered pop music as a child through a film soundtrack by which group?

Bee Gees songs from Saturday Night Fever were his gateway after the family reached Los Angeles in the 1970s; until then he had been raised on the traditional music of his parents' community.

System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan's covers project These Grey Men debuted with Street Spirit, a song by which band?

Radiohead's Street Spirit (Fade Out) arrived as the project's first single in January 2020, some six years after Dolmayan launched a Kickstarter to fund it.

Serj Tankian of System of a Down graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in which subject?

Marketing was his major, completed in 1989, five years before the band formed.