System of a Down
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50 free System of a Down trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
System of a Down are one of metal's strangest success stories: four friends from Southern California who mixed thrash riffs, folk melodies and furious politics, then watched it sell by the million. Their songs swing from slapstick to protest in a breath, which is why fans keep arguing over what half of them mean. This quiz covers the whole story: the early club days, the studio albums, the hits and the videos, the long hiatus and the comeback, plus the side projects and unexpected hobbies of the four members. There is a run of questions on Sugar and the debut record for anyone who came for the early years. It is pitched for everyone who has shouted along to Toxicity, with easy openers for casual listeners and a handful of deep cuts for the diehards. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will leave knowing more than you arrived with.
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Q 01Which System of a Down single, renamed from Suicide under record-label pressure, has passed a billion YouTube views?
Chop Suey!
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.
Q 02All four members of System of a Down share which ancestry, the heritage behind their early song P.L.U.C.K.?
Armenian
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.
Q 03System of a Down's album Toxicity was sitting at number one in America during the week of which event?
The September 11 attacks
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.
Q 04System of a Down picked a name that would be shelved alphabetically close to which metal heroes in record stores?
Slayer
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.
Q 05Which documentary filmmaker directed System of a Down's video for Boom!, built from footage of 2003 anti-war marches?
Michael Moore
Michael Moore built the Boom! video from the worldwide protests of February 15, 2003, and MTV Europe banned it shortly after its release.
Q 06Which producer spotted System of a Down in Los Angeles clubs, signed them in 1997 and produced their studio albums?
Rick Rubin
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.
Q 07Singer Serj Tankian and drummer John Dolmayan of System of a Down were both born in which Middle Eastern capital?
Beirut
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.
Q 08System of a Down supplied music for a track on 1998's Chef Aid, an album spun off from which animated series?
South Park
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.
Q 09The 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
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.
Q 10The cover of System of a Down's album Toxicity reworks which California landmark?
The Hollywood Sign
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.
Q 11Which System of a Down protest single won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance?
B.Y.O.B.
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.
Q 12System of a Down are a Southern California band, formed in 1994 in which city?
Glendale
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.
Q 13System of a Down's Steal This Album! borrows its title from a 1971 book by which counterculture activist?
Abbie Hoffman
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.
Q 21System of a Down co-headlined the Pledge of Allegiance Tour in 2001 with which fellow metal band?
Slipknot
Slipknot shared top billing on the run, which also featured Rammstein and was partly recorded for a live Pledge of Allegiance CD.
Q 22The covers of System of a Down's two 2005 albums were drawn by Vartan Malakian, who is what relation to guitarist Daron?
His father
His father, a painter from Mosul, designed the two covers so that the separate sleeves connect into a single piece.
Q 23System of a Down ended their 2015 Wake Up the Souls Tour with a free Republic Square concert in which capital city?
Yerevan
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.
Q 14Which System of a Down album arrived in May 2005 as the first half of a double album finished six months later?
Mezmerize
Mezmerize came out on May 17, 2005, six months ahead of its companion Hypnotize, and both halves entered the Billboard 200 at number one.
Q 15Which System of a Down single reached number one on both Billboard's Mainstream Rock and Alternative Songs charts?
Aerials
Aerials, the third single from its album, also brought the band a second Grammy nomination, for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2003.
Q 16Serj Tankian co-founded the activist organisation Axis of Justice in 2002 with which fellow rock musician?
Tom Morello
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.
Q 17Which band did guitarist Daron Malakian launch during System of a Down's hiatus, releasing a self-titled debut in 2008?
Scars on Broadway
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.
Q 18System of a Down recorded a cover of Snowblind for a 2000 tribute album honouring which heavy metal pioneers?
Black Sabbath
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.
Q 19Which touring festival gave System of a Down a second-stage slot in 1998, the summer their debut album came out?
Ozzfest
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.
Q 20The success of Sugar helped System of a Down land a support slot on which band's Summer Sanitarium Tour?
Metallica
Metallica's stadium run was one prize for Sugar, a song that also earned the band a first headlining tour of their own.
Q 24System of a Down broke a 15-year silence in 2020 with two fundraising singles about a war fought against which country?
Azerbaijan
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.
Q 25A 2005 System of a Down song recalls Daron Malakian playing a celebrity baseball game alongside which sitcom star?
Tony Danza
Tony Danza is name-checked in the song along with singer Frankie Avalon, who took the field in the same charity game.
Q 26The System of a Down song ATWA takes its title from an environmental creed promoted by which notorious cult leader?
Charles Manson
Charles Manson used ATWA as shorthand for Air, Trees, Water, Animals, and the song is about his beliefs on the environment.
Q 27System of a Down's bassist teamed up with which Wu-Tang Clan member to form the hip-hop group Achozen?
RZA
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.
Q 28Away from System of a Down, drummer John Dolmayan opened a Las Vegas shop devoted to which collectibles?
Comic books
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.
Q 29Beyond being bandmates in System of a Down, Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan share which family relationship?
Brothers-in-law
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.
Q 30Which System of a Down member has directed most of the band's music videos and designs their stage lighting?
Shavo Odadjian
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.