They have songs about the US prison system, mass incarceration, the CIA, climate change, police brutality, the War on Drugs, reductionism, globalization…sometimes without the use of metaphors (see album opener “Prison Song”). Toxicity went number one on the Billboard 200, stayed there the week of 9/11, and continued to receive airplay in the years following despite its heavy political themes & abrasive presentation.Īlong with Rage Against the Machine, System’s affinity for social issues and dying mission to critique the powerful created a soundtrack to get behind in the era of Cheney/Bush. Their gift for melody and the charisma & range of principal songwriters Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian as well as the ferocious rhythm section of Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan transcended SOAD to the early 2000’s mainstream.

Their advertent political messaging, bare it all emotion, and style clash of thrash, doom, jazz, prog, folk, and traditional style of Greek and Armenian music differentiated their music from the shlock nu metal that gravitated towards culturally appropriated house party rap SOAD were far more invested in the fundamentals. With their smash sophomore Toxicity landing one week from 9/11 and “Chop Suey” hitting airwaves three weeks before, System of a Down could not have come at a better time. What the hell happened? How did an Armenian metal band from L.A., who were shelved close to aggressive acts like P.O.D., Papa Roach, and Korn, with a singer who sounded like Pavarotti did three lines of meth and had to sing a dissertation on mass injustice, took over radio rock in the last great era of bands.

Ask someone ten years ago to describe “Chop Suey!” and they would likely refer to it as SOAD’s signature song with over a billion views on YouTube and nearly 700 million streams on Spotify (greater than any single Metallica song and bigger than the two most popular Slipknot songs combined) the song is now frequently described as the most well known heavy metal song of all time. The frenetic morning routine of the opening and chorus of “When angels deserve to die” have been pummeled into the lexicon through both rendition and meme. On August 13, 2001, System of a Down released “Chop Suey.” Over the past twenty years, the song has been catapulted into the mainstream lexicon unlike few metal songs have.

Real system of a down chop suey lyrics