Did you know that System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian used a sex toy to record a guitar riff for the band's sophomore release? Or that he and drummer John Dolmoyan got in a bloody fight while recording the album? What about the single lyric that caused an argument that could have broken up the band? Stick around and we'll answer these questions and more...
10 Fun Facts About Toxicity by System of a Down
1. 44 Songs
Over 40 songs written for Toxicity, with many of the extras being re-recorded for Steal This Album! Out
of the 44 tracks written, over 30 of them were recorded. Producer Rick
Rubin explained a little bit about their approach when writing so much
material.
"From the beginning, we talked about the benefit of over-writing. If you write four albums’ worth of material to make one album, each album released functions as a greatest hits album—the greatest hits from four unreleased albums. The artists who truly love making music enjoy the healthy process." - Rubin, The Oral History Of System Of A Down's Toxicity, Matthew Sigur, The Ringer (Sep 2, 2021)
Drummer John Dolmoyan would also add:
“We only recorded three times... We got five albums out of it.” - Dolmoyan, The Oral History Of System Of A Down's Toxicity, Matthew Sigur, The Ringer (Sep 2, 2021)
2. Blood Brothers
System
of a Down drummer John Dolmayan and guitarist Daron Malakian got in to a
pretty gnarly fight during the recording process which could have
easily threatened the release of the album. Fortunately, the two band
mates were able to laugh it off and the moment actually served as a
team-building experience.
Read More: 21 Years Ago: System of a Down Release 'Toxicity' | https://loudwire.com/system-of-a-down-toxicity-anniversary/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
As Malakian told Loudwire in 2022:
“There were times when we fuckin’ threw down... John and I were totally going at it. My lip was all cut up, and I took a microphone stand and hit him across the head and his head was all bashed in. Shavo and Serj were looking at us saying, ‘Awww, man, we’re done.’ But right after we fought, we took each other to the hospital and got stitched up right next to each other. Both of us were sitting there laughing, saying, ‘This is one of the coolest moments in the history of our band.'” - Malakian, 21 Years Ago System Of A Down Release Toxicity, John Weiderhorn, Loudwire (Sep 4, 2022)
3 Unconventional Recording Methods
The band went to extra lengths to stir their creativity while recording Toxicity. Electing to bring in a wide variety of instruments including not just piano and keyboards but a sitar, a banjo, and an Armenian Oud as well.
Bassist Shavo Odadjian told an interviewer with Loudersound a little bit about their creative process:
“Yeah, Daron was in there like a maestro... A band is a team and you let people do what they’re good at, and then you complement them with what you’re good at. Everyone gave what they gave, but he did so many guitar tracks and instruments, he was like a kid in a toy store! With Toxicity, Daron really came through and shined.
Also Serj [Tankian, vocals] had a lot to do with the vocals and it wasn’t like normal takes... Rick had one of those exercise things... so they hung Serj upside down and he did some tracks.”
4. Not Quite A Concept Album
System of a Down make a conscious effort to create entire albums that are memorable as opposed to just individual songs.
Bassist Shavo Odadjian told MTV in 2001:
"When I listen to a band like Pink Floyd, I don't know the names of the individual songs, I know the full albums... That's what we want for our albums. We don't want to name our songs after the choruses, so we sometimes come up with random titles. We don't care if people don't know the names of the songs, we want them to play it and never get sick of it. We want it to be exciting, melodic, heavy and emotional. It can make you cry and laugh and be angry." - Odadjian, System Of A Down's Schitzophrenia Aggravated On Toxicity, John Weiderhorn, MTV (Aug 13, 2001)
Read More: 21 Years Ago: System of a Down Release 'Toxicity' | https://loudwire.com/system-of-a-down-toxicity-anniversary/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 21 Years Ago: System of a Down Release 'Toxicity' | https://loudwire.com/system-of-a-down-toxicity-anniversary/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 21 Years Ago: System of a Down Release 'Toxicity' | https://loudwire.com/system-of-a-down-toxicity-anniversary/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
5. Hollywood & Vine
A riot broke out at an album release event for Toxicity in Los Angeles, California. Much of System of a Down's gear was stolen or destroyed. One of Odadjian's speaker cabinets was found on Hollywood & Vine.
According to Shavo himself, System of a Down was scheduled to play a free show in the parking lot of Club Vinyl. However, a rock radio DJ at KROQ made an an air announcement informing listeners about the show which encouraged way more people to show up than the venue was equipped to handle. Fire Marshals shut the event down do to safety concerns and would not allow the band to address the fans. Instead, they promptly escort the band out of the area. When authorities began pulling down System of a Down's stage banner without any explanation, the crowd became a mob and started doing things that mobs do, like riot and destroy local property.
As Shavo explains:
“We were on the news on every channel... They had shots from above where we were supposed to be playing and there were people fighting with our crew. My bass tech was throwing fists trying to protect my gear and there’s people swinging at each other. A pipe hit one of our guys in the face and broke all his teeth. It was crazy.
The press went crazy with it, so our little band
became a bit bigger... It was, like, ‘This band of
Armenians are causing a riot in LA and they have an album coming out
tomorrow.’” - Odadjian, System Of A Down's Toxicity, Morat, Metal Hammer (June 5, 2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvNpgwRfWCY
6. City of Toxins
The song and album title Toxicity is a reference to System Of A Down's hometown of Los Angeles. A place that often gets glorified by stories of glam and fame in Hollywood. However, as local residents of the city, members of System of a Down have a more realistic perspective.
As bassist Shavo Odadjian told MTV:
"Everyone views Hollywood as a glamorous place with palm trees and movie stars, but when we were growing up all we saw were poverty, hookers and bad stuff. It's an evil town — a toxic city, which is how we got the name of our record." - Odadjian, System Of A Down's Schitzophrenia Aggravated On Toxicity, John Weiderhorn, MTV (Aug 13, 2001)
7. Banned by Clear Channel
Following
the terrorist attacks in
New York on September 11, 2001, "Chop Suey" found itself on a list with
over 150 other songs which were recommended to be pulled from playlists
of Clear Channel's 1100 radio stations. A list that would also include
songs like "You Dropped A Bomb On Me" which might make sense to remove
for hyper-sensitive listeners, but the list also include other songs
like "In The Air Of The Night" by Phil Collins seemingly because it has
the word "air" in the title. And you know, you can't have airplanes
without air... so shame on us I guess?
As singer Serj Tankian explains:
"Our single “Chop Suey!” was taken off the airwaves by Clear Channel along with thousands of other songs, with the intention of, I don’t know what, to be honest. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was [taken] off. Any type of protest music, any type of the word “sky,” you know, “die,” “suicide.” It was just mind-numbing." - Tankian, The Fallout Over Clear Channel's Do-Not-Play List... Alison Stewart, The Washington Post (Oct 8, 2021)
Guitarist Daron Malakian was not concerned, as he told an interviewer:
“In music, that’s a badge of honour... So many great rock bands have been banned. It’s almost like you’re not part of the cool group if you’re not banned once or twice. I think it made the song more popular.” - Malakian, The Story Behind The Song, Dave Everley, Metal Hammer (Apr 1, 2021)
8. Chopped Lyrics
"Chop Suey" was originally written with a different set of opening lyrics written by guitarist Daron Malakian, who intended to write a serious song about drug abuse. However, Serj Tankian would improvise a new set of opening lyrics which have since become iconic.
The original lyrics read:
“Tell me/Tell me what you think about tomorrow/Is there gonna be a
pain and sorrow/Tell me what you think about the people/Is there gonna
be another sequel?"
Which became the nonsensical lines we are more familiar with: “Wake up/Grab a brush and put a little make-up.” ...and you know the rest.
Serj
would also improvise the lyrics "father unto thy hands I commend my
spirit" when he grabbed a random book in Rick Rubin's studio and flipped
to a random page for inspiration during a bout of writer's block. That
book was the Bible.
As for the meaning of the song, Daron would explain:
“It occurred to me how we are judgemental towards people, even in death... If someone died in a car accident, you'd say, 'Oh, poor thing.' But if they died in a car accident while they were drunk, that would change your whole perception of how they died, and judging his or her death a in a different way. For some reason, that thought was weird to me. I was probably smoking weed or something…” - Malakian, 10 Things You Didn't Know About Chop Suey, Dave Everley, Metal Hammer (Mar 6, 2021)
9. Daron's Di... uh, Vibrator
Guitarist Daron Malakian used a device that rhymes with "Bilbo" to record the introductory guitar riff on Psycho.
As he told The Ringer in 2021:
"You can hear me playing guitar with a vibrator on the intro of “Psycho.” It gave the song a little bit of industrial flavor. Ministry used drills. I used a vibrator. [Laughs] We’ve never been shy to be a little wacky." - Malakian, The Oral History Of System Of A Down's Toxicity, Matthew Sigur, The Ringer (Sep 2, 2021)
10. Serj Tankian's Butt
System of a Down disagreed over vocalist Serj Tankian's use of a single lyric in a song and argued about it as a point of contention that could have broken up the band.
The lyric in question occurs during the song Needles where Serj says "pull the tapeworm out of your ass." The original lyrics Serj wanted to sing was "pull the tapeworm out of my ass" but the rest of the band thought the reference "was not cool." The band were not upset about the words tapeworm out of the ass but were instead offended by the self-referential aspects and approved of the line when Serj changed the lyrics from "my ass" to "your ass."
Producer Rick Rubin would tell an interviewer:
“I
felt like the band could have broken up over the lyric... It was so
extreme, but it speaks to the passion in the band.” - Rubin, The
Explosive Story Behind System Of A Down's Toxicity Album, Dave Everley,
Metal Hammer (Aug 19, 2021)
Sources:
10 Things You Didn't Know About Chop Suey, Dave Everley, Metal Hammer (Mar 6, 2021) - https://www.loudersound.com/features/system-of-a-down-chop-suey-10-facts
21 Years Ago System Of A Down Release Toxicity, John Weiderhorn, Loudwire (Sep 4, 2022) - https://loudwire.com/system-of-a-down-toxicity-anniversary/
System Of A Down's Schitzophrenia Aggravated On Toxicity, John Weiderhorn, MTV (Aug 13, 2001) - https://www.mtv.com/news/2h0kjm/system-of-a-downs-schizophrenia-aggravated-on-toxicity
System Of A Down's Toxicity, Morat, Metal Hammer (June 5, 2020) -
https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-of-toxicity-how-system-of-a-downs-chart-smashing-juggernaut-came-to-life
The Explosive Story Behind System Of A Down's Toxicity Album, Dave Everley, Metal Hammer (Aug 19, 2021) - https://www.loudersound.com/features/system-of-a-down-toxicity-story-behind-album
The Fallout Over Clear Channel's Do-Not-Play List... Alison Stewart, The Washington Post (Oct 8, 2021) - https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/clear-channel-911-list/2021/10/07/2dd3dee2-17d8-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html
The Oral History Of System Of A Down's Toxicity, Matthew Sigur, The
Ringer (Sep 2, 2021) -
https://www.theringer.com/music/2021/9/2/22653473/system-of-a-down-oral-history-toxicity
The Story Behind The Song, Dave Everley, Metal Hammer (Apr 1,
2021) -
https://www.loudersound.com/features/system-of-a-down-chop-suey-story-behind-the-song