Biography of System Of A Down. Biography System of a down System of a down

Both the Soil group and System Of A Down fought and are still fighting against the Turkish denial of the Armenian genocide in 1915, and promote the acceptance of the fact of genocide by the governments of the United States and Turkey.

In 1995, the musicians received a contract to release an album from the famous music producer Rick Rubin and began recording their first album, System of a Down. This album is being presented for the first time at a Slayer concert, with System of a Down performing as the opening act. The musicians release their next album 3 years after their debut album. Toxicity differs little in style from the first album and continues the musical philosophy of the band. Listeners like contrasting, but nevertheless harmonious-sounding transitions from fast passages to slow ones and from loud melodies to quiet ones. The band's music is based on this - and it becomes business card System of a Down, which are rapidly gaining new fans both in the US and abroad.

In 2002, the third album Steal This Album! was released, which contains songs originally written for Toxicity, but not published on it. As in previous albums, the lyrics are about politics American government, which has been heavily criticized and also about social issues.

In 2003, Tankian collaborated with the Armenian avant-garde folk music performer Arto Tankboyachyan, the result of which was the SerArt project and the release of a record of the same name.

In 2005, System Of A Down released the album "Mezmerize". It enjoys enormous commercial success and has been in first place in the charts in 11 countries for a long time. But Mezmerize is only part music project group, consisting of two albums. Together with the album Hypnotize, released on November 18, 2005, it forms a single whole, as in musically, and in terms of content. According to the musicians, they separated the two albums to give listeners time to get acquainted with the first half of their songs before releasing the second half.

System of a Down is known for not having a specific style. Their music contains elements of various musical styles- metal, heavy metal, nu metal, metalcore, punk rock, and even Armenian folk music. Other distinguishing feature Armenian-American team - this is their critical texts. Their criticism is directed primarily at American policies, as well as the means mass media. Almost all the lyrics are written by the band's guitarist Daron Malakian. System of a Down is also characterized by contrasting vocals. Powerful voice lead singer Tankian is typically accompanied by loud, fast, and aggressive guitar riffs, while backing singer Malakian's higher-pitched, softer vocals are typically accompanied by slower, more melodic passages. In 2005, the group System of a Down filmed documentary called Screamers, about the Armenian genocide. This film is dubbed in English, and subtitles are given in Armenian.

In May 2006, the group announced a "vacation". Malakyan said that most likely the “vacation” would last several years, while Odadjian, in an interview with Guitar magazine, set a more specific time frame, at least three years. He told MTV: "We're not breaking up, we're just taking a long break to do our own thing. We've been dedicated to System of a Down for over 10 years, it's time to take a break."

And it happened! On October 31, 2009, the long-awaited performance took place almost full composition groups, with the exception of Serge. Also, it is unknown, either as part of the group, or maybe just for company, Frankie Forelli, the second guitarist of Scars On Broadway, performed with them. Serge has not yet commented on the System of a Down reunion, but we hope that in the near future the group will play with its former lineup :)

Discography

Albums

* System of a Down (LP, June 30, 1998) Platinum
* Toxicity (LP, September 4, 2001) triple platinum
* Steal This Album! (LP, November 26, 2002) Platinum
* Mezmerize (LP, May 17, 2005) Platinum
* Hypnotize (LP, November 22, 2005) Platinum

Singles

* 1999: Sugar E.P.
* 2000: Spiders
* 2001: Johnny
* 2001: Chop Suey!
* 2001: Toxicity
* 2002: Aerials
* 2005: B.Y.O.B.
* 2005: Question!
* 2005: Hypnotize
* 2006: Lonely Day

Official website of the group:
www.systemofadown.com

Russian sites:

AllSOAD.Info - All about System of a down
Tankian.ru - Serj Tankian
www.soadnews.ru - unofficial blog with the latest news

Alternative metal band from Glendale, PC. California, USA, founded in 1994. All five studio albums released by the group went platinum. All members of the group have Armenian roots.

In 1992, lead singer Serj Tankian and guitarist Daron Malakian formed Soil (not to be confused with the Chicago, Illinois-based band SOiL), with Domingo Lareño on drums and Dave Hacopian on bass. Around this time they met Shavo Odadjian. About a year later, with a semblance of a jam session and one live concert under their belt, Dave and Domingo left the group because... in their opinion, it has no future (Hakopian will later create the group The Apex Theory, which in 2007 will change its name to Mt. Helium). Soil subsequently disbanded and Tankian and Malakian founded a new group, System of a Down. The band's name System of a Down comes from the title of a poem written by Daron Malakian called "Victims of a Down". Shavo Odadjian believed that the word System (system, device) would appeal to the public much more than Victims (victims); they also wanted their records to stand on a par with the records of the group Slayer. Odadjian was initially the manager and promoter of the group, but soon took the place of the bass guitarist, the vacancy of the drummer was filled by Andy Khachaturian (also one of the founders of The Apex Theory), who left the band in 1997 due to a hand injury and was replaced by John Dolmayan.

Both the Soil group and System Of A Down fought and are still fighting against the Turkish denial of the Armenian genocide in 1915, and promote the acceptance of the fact of genocide by the governments of the United States and Turkey.

In 1995, the musicians received a contract to release an album from the famous music producer Rick Rubin and began recording their first album, “System of a Down.” This album is being presented for the first time at a Slayer concert, with System of a Down performing as the opening act. The musicians release their next album 3 years after their debut album. Toxicity differs little in style from the first album and continues the musical philosophy of the band. Listeners like contrasting, but nevertheless harmonious-sounding transitions from fast passages to slow ones and from loud melodies to quiet ones. The band's music is based on this - and this becomes the calling card of System of a Down, which is rapidly gaining new fans both in the United States and abroad.

In 2002, the third album, Steal This Album!, was released, which contains songs originally written for Toxicity, but not published on it. As in previous albums, the lyrics deal with the policies of the American government, which is subject to severe criticism, as well as social problems.

In 2003, Tankian collaborated with the Armenian avant-garde folk music performer Arto Tankboyachyan, the result of which was the SerArt project and the release of a record of the same name.

In 2005, System Of A Down released the album "Mezmerize". It enjoys enormous commercial success and has been in first place in the charts in 11 countries for a long time. But Mezmerize is only part of the group's musical project, which consists of two albums. Together with the album Hypnotize, released on November 18, 2005, it forms a single whole, both musically and in terms of content. According to the musicians, they separated the two albums to give listeners time to get acquainted with the first half of their songs before releasing the second half.

System of a Down is known for not having a specific style. Their music contains elements of various musical styles - metal, heavy metal, nu metal, metalcore, punk rock, and even Armenian folk music. Another distinctive feature of the Armenian-American team is their critical texts. Their criticism is directed primarily at American politics, as well as the media. Almost all the lyrics are written by the band's guitarist Daron Malakian. System of a Down is also characterized by contrasting vocals. Lead singer Tankian's powerful voice is usually accompanied by loud, fast, and aggressive guitar riffs, while backing singer Malakian's higher-pitched, softer vocals are usually accompanied by slower, more melodic passages. In 2005, the group System of a Down made a documentary film called Screamers, telling the story of the Armenian genocide. This film is dubbed in English, and subtitles are given in Armenian.

In May 2006, the group announced a "hiatus". Malakyan said that most likely the “vacation” would last several years, while Odadjian, in an interview with Guitar magazine, set a more specific time frame, at least three years. He told MTV: “We're not breaking up, we're just taking a long break to do our own thing. We've dedicated more than 10 years to System of a Down, and it's time to take a break."

And it happened! On October 31, 2009, the long-awaited performance of almost the entire group took place, with the exception of Serge. Also, it is unknown, either as part of the group, or maybe just for company, Frankie Forelli, the second guitarist of Scars On Broadway, performed with them. Serge has not yet commented on the System of a Down reunion, but we hope that in the near future the group will play with its former lineup.

(c) lastfm.ru
according to

System Of A Down is a band that has never ceased to delight and surprise its fans for 14 years. One day in 1994, a 26-year-old keyboard player little-known group Serj Tankian (Serj Tankian) met the aspiring guitarist Daron "a Malakian" (Daron Malakian), who was about 18. It turned out that the Daron group had to rehearse together in the same studio with the Serj group.

They became friends due to the fact that both musicians had common musical tastes and Armenian roots. The result of this was the emergence new group into the light, which was named Soil.

Soon they are joined by their mutual school friend Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian (Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian), whom the Soil group really liked. Then he took over as the group's manager. At the time, Shavo was handling transfers at a bank and playing bass in another band. Later, Andranik "Andy" Khatchadurian took the place of drums, but unfortunately not for long.

Having existed in this composition until 1995, Andy left Soil due to disagreements in the group. John Dolmayan took his place on drums. Meanwhile, Shavo quits his job at the bank and radically changes his job from manager to bassist music group. This is where the story of a band called System Of A Down begins. The name comes from the social poem "Victims Of A Down" written by Daron. The word “system” was taken as more expressive, summarizing everything.

The very first concert of System Of A Down was held at the Roxy club, which is located in Hollywood. Then they participated in a number of mass musical events and gained some fame among representatives of the music press.

After that, a demo tape with three songs was distributed first among American metal fans, and then somehow found its way to Europe and even New Zealand!

Attended one of the regular performances of System Of A Down famous producer Rick Rubin, head of American Recordings. System made a very strong and lasting impression on him. The group signed a contract with American Recordings in late 1997. A year later, the group released its first self-titled album (1998), which was the result of collaboration between System Of A Down and Rubin.

It was new wave numerous concert performances of the group. They had to perform on the same stage with such famous monsters of rock, alternative and metal as Incubus, Soulfly, Limp Bizkit, Slayer, Metallica and even Black Sabbath. One of the most famous festivals where they participated Ozzfest.

Gradually developing, System Of A Down begin to collaborate with the most famous groups, participate in the recording of various collections and soundtracks. Over the course of three years, SOAD gained great prestige not only among fans, but also among the most famous critics. Released in 2001 new second album “Toxicity”, which helped consolidate the success. The disc goes platinum, occupying the top lines of numerous tops and charts. In the album the band experiments a lot, using a variety of musical instruments. Serj's friend, multi-instrumentalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, was invited to record some songs.

Interestingly, an unpleasant thing happened when the album “Toxicity” was released. About 30 tracks were recorded for it (the album). Hackers broke into the recording studio's network and stole them. Soon the tracks appeared on various pirated Internet sites.

Having re-recorded some stolen songs and recorded new ones, System Of A Down released their third album with a loud and very understandable title “Steal This Album!” (“Steal This Album!”), consisting of 16 tracks recorded between 1995 and 2001.

System Of A Down achieved deafening popularity, winning audiences not only in America, but throughout the world.

In accordance with its established image and active political, as well as social position, System Of A Down take part in many exciting and large events. At his own recording studio "Serjical Strike" Serj records a joint project with his friend, multi-instrumentalist and performer of Armenian folklore Arto Tuncboyaciyan. The disc was released on May 20, 2003 under the name “Serart”.

In 2005, the group's double album was finally released. In fact, these are still two albums: Mezmerize was released on May 17, and Hypnotize on November 22. The fans were very happy with this gift! However, some fans of the group complained that this was “a completely different System of a Down.” Nevertheless, these two albums received great popularity and love in the world. These albums are especially notable for the appearance of Daron's backing vocals on some songs.

Currently, SOAD members do not participate in creating creativity for the benefit of the entire group. Everyone minds their own business. Serge Tankiyan, for example, is releasing a solo album. Some people say that the team has completely broken up, but so far these are just rumors and there is no official confirmation. Therefore, we will wait for new works born from the joint efforts of Serge, Daron, Chavo and John.

Style

System of a Down is known for not having a specific style. Their music contains elements of various musical styles: heavy metal, nu metal, metalcore, punk rock, and even Armenian folk music. Another distinctive feature of the Armenian-American team is their critical texts. Their criticism is directed primarily at American politics, as well as the media. Also in some songs S.O.A.D. draw listeners' attention to the Armenian genocide.

In addition to political and social texts, the group has songs telling about everyday situations; for example, the song "Kill Rock 'N Roll" is about guitarist Daron Malakian running over a hare. Humor also plays an important role in the band's work. Vivid examples for this the songs “This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like Im On This Song” or “Vicinity Of Obscenity”. Almost all the lyrics are written by the band's guitarist Daron Malakian and vocalist Serj Tankian.

System of a Down is also characterized by contrasting vocals. The powerful voice of lead singer Serj Tankian is usually accompanied by loud, fast and aggressive guitar riffs, while the higher and softer vocals of backing vocalist Daron Malakian are accompanied by slower and melodic passages.

Although the band has songs about drugs, none of the band members are addicted to heroin, cocaine or any other hard drug. But at the same time, they do not deny that they sometimes smoke weed.