SYSTEM OF A DOWN
System of a Down (sometimes simply referred to as SOAD or System) is an Armenian-American rock band from Glendale, California, formed in 1994. System of a Down consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals and keyboards and rhythm guitar), Daron Malakian (vocals and lead guitar), Shavo Odadjian (bass), John Dolmayan (drums).The band has released five studio albums and have sold over 20 million records worldwide . They have been nominated for four Grammy Awards, of which they have won one in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance. The group went on indefinite hiatus August 13, 2006.
History
This section's tone or style may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (November 2007)Soil (1992–1994)
Daron Malakian met Serj Tankian in 1992, while they both shared the same rehearsal studio in different bands. They formed a jam band called Soil (Serj on vocals/keyboards and Daron on guitar; not to be confused with the Chicago band Soil) with Domingo Laranio (drums) and Dave Hakopyan (bass). Around this time, they also met Shavo Odadjian. After about a year, with one supposed jam session recording and one live show, Dave and Domingo left, thinking the band wasn't going anywhere (Hakopyan would later co-found the band The Apex Theory which, in 2007, changed their name to Mt. Helium).
In the beginning (1994–1997)The band later broke up and Tankian and Malakian formed a new band "System of a Down," adapting the name from a poem Daron wrote entitled "Victims of the Down". Shavo Odadjian thought that the word System appealed to a much broader audience than "Victims," and they wanted their albums to be stored near the band Slayer. Odadjian was the band's original manager and promoter, but joined as the bassist, and managerial duties were taken over by the Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group and founder David "Beno" Benveniste.
System of a Down quickly made what is known as their early Untitled 1995 Demo Tape, which had very early recordings of "Mr. Jack" (called "PIG"), along with a song called "Flake," and an early recording of "The Metro," a cover of the Berlin song of the same name. It is rumored that there are other tapes made, which contain early recordings of "Friik," "36" (called ".36"), and "Roulette." Two other songs, "X" (called "Multiply") and "Honey" were live demos at the time and were played at very early shows. After this, the band recorded three public demos, which have been numbered as Demo Tape 1 to 3, as the early 1995 demo was not discovered until much later. Many of the songs featured on the demos would eventually make their way onto the band's debut album. In mid 1997, Khachaturian left the band due to a hand injury (he subsequently co-founded The Apex Theory, which included former Soil bassist Dave Hakopyan). Soon after playing at the Whisky-A-Go-Go and Viper Room with new drummer John Dolmayan, the band caught the attention of producer Rick Rubin, who asked them to keep in touch with him. Showing great interest, they recorded yet another demo near the end of that year. This demo, however, was made only to be sent to record companies. The tape was not released to the public until years later when it was leaked onto the Internet. After Rick helped them get signed onto American/Columbia Records, System of a Down began to record in his studio. In 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band award from the Rock City Awards.
Debut album (1998–2000)
Shavo Odadjian
In the summer of 1998 (June 1998), System of a Down released their debut album, System of a Down. They enjoyed moderate success with their first single "Sugar" becoming a radio favorite, followed by the single "Spiders." After the release of the album, the band toured extensively, opening for Slayer and Metallica before making their way to the second stage of Ozzfest. Following Ozzfest, they toured with Fear Factory and Incubus before headlining the Sno-Core Tour with Puya, Mr. Bungle, The Cat and Incubus providing support. In 2000, the band contributed their cover of the Black Sabbath song "Snowblind" to the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black 2.
Breakthrough and success (2001–2003)
The group's big break arrived when their second album Toxicity debuted at #1 on the American and Canadian charts, eventually achieving multi-platinum certification. The album has since sold 7 million copies worldwide and is the only album of System of a Down that doesn't have a parental guidance sticker on the cover. It was the top album in America on the week of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the political environment caused by the attacks added to the controversy surrounding their hit single "Chop Suey!" causing it to be taken off the radio as it contained politically sensitive lyrics at the time such as "(I don't think you) trust in my self-righteous suicide." Regardless, the video gained constant play on MTV as did the second single, "Toxicity." Even with the controversy surrounding "Chop Suey!", which earned a Grammy nomination, System of a Down still received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with "Toxicity" and "Aerials" which also earned a Grammy nomination in 2003. In May 2006, VH1 listed Toxicity in the #14 slot in the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
In 2001, the band went on tour with Slipknot in the United States. After seeing the success of the tour, System and Slipknot went on a Pledge of Allegiance Tour with Rammstein, Mudvayne, and No One in 2002. In late 2001, a few unreleased tracks made their way onto the Internet. The group released a statement that the tracks were unfinished material. Soon after, the band released the final versions of the songs, which were recorded at the same time, but hadn't been used for Toxicity. The result was Steal This Album!, released in November 2002. The album did not feature a booklet, and its disc resembled a CD-R that was marked with a felt-tip marker. 50,000 special copies of the album with different CD designs were also released, each designed by a different member of the band. The name of the album is a reference to Abbie Hoffman's counter-culture book, Steal This Book and as a message to those who stole the songs and released them on the Internet. The song "Innervision" was released as a promo single and received constant airplay on alternative radio. A video for "Boom!" was filmed with director Michael Moore as a protest against the War in Iraq.
Mezmerize and Hypnotize (2004–2006)
Serj Tankian
From 2004 to 2005, the group produced a double album, with the two parts released six months apart. The first album, Mezmerize, was released on May 17, 2005, to favorable reviews by critics. It debuted at #1 in the United States, Canada, Australia and all around the world, making it System of a Down's second #1 album. First week sales rocketed to over 800,000 copies worldwide. The Grammy Award-winning single "B.Y.O.B.," which questions the integrity of military recruiting in America, worked its way up the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single, "Question!" was released with Shavo Odadjian co-directing the music video. Following the release of Mezmerize, the band toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada with The Mars Volta and Bad Acid Trip supporting.
The second part of the double album, Hypnotize, was released on November 22, 2005. Like Mezmerize, it debuted at #1 in the US, making System of a Down, along with The Beatles, Guns 'N Roses, and rappers 2Pac and DMX, the only artists to ever have two studio albums debut at #1 in the same year. In February 2006, System of a Down won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for "B.Y.O.B.," beating out other established artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Robert Plant. Their second single off the Hypnotize album, "Lonely Day" was released in March in the United States. System of a Down released "Kill Rock 'N Roll" and "Vicinity of Obscenity" as their next promo singles. The band headlined Ozzfest 2006 in cities where tour founder Ozzy Osbourne opted not to appear or wasn't playing on the main stage.
System of a Down's songs were used in the 2006 film Screamers, directed by Carla Garapedian. They appeared in the movie, in an interview talking about the importance of helping create awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Screamers debuted in theaters in large city markets such as New York City, Detroit, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Fresno, Providence, and Boston. An earlier engagement started exclusively in Los Angeles on December 8, 2006. Also, Lonely Day appeared on the soundtrack for the 2006 movie Disturbia.
System of a Down was honored at the USC v. Cal game at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA in 2006. The Trojan Marching Band, along with Dolmayan and Odadjian, performed three System of a Down songs: Toxicity, Sugar, and Hypnotize. System of a Down's song Lonely Day was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance in the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, but lost to Woman by Wolfmother.
Hiatus and future of the band (2006–present)
In May 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Malakian has confirmed the break will probably last a few years, which Odadjian specified as a minimum of three years in an interview with Guitar magazine. He told MTV, "We're not breaking up. If that was the case, we wouldn't be doing this Ozzfest. We're going to take a very long break after Ozzfest and do our own things. We've done System for over ten years, and I think it's healthy to take a rest."
During their performance in Houston, Texas, Malakian also took a moment to say, "There's been a lot of rumors about us breaking up. Well, don't listen to them. Us four right here, we will always be System of a Down!" However, Malakian announced he was forming a band called Scars on Broadway, which was joined by Dolmayan. Their debut self-titled album was released on July 29, 2008. Odadjian will be working on a project with RZA of Wu-Tang Clan named AcHoZeN as well as his urSESSION website/record label. Tankian plans to keep recording as a solo artist/producer. Empty Walls is his first single off his debut solo album Elect the Dead, which was released on October 23, 2007. Dolmayan, as well working with Scars on Broadway, planned to open a comic book store online by November 2007.
System of a Down's final performance before their hiatus took place on August 13, 2006 in West Palm Beach, Florida. "Tonight will be the last show we play for a long time together," Malakian told the crowd during Sunday's last performance. "We'll be back. We just don't know when."
Shavo Odadjian recently told Launch Radio Networks that System of a Down is "alive and well", but just aren't working together.
In an April 2008 interview with Kerrang magazine, guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan gave their takes on the band's future. When told that many people are going to wonder what the future of the band is, Malakian responded by stating that "We'll all know when the time is right." Dolmayan added, "It'll just happen." Malakian went on to say:
Yeah. It'll feel good and happy. I can respect this situation more than I can respect the situation where two people are like, 'The lead singer fucked my girlfriend!' and that kind of bullshit. Nah, man. The lead singer is a special person to me and I am to him. And that's how we ended off. Same with Shavo, same with John. And it will always be. It was a big part of my life. We were onstage together for a long time, man. We went through shit as a band and friends -- we slept in RV's together!
In an interview with Tankian about Big Day Out 2009, a show involving playing his Elect the Dead album live with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, and his upcoming second studio album. "Every few months I am honored to hear interesting rumors about whether the band is going to tour or break up permanently. I find them all to be very entertaining."
Style and influences
The stylistic variety and level of experimentation in System of a Down's music has made it difficult to describe. Though they have evolved their sound with each album, System of a Down has, for the most part, maintained a single style throughout their body of work. This style has variously been termed alternative metal, alternative rock, art rock, experimental rock, hard rock, heavy metal, nu metal, progressive metal and progressive rock. Malakian has stated that "We don't belong to any one scene" and that "I don't like the nu-metal drop-A 7-string guitar sound; it is not my thing, at least not yet". According to Tankian, "As far as arrangement and everything, is pretty much pop. To me, System of a Down isn't a progressive band. But it's not a typical pop project, obviously. We definitely pay attention to the music to make sure that it's not something someone's heard before."
The band has used a wide range of instruments, including electric mandolins, baritone electric guitars, acoustic guitars, ouds, sitars and twelve string guitars. According to Malakian, he would often write songs in E? tuning, which would later be changed to drop C tuning in order to be performed by the band. Malakian states that "For me, the drop-C tuning is right down the center. It has enough of the clarity and the crisp sound—most of our riffy stuff is done on the top two strings, anyway—but it's also thicker and ballsier."
The band's influences include Middle Eastern music, The Beatles, Frank Zappa and Slayer. The band's musical style has often been compared to that of Zappa. Malakian has stated that "I'm a fan of music. I'm not necessarily a fan of any one band." Dolmayan stated "I dont think we sound like anybody else. I consider us System of a Down." Odadjian stated "You can compare us to whoever you want. I don't care. Comparisons and labels have no effect on this band. Fact is fact: We are who we are and they are who they are."
PEARL JAM
Pearl Jam, Formed Seattle, 1990. The genesis of Pearl Jam was rooted in chance and tragedy. Stone Gossard
(guitar) and Jeff Ament (bass) had both been members of seminal grungers Green River, and later MOTHER LOVE BONE with ex-Malfunkshun member, Andrew Wood, on vocals. When Wood died of an overdose, his longtime friend Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden) put together a tribute project called TEMPLE OF THE DOG (1991) -- Gossard, Ament and new recruit Mike McCready(guitar) were roped in, as was Eddie Vedder (vocals), who had provided some vocals for a demo tape put together by the others.
Once TEMPLE OF THE DOG was in the can Dave Krusen (drums) joined the other four. Flirting with different names on the way (Mookie Blaylock and Reenk Roink), they eventually settled on Pearl Jam, after an allegedly hallucinogenic recipe belonging to Vedder’’s grandmother. By spring 1991, Pearl Jam had begun to play live shows in the Seattle area supporting the likes of Alice In Chains. As the word spread about the Seattle scene, the band signed to Epic and their debut TEN (1992) was rushed out. Although it was recorded speedily, it distilled the pain and attitude of the disaffected, but injected it with an electric, classic rock feel. Gossard and McCready’’s playing owed as much to Jimi Hendrix as to any punk band. Vedder’’s lyrics and vocals carried a rare, raw emotion, and the soaringly poetic ““Evenflow””, ““Alive”” and ““Jeremy”” took elements of his own traumatic childhood and transformed them into universal experience.
Just as TEN entered the US charts, Krusen left to deal with personal problems and was replaced by Dave Abbruzzese. Fresh recording sessions produced ““State Of Love And Trust”” and ““Breathe””, for the soundtrack of Singles, a teen-romance comedy based on the Seattle music scene, starring Matt Dillon. Three of the band members even managed to make cameo appearances as part of Dillon’’s grunge combo, Citizen Dick. Despite this media exposure, the press were less than kind to Pearl Jam, reviews equating their driven sound with the rock dinosaurs of the 70s, while Kurt Cobain fuelled the controversy by calling them a corporate band (conveniently forgetting their lengthy apprenticeships for some of Seattle’’s finest). The fans on the other hand could not have cared less; TEN outstripped NEVERMIND in the US metal charts and outsold it worldwide in 1992.
A new album was planned for late 1992, but touring schedules slowed things to a crawl. Gossard kept himself fresh by working on SHAME (1993), the sole product of his Brad side-project; it was a mellow, danceable mix of psychedelia and funk rhythms. The summer of 1993 saw Pearl Jam providing support for NEIL YOUNG and tearing into soulful, breathtaking versions of old favourites along with fresh punk-inspired material. They joined Young for a powerful version of ““Rockin’’ in the Free World””, a song they reprised later in the year at the MTV Awards.
A new and important alliance had been forged.When VS. (1993) finally saw the light of day, the fan response was awesome, and it entered at #1 in the Billboard charts. The guitars and rhythms raged more freely, and Vedder displayed his vocal and lyrical diversity, with songs of raw, blood-curdling anger (““Go””, ““Animal””, ““Blood””) balanced by mellower textures (““Daughter””). Overall, it sounded more caustic, accomplished and mature than TEN.
Pearl Jam have always gone out of their way to be as accessible as possible; if fans write they will usually get a personal reply. This dedication to the public took a new turn in 1994. While continuing to tour, and make occasional appearances with Neil Young, they weighed in against the corporate might of the Ticketmaster booking agency, which they accused of raising prices beyond the spending power of their younger followers. They were joined in their protest by such artists as R.E.M., Aerosmith and, of course, Neil Young, and were to stay in dispute with the agency for the next two years.To show their faith in vinyl, VITALOGY (1994) was first released on record, and then on CD, which saw it rocket to the top of the Billboard charts. Tracks like the searing ““Spin The Black Circle”” and the belligerent threats of ““Not For You”” delivered the usual doses of mayhem. However, tracks such as the pointless ““Stupid Mop”” dragged on the album’’s momentum.
Apart from McCready’’s Mad Season side-project, 1995 saw Pearl Jam’’s partnership with Neil Young flourish, their encore jams developing into the poignant, broad sweep of the MIRROR BALL (1995) album. Recorded in a mere four days, the record was a potent blend of Pearl Jam’’s hard rock influences and Young’’s poetic meanderings, oiled with doses of teeth-grating, overdriven feedback. Unfortunately, in a fit of marketing pique, Young’’s record company refused to allow Pearl Jam’’s name to appear on the cover.Meanwhile the band, true to their word, continued to make a stand against Ticketmaster by touring less established venues. Progress was hampered by forced cancellations and security problems, but when things went well audiences were treated not only to Pearl Jam, but to Young joining in on songs from MIRROR BALL.
The following year saw the band lose Dave Abbruzzese and finally focus their collective attention on a new studio effort. NO CODE (1996) was steeped in the all-American tradition of garage punk but instead of lunging headfirst into a soundscape of heaving guitars the songs marked out a more thoughtful approach. Opening track ““Sometimes”” was a slow burner and it wasn’’t until ““Hail Hail”” that things kicked off in familiar style. What the album lacked in pace it made up for in poise and moving, troubled lyrics.
Overall, though, it received a less-than-ecstatic reception and the band turned back to what they knew best for YIELD (1998) and the live opus LIVE ON TWO LEGS (1998), straight-ahead hard rocking. While LIVE ON TWO LEGS featured former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron (replacing Jack Irons) as part of the live set-up, he actually contributed to the writing of new LP BINAURAL (2000). As ever it was a tour de force showcase of the band’’s subtlety and power, addressing both social and personal issues with a deft touch. Later that same year, as if to emphasize the band’’s punk credentials, they also opted to release a series of 25 official live bootleg CDs, all of them recorded warts ‘‘n’’ all during their European tour.
The tradition of releasing such bootlegs has continued through each tour in the past few years, and Pearl Jam now hold the World Record for most songs in the Billboard Chart at once, thanks to bootlegs.
In 2000, a tragic safety failure at Roskilde claimed the lives of 9 fans and Pearl Jam took this as their responsibilty which it wasn't. The Danish authorities didn't help either, by claiming the band were to blame, although these claims were quickly dumbed down. The Roskilde incident left a huge mark on Pearl Jam's attitude and music, and the band released a statement implying they would probably never play a festival again
In 2002 the band released "Riot Act", which contained a mix of acoustic and hard-hitting rock songs with titles such as "Ghost" and "Thumbing My Way". The album title is rumoured to either be named after the "Riot Act" or the "Patriot Act", or maybe a play on both by Vedder. The album's first single "Love Boat Captain" contained the lyric "Lost 9 friends we'll never know", a tribute to those lost at Roskilde in 2000.
PJ split from Sony Records after 10+ years under contract, and so Sony cashed in by releasing a 2 Disc greatest hits titled "Rearviewmirror". After many dubbed PJs split from the money grabbing record company, they signed a contract with J Records, an affiliate of Sony, showing that it's difficult to be a big band without the support of a big company these days.
However, their music is now more independent and free from constraint, and the band have total control over their music and speed of how they do things.
Pearl Jam took part in the Vote For Change Tour in 2004, aimed at raising John Kerry's vote in the US Elections (PJ are strongly against George W Bush)and played at many undecided states such as Boston. Eddie Vedder was quoted as saying that Pearl Jam would move to Canada if Bush won, and he did, but they remain in the US.
Pearl Jam did a South American tour in late 2005, amid rumours that the new album would be released in early 2006. Sure enough, in February '06 Pearl Jam announced the new album "Pearl Jam" would hit stores on May 2nd. The first single was accepted as a "grower" and the band were quick to sell out tickets to a North American tour and book festivals across the world, breaking their no-festival stance to the joy of festival goers and organisers.
It is rumoured that Pearl Jam's self titled album is a sign of their acknowledgment that the end is near. Perhaps family commitments and such will slow the band down, maybe stop it all together, but I personally feel that Pearl Jam crave their career as passionate music makers too much to stay away from the music, and we can expect their already lengthy careers to become more fruitful and evolved over the next few years!
