System of a Down

Why do people like System of a Down? Some say that their music talks about wrong things in the government, about war in Iraq, about invading a country just for oil, dropping a bomb and killing people, people who are crushed in a prison, the prison system, the government killings, and other bad things but particularly things about the government of the USA. People say that they make loud sounds, but it isn’t heavy metal, this kind of music is great, they make comments like “they say, with their music, things that are really important, not like other groups who only talk about sex.”


System of a Down was formed in 1993 when Serj Tankian the vocalist met Daron Malakian the guitarist in a studio. They realized that they had similar music styles. The result was the band Soil that was later called System of a Down. In Hollywood, Tankian and Malakian visited an Armenian private school, where they met Shavo Odadjian who was asked to be the manager. Rubin`s friend Oseary took Shavo along to the Viper Room in Hollywood. Then they recorded their first album. After 3 years touring and participating in the OzzFest tour, they released the second album "Toxicity" in August 2001.


The first abum of the band was "System of a Down" this cd was very successful, with the hit "sugar" this song was played many times in the American radio station. After the tour, they recorded their second cd, "Toxicity", this cd was in the top of the hit parade in Canada and in Billbord, selling 5 million copies all over the world. This song was the top hit of the American hit parade on September 11 in 2001, because the song "Chop Suey" was forbidden to play on radio stations. The third album was "Steal This Album!" on November 2002, this cd had 4 different covers , each one sold 50 thousand copies. Between 2004 and 2005 they released another album "Mesmerize" this album sold 800 thousand copies in a week all over the world, and the first single was "B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bombs)"


System of a Down is a band formed in California by Daron Artie Malakian, John William Dolmayan, Serj Adam Tankian and Shavo Robert Odadjian. They are descendents of Armenian, but when did they meet? Serj Tankian (vocalist) and John Dolmayan (drummer) were born in Lebanon.Shavo Odadjian (bass player) was born in Armenia and Daron Malakian (guitarrist) was born in California. They had different favorite music bands: Jaco Pastorious, Slayer, Beatles, Faith No More and Armenian folk songs. By mixing many styles, this couldn`t be normal. The band is against oppression and agression and generally takes a political posture in the lyrics that they write.

Project from
Progress 2
Tuesdays and Thursdays
Teacher Maya

Centro Britânico
Pompéia Branch