Music
Plus One
The 11 best System Of A Down songs
Ahead of their long-awaited return to the UK, we count down the most unhinged, unrelenting and utterly iconic songs from the genre-defying metal icons
When System Of A Down first emerged from the LA underground in the late ‘90s, the music industry unsuccessfully scrambled to put them into a box. Raised on everything from thrash metal to traditional folk and the rebellion of punk rock, the Armenian American oddballs arrived at the height of nu-metal’s testosterone-fuelled swagger and threw out the rule book. Ignoring the paths being paved by their peers, they offered something much stranger – and much more vital.
With lyrics that oscillated between fury and surrealist nonsense, the deranged operatic wails of lead vocalist Serj Tankian were unlike anything the metal world had heard before. Paired with guitarist and co-vocalist Daron Malakian’s genre-mangling riffage, they crafted songs like no band before them, their shapeshifting anthems of protest and defiance catapulting them to rock stardom in the early 2000s.
Across five albums, System Of A Down have asserted themselves as masters of chaotic brilliance, building a legacy as one of the most uncompromising forces in modern metal. Now, as they prepare to make their long-overdue return to the UK stage, here’s a rundown of the 11 songs that best capture their weird and wonderful genius.
11. ‘I-E-A-I-A-I-O’
![System Of A Down - I-E-A-I-A-I-O live Armenia [1080p | 60 fps]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pzzXm2QOYWg/0.jpg)
(Steal This Album!, 2002)
Bitingly political and utterly ridiculous all at once, if there’s a track that perfectly sums up System Of A Down’s refusal to play by anyone else’s rules, it’s this one. Built around frenzied, sinister chants of its bizarre title, it’s a blistering takedown of the systems that keep us oppressed, wrapped up in musical moments that leave you asking: “What the hell is happening here?” With lyrics laced with tongue twisters, satire and secret codes, here the band leant into their absurdity and emerged with a slice of glorious chaos.
10. ‘P.L.U.C.K.’
(System Of A Down, 1998)
Closing out their debut album, this early gem was one of the first full-throttle displays of the rightful, potent aggression that has since fuelled Tankian and co.’s songwriting. Dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide of 1914-1923, its denouncement of the Turkish Ottoman government is as unrelenting as it is blisteringly direct. Channelling deep pain and trauma into a powerful anthem of justice, staccato riffs and jagged rhythms barrel toward a bridge that declares, “The plan was mastered and called genocide // Took all the children and then we died // The few that remained were never found // All in a system of down!” Rage and rebellion bound tightly within melodies that’ll get lodged in your brain, this was one of the first and finest examples of System Of A Down doing what they do best.
9. ‘Prison Song’
(Toxicity, 2001)
Opening with Tankian flexing his throat-shredding death growls, kicking off your second album with a ferocious takedown of the American prison system is an undoubtedly ballsy move. Teetering between manic fury and exhaustion, the frontman’s spoken-word rants on mass incarceration feel just as urgent now as they did over two decades ago, calling out those in power for the role they’ve played in fuelling the epidemic. An absolutely blinding display of the chaos and laser-focused criticism that has become their signature, it made no secret of the band’s mission to make music that inspired the world to think.
8. ‘Bounce’
(Toxicity, 2001)
Nestled neatly within a discography dominated by political statements and social commentary, there’s something refreshing about the sub-two-minute breather that sits at the centre of the band’s second album. A turbo-charged ode to group sex, it’s been a frequent setlist inclusion since its release, with its chants of “Jump! Bounce! Down! Up!” bound to whip up a circle pit in any crowd. Unhinged in all the right ways, it’s a reminder that no matter how profound System Of A Down get, they’ve never been afraid to dial up the silliness.
7. ‘Violent Pornography’
(Mezmerize, 2005)
A sardonic singalong centered on the numbing effect of media saturation, here System Of A Down managed to condense an entire generation’s fears around consumerism into a rock club staple. Its lyrics penned by Malakian, it delivers a whiplash critique of voyeurism, violence and desensitisation within some of the catchiest choruses imaginable. Released during a technological turning point which led to the normalisation of countless nightmares, it’s another example of the quartet shamelessly speaking out on the issues their peers were largely afraid to touch.
6. ‘Sugar’
(System Of A Down, 1998)
Serving as many rock fans’ first introduction to System Of A Down, the band’s debut single has retained its popularity for over 25 years – and for good reason. A frantic blast of hardcore entangled with jarring jazz-inflected rhythms, Tankian shrieks and whispers like a man possessed throughout its short-but-sweet 150-second runtime. Tackling media brainwashing and society’s over-reliance on drugs with a subtle eye-roll, it still hits like a taser rattling straight through your skull.
5. ‘Question!’
(Mezmerize, 2005)
A masterclass in the art of tension and release, there are few better displays of System’s uncanny ability to shift gears without ever losing control of a song. Opening with a delicate acoustic guitar and mournful whispered harmonies, around the two-minute mark, it abruptly detonates into some of the most thunderous riffing in their arsenal. Asking existential questions about life, death and rebirth, the word ‘haunting’ gets thrown around a lot in the music world, but this one certainly earns it.
4. ‘B.Y.O.B.’
(Mezmerize, 2005)
“Why don’t presidents fight the war? / Why do they always send the poor?” Coming as the furious rallying cry of a generation sick of war, hypocrisy and blind nationalism, ‘B.Y.O.B.’ (Bring Your Own Bombs) is System’s most direct anti-war anthem. Like a party being thrown in a burning building, it takes aim at the military-industrial complex within a deranged blend of metal, punk and R&B, funnelling real-world horror into a track that would not only land them a Grammy win, but become a classic of the genre.
3. ‘Chop Suey!’
(Toxicity, 2001)
Breaking into the mainstream without filing down its sharp edges or compromising an ounce of weirdness, you’ll struggle to find a metal fan who can’t belt out every word of ‘Chop Suey!’ from memory. From the frantic delivery of its verses to Tankian’s near-operatic cries of “Father! Into your hands!”, it crossed genre boundaries in a way that seems ludicrous but somehow works. Injecting metal into the ears of the masses in a form they’d never heard before, almost a quarter of a century on, it’s still a stroke of pure genius.
2. ‘Toxicity’
(Toxicity, 2001)
Swerving between gentle meditative verses and choruses that land with all the subtlety of a brick to the head, the title track of System’s second album is as manic as it is majestic. Arriving in the same week as the 9/11 tragedy, its jagged, swirling portrait of societal collapse resonated deeply with a world grappling with endless unanswerable questions. Building towards a crushing climax that has sparked chaos at every live show since its release, there’s no doubt that this will be a highlight when the band return to UK stages.
1. ‘Aerials’
(Toxicity, 2001)
System Of A Down are at their best when they’re dealing in beauty and brutality simultaneously. One of the band’s most profound and poetic offerings, there’s perhaps no better display of that duality than ‘Aerials’. A soul-searching reflection on identity, ego and what it means to lose yourself in the endless noise, this 2001 album closer finds the American Armenians at their most philosophical, Tankian’s operatic vocals soaring over tribal melodies. Moody, menacing and quietly devastating, it’s a track that cemented them as a truly one-of-a-kind force in modern metal.
