In the beginning (1995-1996)

System of a Down came about after a band from L.A called Soil (which featured Serj and Daron) broke up. Serj and Daron formed a new band straight away, and they already knew Shavo Odadjian from when their previous band shared a recording studio with Shavo’s previous band. Shavo was originally the bands manager and promoter. Later Shavo quickly accepted the offer to join the band as the permanent bassist. Since then managerial duties have been undertaken by highly successful Velvet Hammer Music and streetwise founder David "Beno" Beneviste. One of their first releases was ‘Sugar,’ which has become one of their most famous songs to date, and they have played it at almost every live performance. They found a drummer, Andy Khachaturian, who joined the band. They then released three demo tapes, now easy to find anywhere, that can be found here.


Debut album (1997-2000)
System of a Down’s self-titled debut album

After the third demo was released Andy left the band and John Dolmayan was hired to replace him. The band signed on to Rick Rubin's label and in the summer of 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 singles 'Spiders' and 'War?' . After the release of the album, System of a Down toured extensively, opening for Slayer 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 and Incubus providing support. In 2000, the group contributed their cover of the Black Sabbath song 'Snowblind' to the Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black 2.


Mainstream success: Toxicity/Steal This Album! (2001-2003)

The rock 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 6 million copies worldwide. It was still on top 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 "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!' for which they earned a Grammy nomination, System of a Down still received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with their hits, 'Toxicity' and 'Aerials' . In May of 2006, VH1 listed Toxicity in the #14 slot in the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.

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 their third album, 'Steal This Album!', released in November 2002. Steal This Album! resembled a burnable CD 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. John said in an interview "I don’t care if fans download our songs from the internet but I don’t like it when fans get our songs before the release date". The singles 'Innervision' and 'I-E-A-I-A-I-O' were released as radio-only promos 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/Hypnotize (2004-2006)
System of a Down on

System of a down are taking a 1-2 Year break. THEY WILL NOT BREAK UP.