"I listen to a lot of shit, all the time," Malakian told Revolver, "including a lot of Sixties pop that I've been listening to in the past few years, which has been kind of bleeding through my writing, without losing touch with a lot of the other things that make up System of a Down." The music of Mezmerize and Hypnotize was influenced by everything from black metal to Motown. Here are six things you might not know about Mezmerize - and its Hypnotize-ing counterpart. But over a decade after their initial release, the albums (or is it album?) still sound fresh and vital. alone.Īnd, sadly, despite occasional rumors of new SOAD studio activity, Mezmerize and Hypnotize remain the last music released by the band. Both albums also went platinum, selling over a million copies each in the U.S. 1 upon their release, making System of a Down only the fifth act - after the Beatles, Guns N' Roses, 2Pac and DMX - to have two studio albums debut atop the Billboard 200 in the same year. While double albums have traditionally been a tough sell, both Mezmerize and Hypnotize debuted at No. Splitting the album into two separately-released pieces was also a smart move from a commercial standpoint. That's what System of a Down means to me." "The guy sitting in his car waiting for his girl, with the world going on around him - it comes down to that. "I see us as a socially-conscious band, not just a political band," Malakian told Revolver. But the band's heart and humor remained audibly intact amid the musical onslaught, with lyrics inspired by everything from the Iraq War ("B.Y.O.B.") to the depressing spectacle of old C-list actors still coasting on their celebrity ("Old School Hollywood Baseball"). On Mezmerize alone, songs like "B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own Bombs)," "Question," "Radio/Video," "Lost in Hollywood" and the memorably titled "This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song" were - even by SOAD standards - crammed to the hilt like sonic clown cars with a crazy array of hooks, influences and unexpected left turns. In case there was any doubt, they nail in concise factoids (‘ Nearly two million Americans are incarcerated / In the prison system, prison system of the U.S.’, ‘ The percentage of Americans in the prison system has doubled since 1985’, ‘ All research and successful drug policies show that treatment should be increased / And law enforcement decreased while abolishing mandatory minimum sentences…’) to solidify a righteous statement right at the outset of their triple-platinum career-high.Which was actually a good idea, because Mezmerize/ Hypnotize contained the band's most head-spinning material yet. A bludgeoning, juggernaut riff gives way to storming vocals challenging the American prison industrial system, and pointing the finger at a government largely responsible for the domestic proliferation of drugs yet whose prison system is half-populated by drug offenders. The balls-out opening track (and unofficial airplay-only single) to Toxicity finds the band at their most ostentatiously political, picking up the baton dropped when their friends in Rage Against The Machine had disbanded the year before. Hope endures, but while we’re holding out for that new album to change the game all over again, here’s our definitive Top 20 to keep everyone busy arguing in the meantime… Vocalist Serj Tankian’s solo work and contributions alongside Tom Morello on Axis Of Justice, bassist Shavo Odadjian’s AcHoZeN, and guitarist Daron Malakian’s stunning Scars On Broadway (sometimes featuring drummer John Dolmayan) have shown flashes of brilliance, but the old chemistry has never fully been rekindled. From 1998’s earthquaking self-titled debut and 2001’s era-defining masterpiece Toxicity to 2002’s pirate-hijacked Steal This Album! and 2005’s towering sister releases Mezmerize and Hypnotize, there was constant cutting-edge evolution, but also a singularity of sound that even their most esteemed peers could never hope to touch.Īcross the years since, the band have resurfaced and departed again and again. They might’ve managed only five studio albums in a short seven-and-a-bit year stretch between June 1998 and November 2005, but such is the level of consistent quality, quirkiness and genre-shaping innovation from Los Angeles quartet System Of A Down that it’s truly difficult to narrow their catalogue down to just 20 songs.
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