He had developed The Red Hot Chili Peppers from Hot Mess to one of the most popular bands of the era and revived Johnny Cash’s career from dinner theatres and back to the arena. Rubin had at that point left Def Jam and the epicentre of New York hip hop to start Def American signing anyone he wanted from The Black Crowes to Sir-Mix-A-lot to Andrew Dice Clay. The group’s shooting star and ascent to fame could be greatly attributed to Rick Rubin, whose cosign in 1998 could make a band back then. Toxicity’s unused demos were mass leaked on Napster forcing SOAD to release Steal This Album.
#Chop suey song meaing free
The free parking lot show they held in Hollywood had roughly three times the amount than planned for and ended in a riot that was on the local news before the show could even begin. It was like Led Zeppelin in an era of extreme paranoia and tragedy, some mighty music that could have been coming from the Middle Earth instead of the Middle East for all we knew.Īt this point System were already huge. They have songs about the US prison system, mass incarceration, the CIA, climate change, police brutality, the War on Drugs, reductionism, globalization…sometimes without the use of metaphors (see album opener “Prison Song”). Toxicity went number one on the Billboard 200, stayed there the week of 9/11, and continued to receive airplay in the years following despite its heavy political themes & abrasive presentation.Īlong with Rage Against the Machine, System’s affinity for social issues and dying mission to critique the powerful created a soundtrack to get behind in the era of Cheney/Bush. Their gift for melody and the charisma & range of principal songwriters Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian as well as the ferocious rhythm section of Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan transcended SOAD to the early 2000’s mainstream. Their advertent political messaging, bare it all emotion, and style clash of thrash, doom, jazz, prog, folk, and traditional style of Greek and Armenian music differentiated their music from the shlock nu metal that gravitated towards culturally appropriated house party rap SOAD were far more invested in the fundamentals. With their smash sophomore Toxicity landing one week from 9/11 and “Chop Suey” hitting airwaves three weeks before, System of a Down could not have come at a better time. What the hell happened? How did an Armenian metal band from L.A., who were shelved close to aggressive acts like P.O.D., Papa Roach, and Korn, with a singer who sounded like Pavarotti did three lines of meth and had to sing a dissertation on mass injustice, took over radio rock in the last great era of bands. Ask someone ten years ago to describe “Chop Suey!” and they would likely refer to it as SOAD’s signature song with over a billion views on YouTube and nearly 700 million streams on Spotify (greater than any single Metallica song and bigger than the two most popular Slipknot songs combined) the song is now frequently described as the most well known heavy metal song of all time. The frenetic morning routine of the opening and chorus of “When angels deserve to die” have been pummeled into the lexicon through both rendition and meme. The track, when it came out as the lead single on the band’s masterful Toxicity album, was revolutionary on rock radio for both its distinctive music and thought-provoking lyrical content.On August 13, 2001, System of a Down released “Chop Suey.” Over the past twenty years, the song has been catapulted into the mainstream lexicon unlike few metal songs have. While it’s always great to see young kids playing hard rock and metal music, it’s hard to imagine System of a Down being on board with this version of the song. Later on, the song’s original melodic line “I don’t think you trust / In, my, self righteous suicide / I, cry, when angels deserve to die” is changed to “That day on the mountain side / Helpless and crucified / Arms, wide, you took up your cross and died.” While there are religious references in the 2001 song, this “Christian metal” version, as it is called in the YouTube description, has “forsaken” the original tune, beginning with the revamped opening line, “Wake up/ I praise the lord with every breath I take up/ Forgive the sins I know I gotta make up/ Like stealing all the cookies on the table/ I try my best to do as I am able.” It’s the lyrics that add an element of cringe to the cover.
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