“But it's funny that this little song that I had such tiny moment with in that RV has become this thing that people can't imagine their lives without. “It makes me feel proud that what we do still holds up, and that people still connect with it,” says Daron. Last year it notched up 1 billion YouTube views – the first metal song to pass that figure (unless you count Linkin Park’s In The End). Its 600 million-plus Spotify plays are greater than any single Metallica song and bigger than the two most popular Slipknot songs combined. Today, Chop Suey! stands as System Of Down’s most famous song, and a 21st century metal landmark. It’s more popular than any other metal song Let’s make them believe we actually did it.’” “ ‘Self-righteous suicide’, ‘Aerials in the sky’, Jet Pilot.’ I was, like, ‘Wow, that’s cool they think that. “Our fans were starting to say, ‘Hey, these guys are prophets, they’re saying things that hadn’t happened yet,’” says Daron. The songs working title was 'Suicide' the band members claim the change was not caused by pressure from their record company. The single was released in September 2001 and earned the band its first Grammy nomination. In their fevered imaginations, System Of A Down had predicted what was coming. Chop Suey is the first single from American heavy metal band System of a Downs second album Toxicity. In the wake of the Al Qaeda attacks, the internet’s tinfoil-hat brigade zeroed in on the line ‘self-righteous suicide’. And it certainly didn’t stop the song reaching No.12 on the Billboard Rock And Metal charts. I think it made the song more popular.”Įxcept Chop Suey! was never officially banned. It’s almost like you’re not part of the cool group if you’re not banned once or twice. “So many great rock bands have been banned. ![]() “In music, that's a badge of honour,” says Daron. The song was banned by radio in the wake of 9/11… or was it?Ĭhop Suey! featured on a list of “lyrically questionable” songs sent by US media giant Clear Channel to its 1100 radio stations following the attacks on the Twin Towers, due to its reference to suicide and the line “I cry when angels deserve to die.” All the effort I put into it… I really wouldn't do anything like that now.” “It took a long time to do, all that body paint. “I just wanted to do something that looked cool – there was no message behind it,” he says. In the Chop Suey! video, Daron is sporting a set of strikingly ornate tattoos on his torso. When we were doing that video, Shavo said, ‘I think we should make it at that seedy ass hotel.’" It's now one of rock's biggest videos ever.ĭaron’s tattoos in the video? They’re not real We used to go with our parents and we’d see all the hookers across the street. “There was a supermarket across the street where all the Armenians used to go to. “In the early 80s, the whole of Sunset Strip was full of prostitution, and that hotel was full of prostitutes,” says Daron. The song’s memorable video was filmed in the courtyard of the Oak Tree Inn in Hollywood, near the neighbourhood where Daron and bassist Shavo Odadjian grew up. The video was filmed in the courtyard of a hotel that Daron and Serj remembered from childhood ![]() “It was something they used to say: ‘We’ll make chop suey out of him!’ It meant, ‘We’re gonna kill him.’ It tied in with the whole death thing.” It’s partly a play on words – ‘suicide’ chopped in half – and partly a nod to the old black and white gangster movies Daron watched as a kid. He had a ready-made replacement title: Chop Suey!. ![]() We were, like, ‘It’s our first single from the album, do we want to give the radio a reason not to play it?’” Received wisdom is that that the label strong-armed the band into changing the song’s original title Suicide for fear that radio wouldn’t go near the song. Here are 10 of the most unforgettable mini-movies from the nu-metal pantheon.The band weren’t pressured into changing the title from Suicide to Chop Suey! Like everything with this scene, nu-metal music videos don't have the cultural respectability that other genres achieved (the 1990s' most revered music video directors such as Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry wanted nothing to do with nu-metal) but its visuals left an indelible thumbprint on heavy music's timeline. Nu-metal's visual language was expansive and gaudy, a byproduct of a moment in time when music videos weren't frivolous novelties, but requirements for commercial success. When you think of nu-metal, you're not just hearing turntables and down-tuned guitars, you're seeing Adidas tracksuits and elaborate makeup Fred Durst's red cap, Chad Gray's blue rope-beard, David Draiman's labret piercings, Slipknot's masks. Nu-metal isn't just about the loud music it's also defined by sometimes even louder visuals. Holiday Kirk is a nu-metal historian who runs the essential Twitter archive, "crazy ass moments in nu metal history," and writes about the genre for his eponymous blog.
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