Toxicity (album)

Last updated

Toxicity
SystemofaDownToxicityalbumcover.jpg
Studio album by
System of a Down
ReleasedSeptember 4, 2001 (2001-09-04)
RecordedMarch–July 2001 [1]
Studio Cello (Hollywood)
Genre
Length44:02
Label
Producer
System of a Down chronology
System of a Down
(1998)		Toxicity
(2001)		 Steal This Album!
(2002)
Singles from Toxicity
  1. "Chop Suey!"
    Released: August 13, 2001
  2. "Toxicity"
    Released: January 22, 2002
  3. "Aerials"
    Released: June 11, 2002

Toxicity is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band System of a Down, released on September 4, 2001, by American Recordings and Columbia Records. Expanding on their 1998 eponymous debut album, Toxicity incorporates more melody, harmonies, and singing than the band's first album. Categorized primarily as alternative metal and nu metal, the album features elements of multiple genres, including folk, progressive rock, jazz, and Armenian and Greek music, including prominent use of instruments like the sitar, banjo, keyboards, and piano. It contains a wide array of political and non-political themes, such as mass incarceration, the CIA, the environment, police brutality, drug addiction, scientific reductionism, and groupies.

Contents

Toxicity was recorded at Cello Studios in Hollywood, California. Over 30 songs were recorded, but the band narrowed the number of songs on the album to 14. The album peaked at number one on both the Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 220,000 copies in its first week of release. It was certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 2022, signifying at least six million copies sold in the United States. All of Toxicity's singles reached the Billboard Hot 100. The final single, "Aerials", went to number one on both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and the Modern Rock Tracks charts. Toxicity received highly positive ratings and reviews from critics, among them perfect ratings from AllMusic, Kerrang! , and Blabbermouth.net. Many critics praised the album's sound and innovation, and it ranked on multiple "best albums" lists.

The promotional shows for Toxicity resulted in a number of controversial incidents. A six-hour riot ensued at a free concert in Hollywood the day before the album's release as a result of the show's cancellation due to an overcrowded show; the crowd in attendance was estimated to be at least twice the size that was expected. Another scheduled System of a Down performance was canceled to prevent a similar riot. The band then toured with Slipknot, and bassist Shavo Odadjian was harassed, racially profiled, and physically beaten by guards when he tried to enter backstage at a concert in October 2001. [2]

Music, writing, and recording

"Going into it, I knew Serj wanted to sing more, so I guess that was a kind of a progression and an evolution for the band. I wanted to do all that, yet not lose the heaviness of the band and I guess the hard, punk, metal aspect. You could lose that sometimes when you get a little too eclectic. So we were just trying to balance that fine line and not lose the fans."

Daron Malakian, speaking about Toxicity's sound. [3]

Primarily considered an alternative metal [4] [5] [6] and nu metal [7] [8] [9] album, Toxicity has also been described as thrash metal, [10] art metal, [11] hard rock, [12] progressive metal, [13] and heavy metal. [7] Toxicity features elements of multiple genres of music: folk, [14] progressive rock, [14] jazz, [14] [3] hip hop, [15] Middle Eastern music, [3] and Greek music. [3] Guitarist Daron Malakian said that he "wanted to add a bit more harmony for" himself "in the songs and that required tastefully mixing in some softer guitars between the really heavy parts". [3] Malakian also cited the Beatles as an influence on Toxicity. [4] Sounds of instruments other than drums, vocals, electric guitar and bass guitar, such as sitar, banjo, [16] keyboards and piano, [17] are also featured on Toxicity. The majority of the album's music was written in the tuning of drop C. [18]

System of a Down recorded over thirty songs during the recording of Toxicity but narrowed the number of songs on the album to fourteen. [19] Several of these recorded songs that didn't make it onto Toxicity were re-recorded for System of a Down's next studio album Steal This Album! , an album released in 2002. [20] Toxicity was recorded at Cello Studios in Hollywood, California, mixed at Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California, and mastered at Oasis Mastering in Studio City, California. [17] According to bassist Shavo Odadjian, the song "Chop Suey!" is "about drug addiction, but [System of a Down took] something really serious and made it a little quacky". [21] Vocalist Serj Tankian compared the song to Guns N' Roses' "Mr. Brownstone". [22] "Prison Song" is about mass incarceration. [21] Serj Tankian said: "It's about the unfairness of mandatory minimum sentences and how there are about 2,000,000 Americans in jail, and a lot of them are in there for marijuana possession and things of that sort. [...] Instead of rehabilitating men who have drug problems, they're throwing them in prison. That's not really solving anything." [23] Tankian said that "Prison Song" also addresses "how drug money is used to rig elections in other countries by the CIA". [23] "Needles" is about "pulling a tapeworm out of your ass." [24] "Bounce" is about group sex. [21] "Psycho" is about groupies. [7] [23] "ATWA" (an acronym for "Air, Trees, Water, Animals") is about Charles Manson's beliefs on the environment. Malakian has said that "[Manson is] in jail for the wrong reasons. I think he had an unfair trial". [19] [22] "Deer Dance" is about the protests surrounding the 2000 Democratic National Convention. [25] [26]

Promotion and touring

On September 3, 2001, System of a Down had planned on launching Toxicity at a free concert in Hollywood, California as a "thank you" to fans. The concert, which was to be held in a parking lot, was set up to accommodate 3,500 people; however, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 fans showed up. Because of the large excess number of fans, the performance was cancelled by police officers just before System of a Down took the stage. No announcement was made that the concert had been cancelled. Fans waited for more than an hour for the band to appear, but when a banner hanging at the back of the stage that read "System of a Down" was removed by security, the audience rushed the stage, destroying all the band's touring gear (approximately $30,000 worth of equipment) and began to riot, throwing rocks at police, breaking windows, and knocking over portable toilets. The riot lasted six hours, during which six arrests were made. The band's manager, David "Beno" Benveniste, later said that the riot could have been avoided if System of a Down had been permitted to perform or had they been allowed to make a statement at the concert regarding the cancellation. System of a Down's scheduled in-store performance the next day was cancelled to prevent a similar riot. [27]

Later that month, System of a Down embarked on tour in the United States and Mexico with Slipknot. During their concert at Grand Rapids, Michigan's Van Andel Arena in October 2001, Odadjian was harassed, racially profiled and physically beaten by some guards when he attempted to enter backstage. After the attack, he received medical help from the arena personnel and the police in place. Odadjian then filed a lawsuit against DuHadway Kendall Security, the company the guards were working for. [28] Despite this incident, the tour, as a whole, was a success and System of a Down later co-headlined the Pledge of Allegiance leg of Slipknot's Iowa World Tour. [29]

Reception

Critical

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 73/100 [30]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [7]
Alternative Press 9/10 [31]
Blabbermouth.net 10/10 [32]
Entertainment Weekly B− [14]
Kerrang! 5/5 [33]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [34]
Pitchfork 8.2/10 [35]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [36]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [37]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [38]

On review aggregator website Metacritic, Toxicity holds a score of 73 out of 100, based on reviews from nine critics, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". [30] AllMusic writer Eduardo Rivadavia called Toxicity "hands down one of 2001's top metal releases" and wrote that the album "may well prove to be a lasting heavy metal classic to boot". [7] Toxicity is one of only 21 albums to achieve a perfect rating from Blabbermouth.net, with writer Don Kaye praising System of a Down in a contemporary review of the album as "one of the few bands that people may still be talking about ten years from now". [32] Drowned in Sound writer Don Kaye praised the band as "probably the most vital band around in the big, wide world of metal right now". [39] Ben Myers of Kerrang! stated that the band had "gone and bettered" their debut album and hailed Toxicity as "metal album of the year, hands down". [33] Q wrote that Toxicity "matches Slipknot for manic intensity while employing a freeform approach to songcraft which invites comparison to the lunatic-fringe rock of the '60s". [36]

Referring to Toxicity as "both manic and schizoid", Keith Harris of Rolling Stone noted Tankian's ability to veer "easily from sing-rap rhythm to Korn-ish hysterics to demonic baritone growl to doomily ruminative" and that "the music insists on forward motion without trapping itself in a thrashy lock-step rut". [37] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly called the album "strange and engaging", with a wide variety of sounds which "all adds up to bizarro type of metal that has a warped majesty and strength". [14] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice cited "Prison Song" and "Bounce" as highlights and later assigned the album a one-star honorable rating. [40] [41] Spin 's Joe Gross wrote that the band "have an undeniable nerd-prog charm". [42] Uncut , on the other hand, panned Toxicity as "virtually unlistenable". [10]

Commercial

Toxicity peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, [43] [44] selling 220,000 copies in its first week of release. [45] The album also topped the Canadian Albums Chart. [46] Toxicity sold at least 2,700,000 copies in the United States, [44] and at least 12,000,000 copies worldwide. [47] On November 27, 2002, the album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. [48]

All of the album's singles reached the Billboard Hot 100; "Chop Suey!" peaked at number 76, "Toxicity" at number 70, and "Aerials" at number 55. "Aerials" would remain the band's biggest domestic hit until "B.Y.O.B." surpassed it, reaching number 27 in 2005. [49] "Aerials" peaked at number one on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart [50] and number one on the Alternative Songs chart. [51] "Chop Suey!" and "Toxicity" were both top ten hits. [51] In 2005, Toxicity went to number one on the Catalog Albums chart. [52] Added to the 2001 Clear Channel memorandum, [53] "Chop Suey!" was temporarily pulled from playlists of most radio stations after the September 11 attacks in 2001, as it featured some lyrics that Clear Channel deemed inappropriate following the attacks. The song returned to the airwaves when things settled down. [54]

Accolades

The album is listed on Blender 's 500 CDs You Must Own. [55] MusicRadar held a public poll and Toxicity was ranked as the 28th greatest heavy metal album on its list of The 50 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time. [56] The album is ranked number 44 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the Decade for 2000s [13] and 27th on the magazine's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". [57] Toxicity was voted the 27th best album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 2001. [58] Spin named the album one of The 300 Best Albums Of The Past 30 Years, with Toxicity being one of the highest-listed heavy metal albums on the list. [59] Spin also named Toxicity the Album of the Year in 2001, and finally ranked it number 38 on its list of The 40 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time. [60] [61] Kludge ranked it number five on their list of best albums of 2001. [62] Alternative Press ranked it number nine on its 25 Best Albums of 2001. [45] Mojo ranked it number 93 on its 100 Modern Classics. [63] The album won a 2001 Metal Edge Readers' Choice Award for Album of the Year. [64] Loudwire listed the album at number one on its list of Top 11 Metal Albums of the 2000s, number two on the Top 100 Hard Rock + Metal Albums Of The 21st Century, and number 11 on its list of Top 50 Metal Albums of All Time. [65] [66] [67] NME listed the album at number six on its list of 20 Greatest Metal Albums Ever. [68] Metal Hammer declared Toxicity the best album of 2001. [69] The Observer ranked Toxicity as one of the Top 50 Albums Of The Decade, at number 34. [70] In 2007, The Guardian placed the album on its list of the 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die. [71] Entertainment Weekly also put Toxicity on its list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1983–2008 Period, at number 90. [72] Revolver named Toxicity the eighth greatest metal album of all time on its list of the 69 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time. [73] The album was included on The A.V. Club 's list of the best metal records of the 2000s. [11] PopMatters ranked Toxicity at 62 on its Best Albums of the 2000s list. [74] "Chop Suey!" was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 44th Grammy Awards in 2002. [75] In 2020, the album was included at the 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list of Stacker, being ranked at 85. [76]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Serj Tankian, except where noted; all music is composed by Daron Malakian, except where noted

Original release
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Prison Song"Tankian, Malakian 3:21
2."Needles"Tankian, MalakianTankian, Malakian3:12
3."Deer Dance"Tankian, Malakian 2:55
4."Jet Pilot"  Shavo Odadjian, Malakian2:05
5."X"  1:57
6."Chop Suey!"Tankian, Malakian 3:30
7."Bounce" Malakian, Odadjian1:54
8."Forest"  4:02
9."ATWA" (Air Trees Water Animals)Tankian, Malakian 2:56
10."Science"  2:42
11."Shimmy" Tankian1:50
12."Toxicity" Malakian, Odadjian3:40
13."Psycho"Tankian, Malakian 3:48
14."Aerials"Tankian, Malakian 3:56
15."Arto" (featuring Arto Tunçboyacıyan [77] ) ( [note 1] )  2:14
Total length:44:02
Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleMusicLength
8."Johnny" ( [note 2] )Tankian2:07

French special edition

Bonus CD [80]
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Sugar" (Live)Odadjian, Malakian2:27
2."War?" (Live) 2:48
3."Suite-Pee" (Live) 2:58
4."Know" (Live)Odadjian, Malakian, Tankian3:03
5."Johnny"Tankian2:07

Blue edition

Bonus DVD
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Toxicity" (Music video) Malakian, Odadjian2:27
2."Chop Suey!" (Live)Tankian, Malakian 2:48
3."Prison Song" (Live)Tankian, Malakian 3:21
4."Bounce" (Live) Malakian, Odadjian1:54
Notes
  1. ↑ "Arto" is an adaptation of "Der Voghormia" (meaning "Lord Have Mercy"), a traditional Armenian church hymn. [78] It is combined with Aerials (track 14) on physical releases as a hidden track.
  2. ↑ "Johnny" is put as the eighth track on Toxicity on the album's Japanese edition, pushing all tracks 8–14 on the album's normal track listing one track number forward. [79]

Personnel

Adapted from Toxicity's liner notes. [17]

System of a Down

Additional musicians

Production

Artwork

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Argentina (CAPIF) [136] Gold20,000^
Australia (ARIA) [137] 5× Platinum350,000‡
Austria (IFPI Austria) [138] Gold20,000*
Belgium (BEA) [139] Gold25,000*
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [140] Gold50,000*
Canada (Music Canada) [141] 2× Platinum200,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [142] 3× Platinum60,000‡
Germany (BVMI) [143] Gold150,000^
Italy (FIMI) [144]
sales since 2009 		Platinum50,000*
Mexico (AMPROFON) [145] Gold75,000^
Netherlands (NVPI) [146] Gold40,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ) [147] Platinum15,000^
Poland (ZPAV) [148] Platinum20,000‡
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [149] Gold20,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [150] 2× Platinum600,000‡
United States (RIAA) [48] 6× Platinum6,000,000‡
Summaries
Europe (IFPI) [151] Platinum1,000,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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References

  1. ↑ "Rolling Stone". www.rollingstone.com. September 4, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  2. ↑ DeVille, Chris (September 3, 2021). "Toxicity Turns 20". Stereogum. Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022. And at a time when Americans were ready to indiscriminately discriminate against anyone from the Middle East, the band's Armenian heritage made them easy targets for racial profiling; Odadjian was even harassed and beaten by guards at his own gig in the fall of 2001.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Jon Wiederhorn. "14 Years Ago: System of a Down Unleash 'Toxicity'". Loudwire . Archived from the original on February 4, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Reed, Ryan (September 4, 2016). "System of a Down's 'Toxicity': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on September 10, 2017.
  5. ↑ Mike Lawrence (February 24, 2014). "The 25 Best Alternative Metal Albums". Metal Descent. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017.
  6. ↑ "System of a Down - Toxicity". January 4, 2019. Archived from the original on September 24, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Toxicity – System of a Down". AllMusic . Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  8. ↑ "System of a Down: Toxicity". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on November 11, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  9. ↑ "SPIN 30: System of a Down Revisit Nu-Metal's Greatest Album, 'Toxicity'". April 14, 2015. Archived from the original on April 23, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  10. 1 2 "System of a Down: Toxicity". Uncut (55): 118. December 2001.
  11. 1 2 Pierce, Leonard (November 18, 2009). "The decade's best metal". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on January 4, 2014.
  12. ↑ Rob Pasbani (June 17, 2009). "#14: SYSTEM OF A DOWN – TOXICITY". MetalSucks. Archived from the original on February 21, 2016.
  13. 1 2 "System of a Down, 'Toxicity'". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on July 5, 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Sinclair, Tom (September 3, 2001). "Toxicity". Entertainment Weekly . pp. 161–62. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ "20 artists who defined the sound of nü metal from past to present". Alternative Press . July 21, 2021. Archived from the original on April 14, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  16. ↑ Eliscu, Jenny (September 27, 2001). "Q&A: Serj Tankian of System of a Down". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  17. 1 2 3 Toxicity (CD liner notes). System of a Down. Columbia Records. 2001.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. ↑ System of a Down 2001 , p. 4
  19. 1 2 Teri vanHorn (June 27, 2001). "System Of A Down Measure Growth With Toxicity". MTV. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015.
  20. ↑ Wiederhorn, Jon (November 6, 2002). "System of a Down Reveal Motivations For Steal This Album". MTV. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  21. 1 2 3 Jon Wiederhorn (August 13, 2001). "System Of A Down's Schizophrenia Aggravated On Toxicity". MTV. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015.
  22. 1 2 Lawson (ed.) 2001, p. 11
  23. 1 2 3 Teri vanHorn (October 11, 2000). "System Of A Down Talks Next LP, Sets Benefit Date". MTV. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016.
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