224 pages
Softback
Published 2006
IMP (Independent Music Press)
ISBN 0-9549704-6-2
Right here in Hollywood: The Story of System Of A Down:
THE FIRST & ONLY BOOK ON ONE OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BANDS
Spewed forth from the loins of mid-1990s southern California, System Of A Down have evolved from a cult band whose demo tapes swapped hands voraciously on the metal underground to one of the world's biggest acts. Relentless early gigging spread a word-of-mouth hype around them that soon created major label interest and the gold-selling eponymous debut album. Despite their ultra-hard music and dark undertones, SOAD have always managed to break out of the underground.
Show-stealing support slots with Ozzy Osbourne and Slayer propelled the band to new heights, but it was their second album, the seminal Toxicity, that turned SOAD from an underground phenomenon into a mainstream smash. After the release of their globally acclaimed hit album Mesmerize, SOAD had shifted in excess of 25 million albums. With exclusive new interviews with the band and major players involved in their story, Ben Myers' book will be the first and the definitive account of this remarkable band.
"Myers' work is always well-researched, passionate and grounded in reality. He builds a picture of a band with deft expertise." - Record Collector
"You will find yourself getting caught up in Myers' enthusiasm for his subject, immensely thorough." - Classic Rock
Says Ben: Lots of people I know hate System Of A Down. They just don't get it. Too loud. Too quacky. Too...beardy. But these people are panty-sniffers. These people need their music nicely laid-out, flat-pack style with instructions and diagrams and explanations; they stupid, unadventurous and they steal from washing lines. They are also prejudiced against beards.
You can't explain the success of System Of A Down; they're four distinct personalities united by their Armenian heritage and love of hard metal riffage, weed and political discourse. No band before has sounded like them and few, you suspect, ever will. Yet they've sold 25 million albums, topped charts and festivals bills the world over and all with zero artistic compromise, which - even if you are one of those panty-sniffing, pee pee - diddlers - is an achievement that's hard not to admire.
I've probably spent hundreds of hours listening to System Of A Down during a time when it felt like metal, that old reliable safe-haven, had lost its charm, lost its originality. When 9-11 hit, System of A Down were sitting at number one with an album that sang of the very events that were unfolding. So when I noticed that no-one had attempted to tell this strange story of CIA files, operatic skronk-metal, psycho groupies, nose flutes and massive bongs, it seemed almost rude not to write it myself. There's never anything to do in the winter anyway.