When was system of a down created

His parents emigrated from Iraq—where small communities of settlers from nearby Armenia live—in , the year before he was born. Both parents were sculptors, and Malakian grew up in Hollywood, California. He attended a private school in the Los Angeles area for Armenian-American youth, as did System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian, who came to the United States from Armenia with his family when he was five. Both Serj Tankian, singer and keyboard player, and John Dolmayan, the band's drummer, were born in Lebanon to Armenian families, and came to California as children as well.

Tankian also attended the Armenian-American school, but was born in , making him the oldest member of the band. He had an established career as chief executive officer of a software company well before the band formed. I've been playing like a madman ever since. Malakian, by contrast, was determined to become a musician before he entered kindergarten. Blessed with a musical talent that gave him the ability to play nearly any instrument just by picking it up, he was an ardent metalhead in his teens.

Around the time he finished high school, however, he suddenly discovered the music of the Beatles. Malakian and Tankian first joined forces in a band called Soil, and Odadjian served as Soil's manager.

They coalesced as System of a Down around , taking their name from a poem written by Malakian, who became the band's primary songwriter. System of a Down began by playing the southern California rock-club circuit, and attracted a strong following. They graduated to such venues as Roxy, the Whiskey, and the Troubadour, all of which are known as Los Angeles-area hot spots for music-industry executives searching for new talent. But they were often told their act was simply too distinctive, as Malakian told the Chicago Tribune 's Kot.

We didn't belong in any category they could market to. Their luck changed when a show at the Viper Room, the infamous club owned by Johnny Depp where the actor River Phoenix died, was seen by legendary music producer Rick Rubin. Rubin signed Malakian and his bandmates to his label, American Recordings, which was affiliated with Columbia Records, and offered to produce their first studio effort.

System of a Down was released in , and sold an impressive , copies. Its breakout single, "Sugar," received immense radio airplay, but the final track, "P. All of the band members had relatives who were affected by the Armenian genocide that took place between and , when the Turkish-controlled Ottoman Empire acted upon some long-standing hostilities between the Armenian and Turkish peoples.

As a result of mass deportations and systematic bloodshed, as many as two million Armenians died during the period, but the genocide was never formally acknowledged by the international community.

In the intervening decades, Armenians have sought recognition and apology for the massacre. As Tankian told the Guardian 's Sweeting, "It was a true genocide whose lessons should have been learned, and all our grandparents and elders are survivors of it. Hitler got pointers from it, because he saw that nobody was doing anything about it.

Following the release of their debut album, the band toured heavily over the next few years, including stints on the annual summer metal showcase known as Ozzfest. Azerbaijan and Armenia on Oct. The dispute dates to the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Nagorno Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan, sparking a violent conflict that ended in a shaky ceasefire. Read More.

Tensions have risen since July, when several days of clashes rocked the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The second part of the double album, Hypnotize, was released on November 22, These shows turned out to be the bands last performances together to date. Hiatus and Future —present In May , the band announced they were going on hiatus.

Daron Malakian has confirmed the break will probably last a few years, but it was Shavo who in an interview with Guitar magazine said it will last at least 3 years, but insists that the band would not be splitting up. Us four right here, we will always be System of a Down!

An earlier engagement started exclusively in Los Angeles on , System of a Down was honored at the USC v. As for the future of the band, he said that he does not know whether System of a Down is over or not. Bassist Shavo Odadjian was recently revealed to be directing the first video for the comeback of the hardcore punk band, Bad Brains. System of a Down is my lifeline.

Future and possible Reunion When asked in February if a reunion was planned any time in the future, Daron Malakian had admitted that System of a Down may never get back together again. This Scars on Broadway is my band right now. On September 14, an American TV interview video with Shavo Odadjian was posted online, and subsequently embedded on the MySpace profile of his current working band, Achozen. And we decided to take time to pursue our own artistic and personal goals.

So we took time to do our own things and we left the door open. If we ever want to get together and speak to the world as System of a Down, then we will. In an April interview with Kerrang magazine, guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan who have recently formed a side project known as Scars on Broadway gave their takes on the bands future.

Nah, man. The lead singer is a special person to me and I am to him. Same with Shavo, same with John.