Daron Malakian wrote a greater percentage of the lyrics - and sang a greater percentage of lead vocals - for Mezmerize/ Hypnotize than on any previous SOAD album I didn't know that when I was writing it, but after time went on I was like, 'Wow, that's old Motown!' Because I'd been listening to the Supremes, the Marvelettes, and stuff like that."Ģ. Like, if I pointed out the chorus for 'Kill Rock n' Roll' - that melody line is very old Motown. Malakian went on to list black metal–era Darkthrone, British rockers the Kinks and various Motown girl groups as primary influences, while cautioning that "you can't put your finger on the Darkthrone influence and say, 'There's Darkthrone,' and you can't put your finger on the Kinks and say, 'There's the Kinks!' But you can see all that kind of happening somewhere. "I listen to a lot of shit, all the time," Malakian told Revolver, "including a lot of Sixties pop that I've been listening to in the past few years, which has been kind of bleeding through my writing, without losing touch with a lot of the other things that make up System of a Down." The music of Mezmerize and Hypnotize was influenced by everything from black metal to Motown. Here are six things you might not know about Mezmerize - and its Hypnotize-ing counterpart. But over a decade after their initial release, the albums (or is it album?) still sound fresh and vital. alone.Īnd, sadly, despite occasional rumors of new SOAD studio activity, Mezmerize and Hypnotize remain the last music released by the band. Both albums also went platinum, selling over a million copies each in the U.S. 1 upon their release, making System of a Down only the fifth act - after the Beatles, Guns N' Roses, 2Pac and DMX - to have two studio albums debut atop the Billboard 200 in the same year. While double albums have traditionally been a tough sell, both Mezmerize and Hypnotize debuted at No. Splitting the album into two separately-released pieces was also a smart move from a commercial standpoint. That's what System of a Down means to me." "The guy sitting in his car waiting for his girl, with the world going on around him - it comes down to that. "I see us as a socially-conscious band, not just a political band," Malakian told Revolver. But the band's heart and humor remained audibly intact amid the musical onslaught, with lyrics inspired by everything from the Iraq War ("B.Y.O.B.") to the depressing spectacle of old C-list actors still coasting on their celebrity ("Old School Hollywood Baseball"). On Mezmerize alone, songs like "B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own Bombs)," "Question," "Radio/Video," "Lost in Hollywood" and the memorably titled "This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song" were - even by SOAD standards - crammed to the hilt like sonic clown cars with a crazy array of hooks, influences and unexpected left turns. Which was actually a good idea, because Mezmerize/ Hypnotize contained the band's most head-spinning material yet.
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