Toxicity (album)

Primarily considered an alternative metal and nu metal album, Toxicity has also been described as thrash metal, progressive metal, hip hop, Middle Eastern music, keyboards and piano, System of a Down recorded over thirty songs during the recording of Toxicity but narrowed the number of songs on the album to fourteen. 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. Vocalist Serj Tankian compared the song to Guns N' Roses' "Mr. Brownstone". "Prison Song" is about mass incarceration. Tankian said that "Prison Song" also addresses "how drug money is used to rig elections in other countries by the CIA". "Bounce" is about group sex. ==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. 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 alleges he was harassed, racially profiled and physically beaten by some guards when he attempted to enter backstage. Slipknot had instructed that no one could enter backstage due to their use of fireworks. 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. 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. ==Reception==

Critical 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". 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". Spins Joe Gross wrote that the band "have an undeniable nerd-prog charm". Uncut, on the other hand, panned Toxicity as "virtually unlistenable". Commercial Toxicity peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 220,000 copies in its first week of release. The album also topped the Canadian Albums Chart. Toxicity sold at least 2,700,000 copies in the United States, On July 19, 2022, the album was certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. "Aerials" peaked at number one on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart and number one on the Alternative Songs chart. "Chop Suey!" and "Toxicity" were both top ten hits. Added to the 2001 Clear Channel memorandum, "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. Accolades The album is listed on Blender 500 CDs You Must Own. 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. The album is ranked number 44 on Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums of the Decade for 2000s and 27th on the magazine's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Toxicity was voted the 27th best album of the year in The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 2001. 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. 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. Kludge ranked it number five on their list of best albums of 2001. Alternative Press ranked it number nine on its 25 Best Albums of 2001. The album won a 2001 Metal Edge Readers' Choice Award for Album of the Year. 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. NME listed the album at number six on its list of 20 Greatest Metal Albums Ever. Metal Hammer declared Toxicity the best album of 2001. The Observer ranked Toxicity as one of the Top 50 Albums Of The Decade, at number 34. In 2007, The Guardian placed the album on its list of the 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die. Entertainment Weekly also put Toxicity on its list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1983–2008 Period, at number 90. Revolver named Toxicity the eighth greatest metal album of all time on its list of the 69 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time. The album was included on The A.V. Clubs list of the best metal records of the 2000s. PopMatters ranked Toxicity at 62 on its Best Albums of the 2000s list. "Chop Suey!" was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 44th Grammy Awards in 2002 and "Aerials" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 45th Grammy Awards the following year. In 2020, the album was included at the 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list of Stacker, being ranked at 85. ==Track listing==

French special edition Blue edition • The Red Edition of the album features a bonus video disc with a 9:54-long behind-the-scenes video about the production of the record. ;Notes ==Personnel==

Adapted from Toxicity liner notes. System of a Down • Serj Tankian – vocals, keyboards, string arrangements and writing • Daron Malakian – guitars, vocals • Shavo Odadjian – bass • John Dolmayan – drums Production • Rick Rubin – producer • Daron Malakian – producer • Serj Tankian – co-producer • Andy Wallace – mixing • David Schiffman – engineer • Greg Collins – additional engineer • Darren Mora – additional engineer, assistant engineer • Al Sanderson – assistant engineer • Ryan McCormick – assistant engineer • Jim Champagne – assistant engineer • Rich Balmer – mixdown engineer • Eddy Schreyer – mastering Additional musicians • Arto Tunçboyacıyan – additional vocals/music • Marc Mann – strings arrangement, conducting, additional strings writing • Rick Rubin – additional piano Artwork • Martyn Atkins – photography (studio) • Glen E. Friedman – photography (back cover, water) • John Dolmayan – photography, collage art • Hallie Sirota – photography • Mark Wakefield – cover art • Shavo Odadjian – art direction, album art concepts, co-label art • Brandy Flower – art direction, collage art • System of a Down – album art concepts ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications==

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