SYSTEM OF A DOWN Members Talks About ‘Chop Suey’ and 9/11
SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s Serj Tankian and Shavo Odadjian talk about how ‘Chop Suey’ was both trouble and a miracle in the past.
Have you ever experienced something miraculous in your life and received bad news at the same time? So imagine that these two things are somewhat linked? This is exactly what happened to the SYSTEM OF A DOWN. It was like a dream for them and also a nightmare.
Just like the beginning of the “Chop Suey” song, WAKE UP! One morning we woke up and one of the worst things about the 2000s had happened to us. Dozens of casualties and fearful people. May all rest in peace. I guess you are asking what a comparison of 9/11 and “Chop Suey” songs could be, let’s continue reading the interview. Sure, it’s all a coincidence, but this coincidence can be a bit scary for the SYSTEM OF A DOWN members.
SYSTEM OF A DOWN members, who recently spoke to Zane Lowe on the Apple Music YouTube channel, answered questions.
Serj Tankian talked about the album “Toxicity” and the song “Chop Suey” which they released on September 4, 2001. The release of the album “Toxicity” on September 4 and the 9/11 tragedy had a great impact on their lives. Serj said that at that time the album started to gain a lot of popularity, but after the 9/11 disaster, the songs were removed from the radio.
As they approached the pinnacle of their careers, the World Trade Center attack caused them not to even play their hit songs on the radio. So why did this happen? Serj answers this question as follows:
“And they took our song off the radio, “Chop Suey!” – because it had the word ‘suicide’ in it – ‘self-righteous suicide.’ Everyone was calling us, going, ‘How did you guys know?!’ and all this stuff. And we’re all weirded out, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
Meanwhile, we go on tour – ’cause we were booked to tour on ‘Toxicity,’ the record, with “Chop Suey!” as the single.”
He said there were quite dangerous times while they were doing the Toxicity tour; “And every day, I remember those different threat levels. And there might be terrorist attacks elsewhere. It was a daunting time… I’m thinking of 9/11, going on tour, thinking we might die any night.”
Additionally, the SYSTEM OF A DOWN’s guitarist, Shavo Odadjian, learned the news of the 9/11 attacks and how they reached number 1 on the billboards on the phone at the same time; “I answered the phone, and it was my mom. And my mom said, ‘Turn the TV on. There’s chaos happening in America. I turned the TV on. It was, like, 9:15, and I saw the tower fall. My phone beeped, and I went to the other line, and it was my manager. And he goes, ‘Congratulations. You’re No. 1 on Billboard!’
He remembers those days as both bittersweet and weird. You can listen to the “Chop Suey'” song below.
What about the lyrics to “JET PILOT” those words were questionable as well and not talked about much especially the part about the skies turning gray and not being able to survey the skies. That song was very questionable and not talked about but there’s lots of questions about that song and some people still believe to this day that they knew that 9/11 was going to happen, I personally believe that they are just musicians and put together songs like other musicians have done in the past and continue to do to this day.