History YMMV / SystemOfADown

* OvershadowedByControversy: The band has become known for the squabbles between members and, as of 2020, John Dolmayan's outspoken support of President Trump and increasingly overt far-right sympathies to the point where they threaten to eclipse their actual music, and many fans have openly begun to wonder why Dolmayan has not been fired yet.

* BrokenBase: There's some disagreement among the fandom about ''Music/MezmerizeHypnotize'', mainly due to Daron's more prominent vocals and the slightly more comedic edge.

*** And it's immediately followed by "Old School Hollywood" to boot, which features an equally epic riff.

** "Lonely Day" is this when considering what happened fifteen years later.

*** "Don't Go Off Wandering" is the most egregious. It's a demo of a Music/LimpBizkit song, with a brief appearance by Serj Tankian. Granted, the released version (from Limp's ''Significant Other'' album) doesn't have Serj, but that still doesn't make the demo a [=SoaD=] song.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKHF-5nPcOs "Dam"]] in its entirety.

** The inner sleeve artwork of their self titled album... *shudder*

** A few of their songs, including "Lonely Day", "Soldier Side" and "Roulette".
** "Holy Mountains" as well, if you know what the lyrics are about (the Armenian Genocide and the significance of Mount Ararat in relation to it).
** "Streamline". Enough said.

** As for the band themselves, the reason they have yet to release another album is because Serj doesn't want their follow up to the massively critically acclaimed ''Music/MezmerizeHypnotize'' to be anything less than an improvement thereof. Meanwhile, most fans and critics agree that, as good as that album is, nothing can top ''Music/{{Toxicity}}''.

* {{Narm}}: Some of their more {{Anvilicious}} lyrics have a tendency to utterly destroy the power of the songs. Especially since they're often ''spoken'' instead of sung, as if the band wants to make sure you ''know'' what they're trying to say.

* NoExportForYou: All members being Armenian or of Armenian descent, the band refused to play a show in Turkey in 1998, because of the country's government denial of the Armenian genocide of 1915. They have never rescheduled a show there since.

* SignatureSong: "Chop Suey!", "B.Y.O.B.", "Soldier Side" and "Toxicity".
** And to a lesser extent, "War?" and "Fuck the System".
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: "Prison Song" is about as subtle as a clown with its cock out and {{Narm}}y as hell as the post above says, but everything it says is true and something that really did need to be talked about at the time. And still does, really.

* ToughActToFollow: The band and its entire catalog qualify. Are four other Armenians going to get together to form another band? No famous band has--so far--followed in SOAD's footsteps close enough to be described as a clone or a spiritual successor. Then again, no famous band has really tried.

-->''They were crying when their sons left\\

* HarsherInHindsight: "Sad Statue" in itself has continued its relevance into TheNewTens. With the line about "a generation that didn't agree" being less about an [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent apathetic generation]] and more about a generation that has had peaceful protests reacted to with violence by the dominant powers. The lyrics are ever relevant twelve years later.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Nigerians love moshing to System of a Down ''[https://twitter.com/William_Njo/status/1273970743001395200 at weddings.]]''

* {{Anvilicious}}: The band are quite political, [[DontShootTheMessage though even fans who agreed with them had their patience tested when they started doing long rants during shows.]] "Prison Song", a song about the prison system and how it incarcerates people for minor drug offenses, features heavily hamfisted (but well-researched) stats about the prison system that barely fit in with the rest of the song, even compared to the schizophrenic lyricism the band usually exhibits.

** And "Highway Song".

* HarsherInHindsight: "Sad Statue" in itself has continued its relevance into the New 10's. With the line about "a generation that didn't agree" being less about an [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent apathetic generation]] and more about a generation that has had peaceful protests reacted to with violence by the dominant powers. The lyrics are ever relevant twelve years later.

*** "Mushroom Cult" is by Music/DogFashionDisco, with a guest appearance by Serj Tankian. It has no one else from [=SoaD=].
*** The title makes it even more confusing, since [[RefrainFromAssuming the chorus of "Sugar"]] also includes references to a mushroom cult.

* NightmareFuel: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKHF-5nPcOs "Dam"]] in its entirety.

** Temper, which has sedate verses and a MoodWhiplash grindcore chorus, meant to wake up the general public from their apathy towards serious issues.

** Thetawaves is also very creepy.
* NoExportForYou: All members being Armenian or of Armenian descent, the band refused to play a show in Turkey in 1998, because of the country's government denial of the Armenian genocide of 1915. They have never rescheduled a show here since.

* TearJerker: A few of their songs, including "Lonely Day", "Soldier Side" and "Roulette".

** "Lost in Hollywood," which is about somebody being discovered by Hollywood, becoming a big star, and then fading away in favor of the next "big thing." Having nowhere to go afterwards.

** As for the band themselves, while ''Music/MezmerizeHypnotize'' has gotten massive critical acclaim, many fans and critics agree that they will never be able to top ''Music/{{Toxicity}}'', by far the band's best-received album.

* EarWorm: "She's Like Heroin", "Attack", "B.Y.O.B.", "Chop Suey!", "Toxicity"... fuck it, every [=SoaD=] song qualifies for this for someone, even the weird stuff like "Violent Pornography".
** "Old school...Hollywood...baseball...Old school Hollywood baseball!!!"
** "Sugar", "Bounce", "Lonely Day"
** And "Aerials", "Revenga" and "Sad Statue".

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
** Performing "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcgdJFnUOlU Holy Mountain]]" on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the rain.
** In a show at Yerevan, while they were playing "Aerials", lightning struck in time with the guitar riff and cymbal crash. [[https://youtu.be/2re3iUUL67Y It's the best thing ever.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: They are one of the few NuMetal bands (if you consider them such, at any rate) that many metalheads will admit to liking (Music/{{Deftones}} perhaps being their main company here). This is likely due in no small part to their [[CrazyAwesome quirkiness]] and [[GenreBusting willingness to experiment with their sound]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: They are one of the few NuMetal bands that many metalheads will admit to liking (Music/{{Deftones}} perhaps being their main company here). This is likely due in no small part to their [[CrazyAwesome quirkiness]] and [[GenreBusting willingness to experiment with their sound]].

* CrazyAwesome: Is their music insane? Yes. Is it also awesome? Also yes?

* {{Anvilicious}}: The band are quite political. They usually have good points to make, [[DontShootTheMessage though even fans who agreed with them had their patience tested when they started doing long rants during shows.]]
** "Prison Song", a song about the prison system and how it incarcerates people for minor drug offenses, features heavily hamfisted (but well-researched) stats about the prison system that barely fit in with the rest of the song, even compared to the schizophrenic lyricism the band usually exhibits.

* CreepyAwesome[=/=]CrazyAwesome: Daron is the weirdest and creepiest man on the face of the earth, but he's also a damn fine guitarist and song-writer.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Performing "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcgdJFnUOlU Holy Mountain]]" on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the rain.

* HarsherInHindsight: "Sad Statue" in itself has continued it's relevance into the New 10's. With the line about "a generation that didn't agree" being less about an [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent apathetic generation]] and more about a generation that has had peaceful protests reacted to with violence by the dominant powers. The lyrics are ever relevant twelve years later.
* HilariousInHindsight: The song "Cigaro", which criticizes megalomaniacs who sit around all day arguing about who has the biggest dick, became a lot more relevant when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njSO0aaKfdY Donald Trump actually started talking about having a big dick during a debate]]

* MisattributedSong: "VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda" was never performed by System of a Down. It doesn't really even sound like them. Of course, a whole lot of people THINK it's System of a Down (or just Serj, their lead singer). It's actually by Joe Pleiman, from an album called ''The Rabbit Joint''; and is toplisted on the Wiki/TVTropes MisattributedSong page.

** {{Narm}}: On the other hand, moments like that have a tendency to utterly destroy the power of the songs. Especially since, like that line, they're often ''spoken'' instead of sung, as if the band wants to make sure you ''know'' what they're trying to say.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The band are quite political. They usually have good points to make, though even fans who agreed with them had their patience tested when they started doing long rants during shows.

* MemeticMutation: Go on a Youtube video of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI8KacxPovo "Radio/Video"]], hear the lyrics about "Danny and Lisa", check the comments, and count the ''Film/TheRoom'' references.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic - "Soldier Side (Reprise)" from ''Hypnotize'' not only brings ''Mezmerize'' to completion back where it all started, but is an Nth degree ProtestSong.

* CoveredUp - SOAD's cover of Berlin's "The Metro" is more widely known than the original, due to Berlin's version only being a hit in the US and SOAD's fanbase being unlikely to listen to new wave music anyway.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome - Performing "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcgdJFnUOlU Holy Mountain]]" on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the rain.

* EarWorm - "She's Like Heroin", "Attack", "B.Y.O.B.", "Chop Suey!", "Toxicity"... fuck it, every [=SoaD=] song qualifies for this for someone, even the weird stuff like "Violent Pornography".

* EpicRiff - "Chop Suey", "Aerials", "B.Y.O.B."

* FaceOfTheBand - Serj Tankian, and to an extent Daron Malakian.

* MisattributedSong - "VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda" was never performed by System of a Down. It doesn't really even sound like them. Of course, a whole lot of people THINK it's System of a Down (or just Serj, their lead singer). It's actually by Joe Pleiman, from an album called ''The Rabbit Joint''; and is toplisted on the Wiki/TVTropes MisattributedSong page.

* NarmCharm - No other band could write a heavy metal song that contains the line "All research and successful drug policies show that treatment should be increased and law enforcement decreased while abolishing mandatory minimum sentences!"
** {{Narm}} - On the other hand, moments like that have a tendency to utterly destroy the power of the songs. Especially since, like that line, they're often ''spoken'' instead of sung, as if the band wants to make sure you ''know'' what they're trying to say.

* TearJerker - A few of their songs, including "Lonely Day", "Soldier Side" and "Roulette".

* ToughActToFollow - The band and its entire catalog qualify. Are four other Armenians going to get together to form another band? No famous band has--so far--followed in SOAD's footsteps close enough to be described as a clone or a spiritual successor. Then again, no famous band has really tried.

* MisattributedSong - "VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda" was never performed by System of a Down. It doesn't really even sound like them. Of course, a whole lot of people THINK it's System of a Down (or just Serj, their lead singer). It's actually by Joe Pleiman, from an album called ''The Rabbit Joint''; and is toplisted on the TVTropes MisattributedSong page.

* HarsherInHindsight: "Sad Statue" in itself has continued it's relevance into the New 10's. With the line about "a generation that didn't agree" being less about an[[WeHaveBecomeComplacent apathetic generation]] and more about a generation that has had peaceful protests reacted to with violence by the dominant powers. The lyrics are ever relevant twelve years later.