Toxicity was recorded atCello Studios inHollywood, California. Over 30 songs were recorded, but the band narrowed the number of songs on the album to 14. The album peaked at number one on both theBillboard 200 and theCanadian Albums Chart, selling 220,000 copies in its first week of release. It was certified sextuple platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 2022, signifying at least six million copies sold in the United States.[2] All ofToxicity's singles reached theBillboard Hot 100. The final single, "Aerials", went to number one on both theMainstream Rock Tracks and theModern Rock Tracks charts.Toxicity received highly positive ratings and reviews from critics, among them perfect ratings fromAllMusic,Kerrang!, andBlabbermouth.net. Many critics praised the album's sound and innovation, and it ranked on multiple "best albums" lists.
The promotional shows forToxicity resulted in a number of controversial incidents. A six-hour riot ensued at a free concert in Hollywood the day before the album's release as a result of the show's cancellation due to an overcrowded show; the crowd in attendance was estimated to be at least twice the size that was expected. Another scheduled System of a Down performance was canceled to prevent a similar riot. The band then toured withSlipknot on thePledge of Allegiance Tour, and bassistShavo Odadjian was harassed, racially profiled, and physically beaten by guards when he tried to enter backstage at a concert in October 2001.[3]
"Going into it, I knew Serj wanted to sing more, so I guess that was a kind of a progression and an evolution for the band. I wanted to do all that, yet not lose the heaviness of the band and I guess the hard, punk, metal aspect. You could lose that sometimes when you get a little too eclectic. So we were just trying to balance that fine line and not lose the fans."
System of a Down recorded over thirty songs during the recording ofToxicity but narrowed the number of songs on the album to fourteen.[20] Several of these recorded songs that didn't make it ontoToxicity were re-recorded for System of a Down's next studio albumSteal This Album!, an album released in 2002.[21]Toxicity was recorded atCello Studios inHollywood, California, mixed atEnterprise Studios inBurbank, California, and mastered at Oasis Mastering inStudio City, California.[18] According to bassistShavo Odadjian, the song "Chop Suey!" is "about drug addiction, but [System of a Down took] something really serious and made it a little quacky".[22] VocalistSerj Tankian compared the song toGuns N' Roses' "Mr. Brownstone".[23] "Prison Song" is aboutmass incarceration.[22] Serj Tankian said: "It's about the unfairness of mandatory minimum sentences and how there are about 2,000,000 Americans in jail, and a lot of them are in there for marijuana possession and things of that sort. [...] Instead of rehabilitating men who have drug problems, they're throwing them in prison. That's not really solving anything."[24] Tankian said that "Prison Song" also addresses "how drug money is used to rig elections in other countries by theCIA".[24] "Needles" is about "pulling atapeworm out of your ass."[25] "Bounce" is aboutgroup sex.[22] "Psycho" is aboutgroupies.[8][24] "ATWA" (an acronym for "Air, Trees, Water, Animals") is aboutCharles Manson's beliefs on the environment. Malakian has said that "[Manson is] in jail for the wrong reasons. I think he had an unfair trial".[20][23] "Deer Dance" is aboutthe protests surrounding the 2000 Democratic National Convention.[26][27]
On September 3, 2001, System of a Down had planned on launchingToxicity 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.[28]
Later that month, System of a Down embarked on tour in the United States and Mexico withSlipknot. During their concert atGrand Rapids, Michigan'sVan Andel Arena in October 2001, Odadjian was harassed, racially profiled and physically beaten by some guards when he attempted to enter backstage. 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.[29] Despite this incident, the tour, as a whole, was a success and System of a Down later co-headlined thePledge of Allegiance leg of Slipknot'sIowa World Tour.[30]
Onreview aggregator websiteMetacritic,Toxicity holds a score of 73 out of 100, based on reviews from nine critics, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[31]AllMusic writer Eduardo Rivadavia calledToxicity "hands down one of 2001's top metal releases" and wrote that the album "may well prove to be a lasting heavy metal classic to boot".[8]Toxicity is one of only 21 albums to achieve a perfect rating fromBlabbermouth.net, with writer Don Kaye praising System of a Down in a contemporary review of the album as "one of the few bands that people may still be talking about ten years from now".[33]Drowned in Sound writer Don Kaye praised the band as "probably the most vital band around in the big, wide world of metal right now".[40] Ben Myers ofKerrang! stated that the band had "gone and bettered" theirdebut album and hailedToxicity as "metal album of the year, hands down".[34]Q wrote thatToxicity "matchesSlipknot for manic intensity while employing a freeform approach to songcraft which invites comparison to the lunatic-fringerock of the '60s".[37]
Referring toToxicity as "both manic and schizoid", Keith Harris ofRolling Stone noted Tankian's ability to veer "easily from sing-rap rhythm toKorn-ish hysterics to demonic baritone growl to doomily ruminative" and that "the music insists on forward motion without trapping itself in a thrashy lock-step rut".[38] Tom Sinclair ofEntertainment Weekly called the album "strange and engaging", with a wide variety of sounds which "all adds up to bizarro type of metal that has a warped majesty and strength".[15]Robert Christgau ofThe Village Voice cited "Prison Song" and "Bounce" as highlights and later assigned the album a one-star honorable rating.[41][42]Spin's Joe Gross wrote that the band "have an undeniable nerd-prog charm".[43]Uncut, on the other hand, pannedToxicity as "virtually unlistenable".[11]
All of the album's singles reached theBillboard Hot 100; "Chop Suey!" peaked at number 76, "Toxicity" at number 70, and "Aerials" at number 55. "Aerials" would remain the band's biggest domestic hit until "B.Y.O.B." surpassed it, reaching number 27 in 2005.[49] "Aerials" peaked at number one on theMainstream Rock Songs chart[50] and number one on theAlternative Songs chart.[51] "Chop Suey!" and "Toxicity" were both top ten hits.[51] In 2005,Toxicity went to number one on theCatalog Albums chart.[52] Added to the2001 Clear Channel memorandum,[53] "Chop Suey!" was temporarily pulled from playlists of most radio stations after theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001, as it featured some lyrics thatClear Channel deemed inappropriate following the attacks. The song returned to the airwaves when things settled down.[54]
The album is listed onBlender's 500 CDs You Must Own.[55]MusicRadar held a public poll andToxicity was ranked as the 28th greatest heavy metal album on its list of The 50 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time.[56] The album is ranked number 44 onRolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the Decade for 2000s[14] and 27th on the magazine's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".[57]Toxicity was voted the 27th best album of the year inThe Village Voice's annualPazz & Jop critics poll for 2001.[58]Spin named the album one of The 300 Best Albums Of The Past 30 Years, withToxicity being one of the highest-listed heavy metal albums on the list.[59]Spin also namedToxicity 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.[60][61]Kludge ranked it number five on their list of best albums of 2001.[62]Alternative Press ranked it number nine on its 25 Best Albums of 2001.[46]Mojo ranked it number 93 on its 100 Modern Classics.[63] The album won a 2001Metal Edge Readers' Choice Award for Album of the Year.[64]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.[65][66][67]NME listed the album at number six on its list of 20 Greatest Metal Albums Ever.[68]Metal Hammer declaredToxicity the best album of 2001.[69]The Observer rankedToxicity as one of the Top 50 Albums Of The Decade, at number 34.[70] In 2007,The Guardian placed the album on its list of the 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die.[71]Entertainment Weekly also putToxicity on its list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1983–2008 Period, at number 90.[72]Revolver namedToxicity the eighth greatest metal album of all time on its list of the 69 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time.[73] The album was included onThe A.V. Club's list of the best metal records of the 2000s.[12]PopMatters rankedToxicity at 62 on its Best Albums of the 2000s list.[74] "Chop Suey!" was nominated forBest Metal Performance at the44th Grammy Awards in 2002 and "Aerials" was nominated forBest Hard Rock Performance at the45th Grammy Awards the following year.[75] In 2020, the album was included at the 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list ofStacker, being ranked at 85.[76]
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
^"Arto" is an adaptation of "Der Voghormia" (meaning "Lord Have Mercy"), a traditional Armenian church hymn.[78] It is combined with "Aerials" (track 14) on physical releases as ahidden track.
^"Johnny" is put as the eighth track onToxicity on the album's Japanese edition, pushing all tracks 8–14 on the album's normal track listing one track number forward.[79]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^DeVille, Chris (September 3, 2021)."Toxicity Turns 20".Stereogum.Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. RetrievedMay 12, 2022.And at a time when Americans were ready to indiscriminately discriminate against anyone from the Middle East, the band's Armenian heritage made them easy targets for racial profiling; Odadjian was even harassed and beaten by guards at his own gig in the fall of 2001.
^Lawson (ed.) 2001, p. 10. Serj [Tankian]: " 'Needles' is about pulling a tapeworm out of your ass. Which you can actually do yourself if there is an edge sticking out. Believe me, we've researched it."
^"Classifiche".Musica e dischi (in Italian).Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. RetrievedJune 18, 2022.Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "Toxicity".
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