Bringing about a political and social Bchange, or for that matter, making an attempt to do so has rarely been associated with music. But in the past few decades, a select few have chosen to go beyond mushy love songs or mocking the worship of Christ “System of a down” is one of them who asks us to “Think for ourselves.” Think about our lives, our relationships, our leaders, “our” wars, and our gods. It is not as involuntary as it sounds. They push us to look beyond the blinds of propaganda. Politics and war are usually manipulated and dressed well enough to fool the average citizen. But it is the average citizen that makes or breaks the fate of a nation. Bands like “System of a down”, gifted not only with musical talents but also political knowledge and understanding open our eyes to these facts. They own up to all that is wrong and take the responsibility to show the masses what they see - the plagued streets behind the bright banners and the hungry cries overpowered by the campaigning megaphones. The band, or the phenomenon, if I am correct, consists of lead singer, rhythm guitarist and keyboard player Serj Tankian, lead guitarist and vocalist Daron Malakian, bassist and backup vocalist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan. The lead singer Tankian and guitarist Malakian co-founded the band that was initially called “Victims of the down” but on the suggestion of, the then manager, Shavo Odadjian the name was changed to “System of a down.” Odadjian, later, moved on to become the basist for System of a down and as John Dolmayan joined the band as the drummer, there was no looking back. Their first self titled album was released in the year 1998 and singles such as “Sugar,” “P.L.U.C.K (Politically lying unholy cowardly killers)” and “Spiders” brought a fair amount of fame to the band. At this juncture, System of a down, popularly known as SOAD, were not credited with anything more than “heavy” music, noise in layman's language. But the structurally complicated and gripping music was rather under-rated. SOAD's second and third album, namely “Toxicity” and “Steal this album” brought commercial success to their feet. “Toxicity” made a big start at the #1 position on the American and Canadian charts. They also pulled off the “multiplatinum” title for this album. The tracks “Chopsuey” and “Aerials” helped them stamp their authority in the music business. Forsaken in the eyes and thoughts of Jesus (Chopsuey) they managed to win the hearts of millions. “Boom” from “Steal this album”, was a simple message on behalf of thousands who wanted peace instead of war. The next two albums, released at an interval of six months, hit the charts in 2004-05. These albums, once again made a big start hitting the #1 spot in the American, Canadian and Australian charts. The first week sales were more than 80,000 copies. B.Y.O.B (Bring your own Bombs) was another track criticizing war mongers clenching the prestigious Grammy award. Other tracks such as “Soldier's side,” “Lonely day,” and “hypnotize” further stirred the emotions of millions of fans.There have been rumors of the band splitting up since then, but all such comments have been turned down by the band. They claim to be going on a healthy break that is inevitable after 10 years of music making. But “System of a down” is not dead and they will return. At least lead guitarist Daron Malakian strongly believes so. They have sung about war, they have sung about sex, they have sung about love, they have sung about God, but it is next to impossible to categorize the very vastness of their area. Revolution is the common goal to everything they sing about. It is easy to point out the thousand flaws that exist in the society, but they are not just talking. Check out the “Axis of justice” website for further insight. Bringing about a change in this stagnant and fanatic society of ours is anything but easy. Loneliness and gloom is all one may find here. But this is the soldiers' side, no surrender, no retreat. Or in the words of Malakian “Welcome to the soldiers' side, where there's no one here but me”. (Factual information from wikipedia) Siddarth Ayyagari BA (Journo, Psy and Eng)