Start of the Down

System of a down was formed in formed in 1995 in Glendale, California. The 4 man band consisted of: Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian, and Andy Khachaturian. After the band had formed they quickly started with the making of their demo tapes, many of songs that were featured in the demo made there way onto the band's debut album. They had to replace their drummer after he had left in mid 1997 due to a hand injury. The new drummer to take Andy's place was John Dolmayan. In 1998 System released there debut album called System of a Down; which was a moderate success. Then in 2001 they came out with there Best album: Toxicity. The album has sold more than 6 million copies worldwide. Due to 9/11 their hit single "Chop Suey!" was taken off the radio due to the fact that it contained the line "(I don't think you) trust in my self-righteous suicide." Soon after in 2002 they came out with another album called "Steal This Album!” it resembled a burnable CD that was marked with a marker. Unlike Toxicity, this album wasn't a great hit. In 2004-05 they produced Mezmerize and Hypnotize which were released 6 months apart from each other. Their hit single "B.Y.O.B." from the album Mezmerize won a Grammy Award. In May of 2006, the band declared a hiatus with no words of when they were getting together again.