Toxicity is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band System of a Down, released on September 4, 2001, by American Recordings and Columbia Records. Expanding on their 1998 eponymous debut album, Toxicity incorporates more melody, harmonies, and singing than the band's first album. Categorized primarily as alternative metal and nu metal, the album features elements of multiple genres, including folk, progressive rock, jazz, and Armenian and Greek music, including prominent use of instruments like the sitar, banjo, keyboards, and piano. It contains a wide array of political and non-political themes, such as mass incarceration, the CIA, the environment, police brutality, drug addiction, scientific reductionism, and groupies.
Toxicity was recorded at Cello Studios in Hollywood, 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 the Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 220,000 copies in its first week of release. It was certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in July 2022, signifying at least six million copies sold in the United States. All of Toxicity singles reached the Billboard Hot 100. The final single, "Aerials", went to number one on both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and the Modern Rock Tracks charts. Toxicity received highly positive ratings and reviews from critics, among them perfect ratings from AllMusic, Kerrang!, and Blabbermouth.net. Many critics praised the album's sound and innovation, and it ranked on multiple year-end lists.
The promotional shows for Toxicity 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 with Slipknot, and bassist Shavo Odadjian was harassed, racially profiled, and physically beaten by guards when he tried to enter backstage at a concert in October 2001.
Music, writing, and recording
Primarily considered an alternative metal and nu metal album, Toxicity has also been described as thrash metal, art metal, hard rock, progressive metal, and heavy metal. Toxicity features elements of multiple genres of music: folk, progressive rock, jazz, hip hop, Middle Eastern music, and Greek music. System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian said that he "wanted to add a bit more harmony for" himself "in the songs and that required tastefully mixing in some softer guitars between the really heavy parts". Malakian also cited the Beatles as an influence on Toxicity. Sounds of instruments other than drums, vocals, electric guitar and bass guitar, such as sitar, banjo, keyboards and piano, are also featured on Toxicity. The majority of the album's music was written in the tuning of drop C.
System of a Down recorded over thirty songs during the recording of Toxicity but narrowed the number of songs on the album to fourteen. Several of these recorded songs that didn't make it onto Toxicity were re-recorded for System of a Down's next studio album Steal This Album!, an album released in 2002. Toxicity was recorded at Cello Studios in Hollywood, California, mixed at Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California, and mastered at Oasis Mastering in Studio City, California. According to System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian, the song "Chop Suey!" is "about drug addiction, but [System of a Down took] something really serious and made it a little quacky". System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian compared the song to Guns N' Roses' "Mr. Brownstone". "Prison Song" is about mass incarceration. 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." Tankian said that "Prison Song" also addresses "how drug money is used to rig elections in other countries by the CIA". "Needles" is about "pulling a tapeworm out of your ass." "Bounce" is about group sex. "Psycho" is about groupies. "ATWA" (an acronym for "Air, Trees, Water, Animals") is about Charles 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". "Deer Dance" is about the protests surrounding the 2000 Democratic National Convention.