In an interview, System of a Down's guitarist, Daron Malakian, explained, "The song is about how we are regarded differently depending on how we pass. Everyone deserves to die. Like, if I were now to die from drug abuse, they might say I deserved it because I abused dangerous drugs. Hence the line, 'I cry when angels deserve to die.'"[6] The lyrics for the midsection ("Father into your hands I commend my spirit" ...) were randomly picked out by the singer, Serj Tankian, from the producer Rick Rubin's book collection after Tankian was struggling for ideas.[7] Although it was not revealed what book the lines were taken from, they are quoted from the sayings of Jesus on the cross (Luke 23:46 and Mark 15:34).[8][9]
Song title
The song was originally titled either "Suicide" (according to the bassist, Shavo Odadjian) or "Self-Righteous Suicide" (according to Rubin), but the name was changed in response to real or anticipated pushback from Columbia Records.[10][11] According to Odadjian, the song title is a wordplay: "Suey" is "suicide", "chopped" in half.[11] Most pressings of the album include an intro to the track where the singer, Serj Tankian, can faintly be heard saying "we're rolling 'Suicide'" while the drummer, John Dolmayan, is counting the band in.
Music video
The music video was the band's first collaboration with the director Marcos Siega, and is set in the parking lot of the Oak Tree Inn Motel, 5265 W Sunset Blvd, in Los Angeles, hometown of the band. The members are performing the song on stage, surrounded by approximately 1,500 fans. Editing devices are used to create the effect of the band members "walking through" one another and teleporting on and off the stage. One scene briefly shows Tankian eating chop suey with some fans, the only reference to the title dish in either the song or the video. The video makes use of the SnorriCam technique, in which an actor will have a camera attached to them with a harness, making it appear as though the background is moving and the actor is stationary. In the middle of the video, the Armenian Flag can be seen. The video reached one billion views on YouTube in November 2020.[5]
Reception
Loudwire included the song in its list of "The Best Hard Rock Songs of the 21st Century", where it was ranked at number one.[12]Loudwire and Kerrang! both named it as System of a Down's best song.[13][14] In March 2023, Rolling Stone ranked "Chop Suey!" at number 37 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list.[15] As of March 2024, “Chop Suey!” has 1.2B streams on Spotify making it System of a Down’s most streamed song.
Controversy
"Chop Suey!" was the first single off of Toxicity, an album that was at number one on the Billboard 200 chart during the week of the September 11 attacks. A controversy surrounding the popular single, especially the line '"I don't think you trust in my self-righteous suicide"', at the time led to Clear Channel Radio placing the song on a list of post-9/11 inappropriate titles. Although it was never actually banned completely from the air, radio stations were advised against playing any of the songs on the list.[16]
"Chop Suey!" was a moderate success on the charts around the world. In Australia, after hitting No. 3 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2001, with virtually no airplay on commercial radio, it debuted and peaked at No. 14 in February 2002. It is System of a Down's highest-charting single in Australia. In the United States, the song peaked at No. 76, making it the band's lowest peaking song on the Billboard Hot 100 due to the fact it was taken off the radio for its political lyrics. On the Modern Rock Tracks chart, "Chop Suey!" peaked at No. 7, becoming the band's first top ten single.[17] On the UK Singles Chart, it debuted and peaked at No. 17.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Lil Uzi Vert version
On June 30, 2023, American rapper and singer Lil Uzi Vert released a cover of "Chop Suey!", titled "CS", as a part of their third studio album, Pink Tape.
System of a Down singer, Serj Tankian, posted on Facebook: "Covers are always the biggest compliment to artists and songwriters." The bassist, Shavo Odadjian, also reacted positively to the cover on Instagram.[40]
References
^Wiederhorn, Jonn (August 13, 2001). "System Of A Down's Schizophrenia Aggravated On Toxicity". MTV. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015. The first single from Toxicity is "Chop Suey", which starts with a guitar strum and a tribal beat and segues to a serrated stop-start punk verse before drifting into an ethereal chorus colored by a bouzouki, a Greek stringed instrument.
^Evans, James (April 17, 2013). "Crashing the Party". Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2015. Not so long ago, I was frequenting an exclusive South Leamington cocktail bar. Compelled by housemates proffering a certain glowing green beverage, I was giving a passionate rendition of System of a Down's alternative metal anthem, 'Chop Suey'.
