Chop Suey!

For other uses, including other songs titled "Chop Suey", see Chop suey (disambiguation).

"Chop Suey!" is a song by the American heavy metal band System of a Down. It was released on August 13, 2001, as the first single from their second album, Toxicity (2001). The single earned the band its first Grammy nomination in 2002 for Best Metal Performance. "Chop Suey!" is often considered the band's signature song, and its music video has reached one billion views on YouTube.^[5]

"Chop Suey!"
Standard retail artwork
Single by System of a Down
from the album Toxicity
B-side	"Johnny"
Released	August 13, 2001 (2001-08-13)[1]
Recorded	March 2001
Studio	Cello (Hollywood)
Genre	Alternative metal[2] nu metal[3][4]
Length	3:30
Label	American Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Daron Malakian Serj Tankian
Producer(s)	Daron Malakian Rick Rubin Serj Tankian
System of a Down singles chronology
"Spiders" (1999) "Chop Suey!" (2001) "Toxicity" (2002)
Music video
"Chop Suey!" on YouTube

Overview

In an interview, the 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 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]

Track listing

CD single

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Chop Suey!"	Serj Tankian Daron Malakian	Daron Malakian	3:30
2.	"Johnny"	Serj Tankian	Serj Tankian	2:08
3.	"Sugar" (Live)	Serj Tankian	Shavo Odadjian Daron Malakian	2:23
4.	"War?" (Live)	Serj Tankian	Daron Malakian	2:47

UK CD1 • Australian single

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Chop Suey!"	Serj Tankian Daron Malakian	Daron Malakian	3:30
2.	"Johnny"	Serj Tankian	Serj Tankian	2:08
3.	"Know" (Live)	Serj Tankian	Shavo Odadjian Daron Malakian Serj Tankian	3:04

UK CD2

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Chop Suey!"	Serj Tankian Daron Malakian	Daron Malakian	3:31
2.	"Sugar" (Live)	Serj Tankian	Shavo Odadjian Daron Malakian	2:27
3.	"War?" (Live)	Serj Tankian	Daron Malakian	2:47
4.	"Chop Suey!" (Video)	Serj Tankian Daron Malakian	Daron Malakian	3:27

7" single

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Chop Suey!"	Serj Tankian Daron Malakian	Daron Malakian	3:30
2.	"Johnny"	Serj Tankian	Serj Tankian	2:08

Commercial performance

"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 Hot 100 due to the fact it was taken off the radio for its political lyrics. On the Modern Rock Tracks, "Chop Suey!" peaked at No. 7, becoming the band's first top ten single.^[17] In the UK Singles Chart, it debuted and peaked at No. 17.

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2001–2002) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[18] 14 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[19] 18 Canada (Billboard)[20] 21 Ireland (IRMA)[21] 46 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[22] 25 Scotland (OCC)[23] 15 UK Singles (OCC)[24] 17 UK Rock & Metal (OCC)[25] 3 US Billboard Hot 100[26] 76 US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[27] 7 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[28] 12

Year-end charts Chart (2001) Position Canada (Billboard)[29] 183 2002 year-end chart performance for "Chop Suey!" Chart (2002) Position Canada (Billboard)[30] 165

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[31]	Gold	35,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[32]	Gold	45,000‡
Germany (BVMI)[33]	Gold	250,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[34]	Platinum	50,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[35]	Platinum	60,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[36]	2× Platinum	1,200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[37]	5× Platinum	5,000,000‡
Ringtone
United States (RIAA)[38] Mastertone	Gold	500,000*
* 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.

The 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.^[39]

References

1. 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.
2. 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'.
3. Chesler, Josh (May 18, 2015). "10 Nu-metal Songs That Actually Don't Suck". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
4. Lil Uzi Vert Covers System of a Down, Features Bring Me the Horizon + Babymetal on New Album, June 30, 2023, retrieved August 11, 2023
5. Krol, Charlotte (November 28, 2020). "System Of A Down's 'Chop Suey!' reaches one billion views on YouTube". NME. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
6. Rampton, Mike (June 1, 2019). "A Deep Dive into System of a Down's Chop Suey! Video". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
7. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "System of a Down: Reuniting the Band, "Protect the Land," and Armenia | Apple Music". YouTube.
8. Luke 23:46
9. Mark 15:34
10. Kory Grow (February 11, 2016). "Rick Rubin: My Life in 21 Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
11. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "System of a Down's Shavo Odadjian - Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?". YouTube.
12. Kaufman, Spencer (July 1, 2012). "No. 1: System of a Down, 'Chop Suey!' – Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs." LoudWire.com. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
13. Kaufman, Spencer (August 21, 2012). "10 Best System of a Down Songs". Loudwire. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
14. Law, Sam (November 6, 2020). "The 20 greatest System Of A Down songs – ranked". Kerrang. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
15. "The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. March 13, 2023. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
16. It's the End of the World as Clear Channel Knows It Slate
17. "Toxicity — System of a Down — Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
18. "System of a Down – Chop Suey!". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
19. "System of a Down – Chop Suey!" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
20. "System of a Down Chart History (Canadian Digital Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
21. "Chart Track: Week 44, 2001". Irish Singles Chart.
22. "System of a Down – Chop Suey!" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
23. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
24. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
25. "Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
26. "System of a Down Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
27. "System of a Down Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
28. "System of a Down Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
29. "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on July 26, 2002. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
30. "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2002 (Part 2)". Jam!. January 14, 2003. Archived from the original on September 6, 2004.
31. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2002 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
32. "Danish single certifications – System of a Down – Chop Suey!". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved April 15, 2020. Scroll through the page-list below until year 2020 to obtain certification.
33. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (System of a Down; 'Chop Suey!')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
34. "Italian single certifications – System of a Down – Chop Suey!" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
35. "Spanish single certifications – System of a Down – Chop Suey". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
36. "British single certifications – System of a Down – Chop Suey!". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
37. "American single certifications – System of a Down – Chop Suey!". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
38. "American single certifications – System of a Down – Chop Suey!". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
39. "System Of A Down members respond to Lil Uzi Vert's Chop Suey! cover". Kerrang!. July 6, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.

External links

• "Chop Suey!" Live Performance Video on YouTube