RICK RUBIN Remembers Experiencing SYSTEM OF A DOWN’s First Gig: “I Laughed The Whole Show”

Renowned producer Rick Rubin recently shared a surprising story about his first time seeing System Of A Down perform live, revealing that he “laughed the whole show.” In an interview with Rick Beato, Rubin opened up about what drew him to the band, long before their debut album hit the shelves.

“I like weird things,” Rubin explained (via Metal Hammer) “I like being surprised, I like hearing something I haven’t heard before, I like being challenged by music. When something can do that and I like it – instead of just being annoyed or [hating] it, which can happen when something isn’t for you – I wanted to nurture it.”

Rubin, who co-produced all of System‘s albums from 1998 to 2005, emphasized that his initial interest in the band wasn’t based on any predictions of commercial success. “With System Of A Down, I don’t think I thought, ‘This is gonna be popular.’ With none of the artists I work with do I think, ‘This is gonna be popular.’ It wouldn’t be realistic.”

Reflecting on that first live experience at The Viper Room, a Hollywood venue with just 200 people in attendance, Rubin described how the band’s unique blend of metal and Armenian folk music was so unexpected, it made him laugh. “If you saw System Of A Down when I saw System Of A Down, playing at Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room with 200 people going crazy, and them doing these Armenian folk dances and playing heavy metal… I laughed the whole show. It was ridiculous! But I loved it.”

Rubin also remembered how others initially reacted to System Of A Down. He recalled playing their now-iconic song “Chop Suey!” to Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who described it as “crazy person’s music!”

Moreover, he also recounted the challenges System faced early on, including resistance from L.A. radio station KROQ, which initially refused to play the band’s music: “I remember when we put out the first System Of A Down album, the programme director at KROQ, which was the premiere station that would play that kind of music in the world, said, ‘We will never play this band on our station. Never.’ A year later, System were the number-one requested group on the station.”

Although System Of A Down has not released a new album since Mezmerize and Hypnotize in 2005, and hasn’t toured since 2021, frontman Serj Tankian recently published his memoir, Down With The System, guitarist Shavo Odadjian has a new band named Seven Hours After Violet, and he had said that he’s down to record new music with his bandmates. The band appears to have some unreleased material that rocks pretty hard, but it’s unclear if we will ever get to listen to it.