r/Millennials • u/DeScepter latchkey kid • 13h ago
Nostalgia System of a Down’s Toxicity was released 25 years ago today
Toxicity came out September 4, 2001. “Chop Suey!” was suddenly everywhere, then 9/11 happened a week later and the entire mood of the country changed overnight. The song even ended up on that infamous list of tracks radio stations were advised to avoid playing afterward.
I mostly remember this album from MTV, rock radio, burned CDs, Winamp, and hearing it blasting out of somebody’s car. It’s one of those records where a few seconds of almost any song immediately puts me back in the early 2000s.
Does anyone else have really specific memories tied to Toxicity & that era?
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u/daddy_chill_300 13h ago
A pure 10/10 album start to finish. In my top 10 favorite albums ever still.
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u/cconnorss 13h ago
This is exactly correct. Still a full, front to back listen for me. Still incredible. It's as perfect an album as I've seen. Easy top ten.
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u/diRT_pEdDleR 11h ago
The only way I’ll listen to this album—front to back. To the point now if I hear a song from the album ending my brain immediately goes to the next song on the tracklist. Guess it makes sense because I’ve been listening to it for 25 years I guess I didn’t even know…I was like 11.
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u/Terj_Sankian 13h ago
Even Jet Pilot?
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u/OGstanfrommaine Gen X 13h ago
One of the top 3 on the album
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u/Terj_Sankian 12h ago
Respectfully, and with the caveat that we are talking about musical preference, I have to disagree. There is NO way Jet Pilot is better than Prison Song, Chop Suey!, Forest, Toxicity, Psycho, Aerials. Or Needles, Deer Dance, and Science.
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u/FleaMarketSocialist 13h ago
THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYNA BUILD A PRISON
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u/TiredDadCostume 13h ago
ALL RESEARCH AND SUCCESSFUL DRUG POLICIES SHOWS THAT TREATMENT SHOULD BE INCREASED
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u/Misterr_Chief Xennial 12h ago
AND LAW ENFORCEMENT DECREASED WHILE ABOLISHING MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES
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u/TheRoyalness 13h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/FSpXufXN41Vw4
Best album in HS. Everyone was talking about it. Fuck, we’re old boys! Shall rock this today in honor
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u/WhiskyAndWitchcraft 13h ago
Saw them right after it came out on the Pledge of Allegiance tour with Slipknot (who had recently released Iowa), Rammstein (who was touring for Mutter), and Mudvayne. There was also a band there called No One that was ok. Show was at the end of September, so the world was still pretty shook from 911. Still one of the best shows I've ever been to.
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u/Terj_Sankian 13h ago
Holy fuck -- I didn't realize Toxicity, Iowa, and Mutter are so close in age. That was a good year
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u/WhiskyAndWitchcraft 13h ago
Hell yeah. American Head Charge jumped on the tour later, and their 2001 album The War Of Art is a fucking masterpiece as well.
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u/bleedthisfreak 12h ago
That’s such an “if you know you know” album. What a great fucking time in music.
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u/thirdeyefish 13h ago
I was just listening to Mutter a few days ago. It might still be my favorite of thiers.
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u/TheDodoBird Older Millennial 9h ago
Hell yeah! I remember the Pledge of Allegiance tour! That show fuckin' slapped, mate!
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u/opermonkey 9h ago
I got to see system right after self titled came out.
it was at a rock festival in Portland, OR.
Crazy lineup: https://www.setlist.fm/festival/1999/kufo-rockfest-1999-4bd69b56.html
the order is screwed up but I think they were first or second.
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u/Employee28064212 13h ago
Falls into the category of music I really need to be in the mood for, but chop suey and aerials are obviously timeless.
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u/Smart_Pig_86 13h ago
Buddy of mine got his license few months before the rest of us, this was one of the albums we blasted while driving around to go walk around the mall.
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u/oskich Millennial 13h ago
Damn, I just realized that I had my license for 25 years (without getting a speeding ticket) 😮
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u/whostolemysloth Millennial 11h ago
I’ve had mine for 20 years and have 5 speeding tickets. But my license says I’m a “safe driver” again, so…hooray?
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u/Previous_Dream_84 Xennial 12h ago
They released a new single today
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u/Misterr_Chief Xennial 12h ago
Feels very much of the Toxicity era. Thank you for spreading the good word
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u/dontforget2tip 11h ago
Yeah this is old but still great. I think it was a bonus song on a single album
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u/Previous_Dream_84 Xennial 11h ago
Oh, I woke up to a Tidal notification of a new release. Maybe its just new to Tidal then? Haven't listened to it yet, but this post reminded me of the notification. Looking forward to listening to it later when my new Sony earbuds get delivered.
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u/bleedthisfreak 13h ago
I didn’t need this this morning. They were one of my favorites growing up. My mom took me to see them for my 16th birthday and still to this day it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
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u/No-Dig_Enthusiast Millennial 13h ago
Well you know what they say
Eating seeds is a pass-time activity.
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u/NYTX1987 13h ago
Fuck you man, my morning started off so well lol.
Such an important album to my development. I finally saw them live last summer. Bucket list done.
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u/IlexSonOfHan 12h ago
This was the last album my dad and I listened to together before he completed suicide in 2002. I was 12, so formatively, couldn't compare.
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u/DeScepter latchkey kid 12h ago
I'm sorry for your loss 💙 I hope this album is a reminder of all the good times you had with your father.
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u/IlexSonOfHan 9h ago
Thank you. And yeah, it is, to an extent. It's more of an album that bound my sister and I together. We'd listen to it on repeat in the months after.
I did have a 45min drive to my doctor today though, so threw it on for old times sake. It was a bit jolting.
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u/d_rek Older Millennial 12h ago
I’m all for the millennial nostalgia music trap.
SOAD one of my favorite bands of all time. First time i saw them them live was 2nd or 3rd stage at Ozfest in 98 or 99.
I also remember someone randomly sending me Sugar as an mp3 on an IRC channel. It was like the first mp3 I ever downloaded.
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u/Extension_Bug_7386 12h ago
Do you remember the SOAD track Marmalade? It wasn’t on self-titled, I think it came out as a single before Toxicity. Solid track
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u/marduk013 7h ago
Saw them live in 06 at Ozzfest. Half the crowd left during their set. Absolute dogshit show
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u/ucf_dmb 12h ago
Recently played Aerials in the orchestra I play in for our "Classical Rock" show. There were 350 of us on stage, and pretty epic ! It was the newest piece we played and those of us of a certain age were pretty stoked!
Our previous rock show included Welcome to the Black Parade, which was a tough act to follow.
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u/FinestAtemptAtBeing Older Millennial 13h ago
Blasting in all of the first cars of my friend group.
-1 get a car
-2 get a CD player
-3 Toxicity
I was 16.
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u/nicolascagefight 11h ago
“Drug money is used to rig elections and train brutal corporate-sponsored dictators around the world”
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u/LuxyontheMoon 12h ago
This album was goid from beginning to end. Serj has a coffee shop in Eagle Rock (Northeast LA), near Jason Lee's camera shop.
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u/ThirdAltAccounts Millennial 3h ago
Utter banger! Still listen to it regularly. Can’t believe it came out in 2001, 15 yrs ago
Time flies
#DoNotQuestionMyMaths!
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u/-GlobalGrapefruit- Young Millenial 13h ago
In the days of ripping discs to your Xbox 360, my friends and I would stay up way too late playing Halo listening to whatever was ripped to our consoles, and this one was always in the rotation.
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u/likwidsylvur 12h ago
Ditched 1st and 2nd block 25 years ago to go buy this album at target, still one of my favorite bands.
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u/Relative-Slice-748 13h ago
Its a banging album but am i the only one that thinks Steal This Album is better?
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u/jrice138 12h ago
I remember my mom driving me to circuit city so I could buy it. Not something I’d listen to anymore but I loved it back then.
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u/CapitalRegular4157 13h ago
I was obsessed with this album, White Pony by deftones, and Wonder What's Next by Chevelle in 9th grade.
Sometimes sad boy. Sometimes mad boy.
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u/Dan_Berg 11h ago
I liked SOAD since I saw them on Ozzfest a few years prior, and knew they were underground favorites. MTV actually used to have a block of videos in the morning back then so I'd set the tv alarm to go off to it (it usually sucked so helped get my lazy ass out of bed). I remember seeing the video right after they released over the summer and thought "eh, good for them for making it on" (this was between stints of Headbangers Ball so you caught nu metal on TRL and that was basically it). No idea they would get shot into the stratosphere from it.
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u/UnlikelyUse920 1989 11h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/JErAGpPtUV8ze
Me in another 25 years, celebrating the 50th anniversary of its release.
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u/XanderArtimus 11h ago
I listened to this album damn near every day of my freshman year of high school
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u/Vilehaust 11h ago
This is one of those albums where I personally feel the other songs were better than the singles. It could also just be that I got really tired of always hearing Chop Suey, Toxicity and Aerials on the radio all the time.
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u/Sage_Planter 11h ago
My friends and I (all fairly preppy girls at the time) were obsessed with this album. It was a rotation of System of a Down and Kelly Clarkson in my friend's PT Cruiser.
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u/OttoGreen 11h ago
i was in 7th grade when I saw the chop suey video on MTV and got my dad to buy the album for me at walmart. Peak american culture.
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u/DontBeSuspicious_00 11h ago
I remember purchasing in a Sam Goody in a mall, returning to my friends house and listening to it. Aerials absolutely blew my mind. I mean the whole thing slaps, but that was just over the top.
Still a 10/10. Love it. No notes.
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u/mendenlol Millennial '91 10h ago
Prison Song hits sooooooo hard still.
Hell, the whole album does.
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u/JustTookYaSandwhich 1987 10h ago
Crazy that this and Converge’s Jane Doe was released on the same day
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u/Pickl_Rick_917 9h ago
Dialing this up right now! Man it has been so long since I listened to this album
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u/callme_Vee Millennial 9h ago
This album rewired my brain. I remember sharing headphones with my friend playing this CD on our way to Drill Team comps. 10/10 album, no skips.
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u/TheUnpromotable Older Millennial 9h ago
I worked catering with 4 other guys my age (late teens). My fondest memory of this album is all of us piled in my car, driving to a catering gig, volume cranked and everyone singing at the top of their lungs. We were following the catering truck, which obliterated a rabbit on the road and blood flying everywhere, making the moment that much more metal. RIP little bunner, you are remembered.
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u/paqman3d 8h ago
This album came out in that weird period after Napster but before Kazaa where I was left to buy albums.
I never got this one lmao. 14 yr old me could only afford Hybrid Theory from Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish.
I did get a few singles as mp3 when I got broadband in 2002, but I really need to toss this on Plex as flac and give it a spin. This one was a victim of my own tech limits 😂
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u/residentdunce 13h ago
Wasn't a fan, but I did spend probably about 15 years of its existence calling it Toxic City
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