System of a Down

They completed the lineup with Dave Hakopyan on bass and Domingo Laranio on drums. Shavo Odadjian, also a former student of the same school, initially joined as a manager and later as a supporting guitarist. Soil was a progressive and experimental project, with long and complex songs (6-7 minutes). The band lasted only about eight months, played a single concert (at the Roxy or Café Club Fais Do-Do), and recorded a jam session. In 1994, Hakopyan and Laranio left the band because they felt it had no future. Malakian considered that Soil was not the right vehicle for his vision, while the melodic ideas and riffs from that period laid the foundation for the later sound of System of a Down.

A song with the same name («Soil») would later appear on the debut album of System.After the dissolution of Soil, Tankian, Malakian, and Odadjian formed a new band with drummer Andy Khachaturian (a friend of Malakian). Initially named Victims of a Down, inspired by a poem written by Malakian about the Armenian Genocide. Shavo Odadjian suggested changing «Victims» to «System» to sound more broad, universal, and aggressive, and to have their albums be close to Slayer's in record stores (both starting with «S»).In 1997, Khachaturian was replaced by John Dolmayan, due to surgery, as a result of an accident while practicing jeet kune do, after he had made a hole in the wall and broken several bones in his left hand, completing the original lineup: Tankian (lead vocals), Malakian (lead guitar and second vocals), Odadjian (bass), and Dolmayan (drums).

Between 1995 and 1997, the band recorded several home demos (Demo Tape 1, Demo Tape 2, and Demo Tape 3), which included songs such as «Sugar», «Suite-Pee», «P.L.U.C.K.», «Soil», «Peephole», and «War?», some of which were re-recorded for their debut.They played in small clubs in Los Angeles and caught the attention of producer Rick Rubin (American Recordings), who signed them after seeing them live. In 1998, they released their debut album of the same name, produced by Rubin. It included singles such as «Sugar» and «Spiders», which received radio and MTV play. The album established their eccentric style: aggressive riffs, irregular rhythms, Arabic and Armenian influences, and political lyrics.