Chop Suey! (song)

"Chop Suey!"
Single by System of a Down
from the album Toxicity
B-side	"Johnny"
Released	August 13, 2001 (2001-08-13)[1]
Format	7" CD
Recorded	February 2001 (2001-02) – March 2001 (2001-03) (Cello Studios, Hollywood, California, US)
Genre	Alternative metal[2] progressive metal[3] nu metal[4]
Length	3:30
Label	American
Songwriter(s)	Daron Malakian John Dolmayan Serj Tankian Shavo Odadjian
Producer(s)	Daron Malakian Rick Rubin Serj Tankian
System of a Down singles chronology
"Spiders" (1999) "Chop Suey!" (2001) "Toxicity" (2002)
UK Import CD 1
UK Import CD 1 single cover of "Chop Suey!"
UK Import CD 2
UK Import CD 2 single cover of "Chop Suey!"
Promo CD
Promo cover
Music video
"Chop Suey!" on YouTube

"Chop Suey!" (originally, and sometimes still mistakenly called "Suicide") is the first single from Armenian-American heavy metal band System of a Down's second album Toxicity. The single was released in August 2001 and earned the band its first Grammy nomination in 2002 for Best Metal Performance. Loudwire included the song in its list of The Best Hard Rock Songs Of The 21st Century, where it was ranked at number-one.^[5] "Chop Suey!" is often seen as the band's signature song.

Overview

In an interview,^[6] 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'. The lyric passages 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit' and 'why have you forsaken me?' are a reference to Jesus' death on the cross, as, according to the Gospels, it was one of the seven things Jesus said while dying."

Song title

The song was originally titled "Suicide" but the band decided to change it because they wanted to make it radio-friendly.^[7][8] The song title is therefore a wordplay from Self-righteous suicide to "Self-right-Chop Suey-cide" that replaces provocation by absurdity. The band members claim this change was not caused by pressure from their record company. Noteworthy, certain pressings of the album include an intro to the track where the comment We're rolling 'Suicide' can still be heard faintly before the guitar starts.

Music video

The music video was the band's first collaboration with the acclaimed director Marcos Siega, and is set in the car park of the Oak Tree Inn motel in Los Angeles, hometown of the band. The members are performing the song on stage, surrounded by approximately 1,000 fans. Editing devices are used to create the effect of the band members "walking through" one another and teleporting on and off the stage, an effect similar to one used in the Red Hot Chili Peppers video "Around the World". 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 Soviet Armenia flag can be seen. As of February 2019^[update], the video has more than 800 million views on YouTube and more than 3.8 million likes.

Controversy

"Chop Suey!" is the first single of Toxicity, an album that was number one on the charts during the week of the September 11, 2001 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, Clear Channel Radio stations were advised against playing any of the songs on the list.^[9]

Covers and parodies

The song has been parodied and covered several times.

• Tenacious D covered the song in live performances, with Jack Black singing gibberish lyrics.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic included the song in the "Angry White Boy Polka" medley on his album Poodle Hat.
• Richard Cheese parodied the song in his 2002 album Tuxicity (which itself is a take-off on the album's name).
• ApologetiX parodied the song as "Downer of a Sister" on their album Adam Up.
• Filipino band Parokya ni Edgar also parodied this song, along with "Toxicity", another of System of a Down's songs, and amalgamated it as "The Ordertaker" in their album Halina sa Parokya, about an angry customer at a restaurant that has a menu but sells nothing.
• Casey Shea recorded a cover for Engine Room Recordings' compilation album Guilt by Association Vol. 1, which was released in September 2007.^[10]
• In 2017, Anthony Vincent, the vocalist behind YouTube series Ten Seconds Songs, re-interpreted "Chop Suey!" in 20 different styles.^[11]
• Peruvian singer Tongo recorded a parody of the song at the end of 2016, titled Selfo Radio Suisay, based on the pronunciation of Spanish phonetic sounds of the line "self-righteous suicide".
• Neil Cicierega's "Crocodile Chop" from his Mouth Silence album features the vocals from "Chop Suey!" over the instrumental and backing vocals from Elton John's "Crocodile Rock".

Track listing

Chart positions

"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.^[12] In the UK Singles Chart, it debuted and peaked at No. 17.

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
Italy (FIMI)[22]	Platinum	50,000
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

References

External links

• "Chop Suey!" Official Music Video on YouTube
• "Chop Suey!" Live Performance Video on YouTube
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics