Toxicity (System Of A Down)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to McCartney and Gold, the podcast that sets
a great album to fight againstitself in increasingly brutal
knockout rounds, where we end upwith one song smashing its way
to the much disputed title ofMcCartney and Gold champion.
I'm your host, Brett, and I'mjoined by Steve Sumner put a
little make-up and Guy Langley.
That was so beautiful, deeplyunexpected and rather beautiful

(00:27):
for it.
Dave would be here, but he'sjust sent me a note to say that
he can't make it as he's got hisbig wood stuck in someone's
sandy bunker, so I presumethat's a golf excuse.
I don't know who can tell whocan decipher from that.
Steve, it's been a while sincewe've done a recording for the
podcast.
Yes, and Dave usually does somepuns whilst describing the
album.
That from that steve it's.
Um, it's been a while sincewe've done a recording for the
podcast.
Yes, and dave usually does somepuns whilst describing the

(00:48):
album and I know you had certainfeelings about that.
I did have strong feelingsabout that?

Speaker 4 (00:52):
does that mean you're just?
I can't tell where this isgoing, are you?

Speaker 1 (00:54):
kidding, I just think you need to roll with the
punches are you escalating thepuns?

Speaker 4 (00:59):
I've just, I've just dropped the first pun in there,
missed it.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, roll with the punches, the punches.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, this week we're discussing System of a Down's
toxicity.
It's actually been a whilesince we've done a record for
the podcast.
So while we bounce back well, xequals Y.
Do you see, steve?
It's funny because bounce istrack eight.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
I still don't get roll with the punches Pun Pun.
Roll with the punches.
Roll with the punch Fuck me.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
I was looking for a punch in the system of a down
Pardon me, we're looking for asystem of the down pun.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
This is beginner's pun understanding.
I mean no wonder you don't likethem, you just don't understand
them.
We have a chance to shimmy fora classic album to decipher the
science of great music.
It's good isn't it Science?

Speaker 4 (01:39):
science yeah.
Yeah, and you wouldn't need anaerial to know this album has
had a great reception over theyears.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, wrong sort of aerial, but okay, keep going.
Includes Chop Suey, which manyconsider to be the band's magnus
opus or, in this case, theirmagnus choppus.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
Okay, there's no such thing as a magnus opus, but
that's okay, we can keep movingon.
This is pretty poor.
I've got to be honest.
Nothing about this is workingfor me nothing at all.

Speaker 5 (02:08):
Intro done.
Oh it's over.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
What a shame I think it was pretty amicable, those.
They were great.
Yeah, thanks, thanks.
I mean at least someone's.
I mean you probably understoodthe, the opening joke of roll
with the punches.
I mean I was really on asliding scale there, wasn't I?

Speaker 4 (02:18):
after that, if you'd say, if you'd say roll with the,
roll with the pump shares, Imight have got it, but Roll with
the Punches.
When I was looking for a systemof a down punt, I got nothing.
I was like I don't remember anysong called Roll with the well,
that's right that's justnothing.
I got nothing right.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
So, chaps, how do you feel about this album before
doing the research for it?
It's a fucking masterpiece.
That's what you thought beforespoiler yeah, spoiler there's
not gonna be much narrativetension with you then is there,
I'm the, I'm the opposite, right, okay, good, professional.

Speaker 5 (02:51):
I think our friendship, brett, you and I, we
bonded very early on about asort of heavy rock and an alt
rock, um, and you were always ina massive fan of this record.
You always brought it up.
I think I, to be honest withyou, I think I knew three songs
going into it.
Yes, I think you can tell yeah,yeah, and and doing it's been
really fascinating, because I'mnow obsessed with the record,

(03:13):
wow, but I've come at it from apoint of 2024, uh, which is,
yeah, which is, uh, quite aninteresting way to go back in
time and listen to such a it'snice to do that, though, isn
isn't it?

Speaker 4 (03:24):
When you didn't quite get something and you're sort
of forced to spend some timewith it, you're like hang on,
hang on.
Yeah, I think this is amazing.

Speaker 5 (03:31):
I just never go around to it.
So yeah, I've been loving it.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
That's weird.
It fell through the gapsbecause you're a big Rage
Against the Machine fan so rageagainst shane, fucking shane,
fuck you shane, it's my shane.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Where's my shane, oh?

Speaker 1 (03:49):
where's my shane?

Speaker 5 (03:50):
yeah absolutely yeah, and they are that they are.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
In some sense they're like a, they're like a relative
of this band, politically andsonically they're their cousins,
they're distant relatives, Ithink they're they're more geeky
, slightly anti-social cousins,which is saying something,
because rage aren't, you know, Imean they've rage aren't
exactly like super conformist,polished sound.
You know, they're incrediblyangry as well, but system of

(04:13):
that is even more, I would say,impenetrable to the average
listener yeah, and borderlinecomic at times yeah, yes, very,
very funny yeahokay, so we're ready to get
going.
Chaps, I'm just going to gothrough the runners and riders
before we start.
So, um, on this album, we'vegot serge tankian on vocals,
we've got john dalmayan on drums, we've got charvo adagian on

(04:36):
bass, we have darren malakian onguitars and vocals.
The album was released onseptember, the 3rd 2001.
That was quite important.
There are three singles on itchop, suey, aer Aerials and
Toxicity.
It was produced by Rick Rubinand sold about 10 million copies
worldwide.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
Oh, that cheeky Rick Rubin.
He's everywhere, he just can'thelp himself.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
He can't help himself producing another great album.
I've just had a thought aboutRick Rubin when doing the
research for his album.
He's basically because we havean arch-villain in Phil Spector.
Yes, Surely Rick Rubin is ahero.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
I think he is the yin to the Spector Yang he's got to
be.
It's just incredible.
He pops up everywhere, but in aheroic manner, Not in a.
I've just gone and killed awoman and done bad things to let
it be kind of a way no, what alegacy.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, I mean if if that's what qualifies for being
a hero, then it's a pretty lowbar anything better than that is
hero.

Speaker 6 (05:37):
That's right hey guys , it'sca.
Let's kick this thing off withthe qualifying rounds.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
First round.
Are we ready for a round one?
Yes, bring it on, danny O.
Okay, so we've got two songs inthe quarterfinals.
I have to put two songs in thequarterfinals straight away,
just to put that out to you.
We've got opening rounds whichwe're going to get to Help us
get to the quarterfinals.
Okay, so round one is Psycho vsgroupie cocaine crazy psycho

(06:10):
groupie coke Makes you high,makes you high.

Speaker 7 (06:14):
Do you really wanna think and stop?
Stop your eyes from flowingPsycho groupie cocaine crazy.

(06:35):
Following the right movements,you clamp down with your iron
fist Drugs became convenientlyavailable for all the kids.
Following the right movements,you clamp down with your iron
fist Drugs became convenientlyavailable for all the kids.
Oh yeah, they're trying tobuild a prison.
They're trying to build aprison For the one in 11.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Another prison system , another prison system, another
prison system.
But Steve, tell me first aboutthe album release, tell me the
times it was in, tell me a bitabout what happened.

Speaker 4 (07:16):
Well, tell me the date again, because that should
resonate.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
If it hasn't, resonated with you already, then
it should.
3rd of September 2001.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
So how many days have you got?
Four, six, six, seven, eight,nine, ten.
You got seven days beforesomething reasonably important
happens.
Um, and you also, on this album, have a song about a jet pilot
flying over the sky and you'regonna do bad things, yeah, and I
mean, I mean it's, it's not sothe, the, the position in which
this, this, came.
So you've got a couple ofthings going on.

(07:45):
One, september, the 11th isabout to happen, so that this
record will be eternally sort oflocked in with that.
And two, system of a Down ontheir way up and LA is a very
febrile, dangerous, crazy placeat this time, and System of a
Down just tried to play thisenormous free concert and, uh,

(08:08):
this gets shut down by the firedepartment and um, they thought
basically 3 000 people going toturn up.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
They go it's a threat of free concert to launch the
album and like 15 000 peopleturn up and then firemosh was
like nope and then a riot ensues.

Speaker 4 (08:22):
So there's a lot of nuttiness happening around this
time and around this album,because System of a Down, a
classic example of a band thatwere expanding and growing
faster than they even themselvesrealised.
So to book 3,000 people's worthof room for a gig and 15,000
people turn up, it's like, oh,hang on a minute.
And Toxicity isn't even out yet, so they're about to break big.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's pretty crazy.
I why?
Because I was wondering whythey'd gone from being.
Essentially, they started offas a kind of like a metal punk
band, but they'd been touringfor years and they hadn't had
huge exposure of their firstalbum, um, and I was wondering,
why did so many people turn upfor this free show?
And it's because I think theyreleased chop suey as a single a
month before yeah, yeah, I wasgoing to ask what.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
When did the singles come out?

Speaker 1 (09:07):
yeah, um, all right, so let's talk about these two
songs.
Uh, psycho versus prison songguy.
What do you reckon?
What's your fave?
What are you?

Speaker 5 (09:15):
thinking.
Prison song, I think is anamazing opener, I mean it just
it just sets the tone thatthey're not here to be.
Because I mean, look, if youlook at it from their previous
album, which again I'm even lessfamiliar with, I had a quick
sort of scan through and I waslooking into why Rick Rubin, you
know, came on board and thatwas because he found them funny.
When he watched them live helaughed, he couldn't believe.

(09:38):
And you listen to the firstrecord and it's yeah, there,
it's what the hell is this?

Speaker 3 (09:43):
it's a bit, it's a bit more.

Speaker 5 (09:44):
It's a bit more ragged.
It's a bit you know.
It's got elements of socialstuff in there.
But this song opens with acomplete sort of right we're
here to do business.
There's real shit going on.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
But when you're serious, yeah, when you laugh,
when you listen to them, it'sjust for just sheer incredulity
at how they're managing to pullthis off and make it so good.
It's's like fucking hell.
This is amazing.
How are they doing this?
Absolutely, it should beterrible.

Speaker 5 (10:09):
Yeah they're essentially a three-piece
musically.
Obviously, vocals are separate,but guitars, bass and drums
even live.
It sounds phenomenal.
And Prison Song is, I think, areal statement and like okay,
you're setting the tone for therecord.
By contrast, psycho I.
I think this album, if you hadto be brutally honest, is maybe
one or two songs too long andthat would be one of my my picks

(10:32):
for the chop personally butit's still you know, I think by
that point I've I've got it,I've kind of got.
They've done it so well.
Every track is expertly crafted.
I'm sure we'll get onto it, butthere's so much elements of
armenian folk and and amazingpolitical you know, just
downright sort of statements andfacts and you learn so much by

(10:53):
by listening to this record andthen you come to that song and
you, you, just you just need abit of a break from it.
I think so.
For me, prison song is is isthe one, um, it's just a punch
to the face.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
It's an amazing opener.
It's an amazing opener, Steve.
What are you thinking?

Speaker 4 (11:10):
I'm thinking that having Guy on the podcast is
going to be problematic if I'mjust going to agree with
everything he says word for word.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
We need some conflict .

Speaker 4 (11:17):
We need someone else.
It's classic.
It's height of the age of theCD, as a number of albums that
we have done are guilty of.
It's height of the age of theCD, which means one thing which
is ooh, we've got 73 minutes toplay with.
We must fill all of them.

(11:37):
He has 27 tracks, oh, fuck off,you know.
And this album, I think, isborderline perfect, apart from
two things.
One one, it is slightly toolong, uh, and and two, so I I do
just slightly, I think I thinkit would be.
I mean, I'm nitpicking becauseI think it's, I think it is

(11:58):
nearly perfect.
But I do think, equally, in analbum where the funny stuff is
really funny and lands reallywell and the political stuff is
really hard hitting and landsreally well lyrically, however
good this is musically, and it'sstill brilliant musically, I
think.
I think as a song.
You know there's been plenty ofsongs about groupies, but a
song about a cocaine obsessedgroupie with lines like you

(12:21):
don't have to be a hoe, has hasaged relatively badly, yeah, uh,
comparison to every other songon the record.
So if something has to go it, Ithink it would probably be only
from a lyrical standpoint.
Yeah, a better record withoutpsycho yeah, that's true, um, I
did read.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
I did read one fact about psycho that apparently the
guitarist is playing the guitarwith a vibrator.
Vibrator, yeah, which, which isgreat.
I love it.
I do, you know what?
It's such a system of a downthing, but at the same time it
does reek a little bit.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
It's right in the intro.
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (12:54):
We're going to have ideas.
Vibrator, yeah right.
How about you, Brett?
What's your view?

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah think prison song is just an amazing way to
open an album.
It has, it does everything.
It sets out the stall of thisalbum so perfectly.
It has just incredible riffs.
It's just this clenchedtightness.
It's got this extraordinaryserge chonking and vocal where
he just is just almost just kindof bellowing at you and just
coming out of theseextraordinarily mad lyrics.
You've never heard lyrics likeit in your life.
Like, just like, like, if it'snot, it's like a this huge
polemic argument against theprison system in the us and it's
just like wow, how are youmanaging to fit these into

(13:31):
lyrics?
But he does it.
He does his deliveriesextraordinary some of the lyrics
he has to deliver, but he's,he's mandatory minimum sentences
like he's, he's like when haveyou?
ever heard that in a song before, or since it's unbelievable,
never before, or since it's justincredible.
But it's just got everythinggoing on for it what this album
is all about, so yeah.

Speaker 5 (13:55):
He could turn the ingredients of a pack of.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Chew-Its into a heavy rock song, oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (13:58):
The man is gifted in many ways.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Okay, good, so that goes through three nil.
So round two is bounce versusjet pilot Pogo pogo pogo pogo
pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo pogopogo pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo
pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo pogopogo pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo
pogo pogo pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo
pogo pogo p.

Speaker 7 (14:20):
So it is bounce versus jet pilot.
That's really hard actually.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
So many of these are going to be really, really hard.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
It's so ridiculously hard.
I just, I just um, it'sinteresting, you two think it's
slightly too long.
I mean there are 14 songs.
We're not having the hiddentrack on there, because I said
this is an album just post the90s, where, yeah, oh, hidden
tracks, great, put them on.
We're not going to use that.
It's 14 songs we're discussingtonight, but there's just,
there's no, there's no kind offat on on the bone, is there?

Speaker 4 (15:26):
it's just, it's no, no, I mean, it's a testament to
it.
Oh, that it's too.
It's too.
It could be described as toolong if you're nitpicking which
we are, for the sake of ourpodcast, but do I listen to it
thinking, oh, I wish it stoppednow.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
No, god, no, absolutely not bounce, which uh
is a song about, apparently.
I read today group sex it is,but isn.

Speaker 4 (15:45):
But that's not originally what it was going to
be about.
Oh, what was it aboutoriginally?
Well, I see this is, this is.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Cumble dryer.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
Yes, no, it's about an orgy.
It's about it's about an orgyand all, which is brilliant,
because it's like once Irealised that it's like oh yeah,
she had so many friends, butthere's only one pogo stick, so
he's got to go to this orgy andthey're all bouncing up and down
, but what happened is that thisis where I think some of this
creative difference stuff that'sbasically stopped them making

(16:16):
music for a very long time.
Now I think the difference isbetween Serge Tankin, the lead
singer, and Darren Milakin, theguitarist, because Darren
Milakin is clearly a, a metallifer.
He's an absolute metal devotee.
Yeah, and, and Serge, I've seena couple of interviews where he
says when it gets like toometal, I just find it a bit
silly, uh, and so I try to kindof subvert that.

(16:38):
So I wrote a lyric about pajamasfor this for that song, and and
basically the others,particularly darren malek, him's
like no, and, and he's likewhat do you mean?
No, and they're like don't,don't fuck with the metal.
And it's like, okay, that's notmetal enough for you, so you
have to make it an orgy because,even though it's still really
silly, yeah, it's, that's a bitmore metal for them, and and so

(17:00):
I think that's a, that's aproblem.
Uh, for them his kind of humornot quite taking metal seriously
enough versus their, like,serious devotion to it oh,
they're very serious, like.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
I mean that there were a lot there were, like they
were spent four months in thestudio and um malakian and and
the drummer john domainapparently had a fight at one
stage where malakian was hittingover the head with the with the
mic stand.
They both had to go to hospitalget stitches and they're like
oh, this is one of the greatestdays in our band.
We've just had a fight.
It's amazing we're in hospital.
They're like that's how much,how intense they were about in

(17:31):
the metal and things like that.
So Tonkin comes at it from atotally different perspective.
He is coming at it from hedescribes himself first as an
activist, so that is why he's sointeresting and coming at it
with these vocals yeah, I meanthat's what?

Speaker 5 (17:48):
no, no, I just, I think, you know, like you said,
like they talked about, well,serge talks about having to have
the levity in the album,otherwise it becomes, you know,
it becomes unlistenable to himand to a casual.
But uh, they don't half do theuh, the well.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah, they do too.

Speaker 5 (18:04):
It goes back to.
I mean, just imagine being in acrowd and there's just a song
that goes and you're like 19, 18, 19.
Yeah exactly that alone makes mewish I could go back in time
and just be there to watch itlive, because it's just and the
fact that's coming out ofalthough it'll be layered and

(18:25):
tracked to a point it's it's sopowerful, it's so primal and
sort of basic, but so effectivewell, jet pilot was also had the
problem that uh chop suey did,in the sense that it was uh in
in the ferment of of that thatmonth in america it got.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Some of the lyrics are just so kind of weird.
Yeah, so weird, I think.
What's the lyrics that wiredwere the eyes of a horse on a
jet pilot?
Yeah, what is that?

Speaker 4 (18:52):
what is that?
What is sergeant it's?
It's dadaism.
Sergeant, sergeant's well intolike dada stuff you know like
what does dadaism mean, you canjust get mad lyrics
it's a surreal, it's asurrealist movement and it was a
, you know, because obviouslypeople think of surrealism, they
think of dali, but dali waslike a visual painting,
surrealist, but there was plentyof other surrealist stuff going

(19:13):
on and the dadaists were likelike super, super surreal, like
doing just wacky shit for noreason at all.
You know, there's no reason toany of this, we're just being
batshit and and and he, he lovedall of that stuff.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
So I think I think he does that in his lyrics quite a
lot I'm just raising my, I'mjust raising my hand on the
zingle because I'd like to now,therefore, play my beatles card
because, like john and puttingnonsensical lyrics together,
this album was heavilyinfluenced by the beatles,
apparently, yeah well, you'reright, andachian did say
definitely.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
the guitarist did say that he really listened to the
Beatles a lot and learned how toput a lot of things into a song
a lot of different elements, alot of different rhythm changes.

Speaker 4 (19:54):
Yes, and harmonies as well.
Malachian and Tankian'stwo-part harmony is very, very
Lennon-McCartney, to be honest.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Okay, so We've got to vote on something, haven't we?
Well, I really love Jet Pilot.
I love it.
So, you're going Jet Pilot?
Are you A hundred percent?

Speaker 5 (20:12):
I'm going to go Bounce.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
Oh gosh.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
Steve, just because it's the most sort of batshit
folk heavy metal.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
It is so good.
All concentrated, reduced tothe essence of this band there's
like zero tension in this forme tonight, because every song I
really like, every song it'sphenomenal yeah I don't know
what to say.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
I don't know what to say because, steve, are you
gonna?

Speaker 1 (20:37):
bounce or you're gonna go with a jet pilot
they're both.

Speaker 4 (20:39):
they're both enormously, but for slightly
different reasons.
Oh Lord, Come on.
Move it on.
I genuinely don't know.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Well, you're going to have to.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
I'm going to go bounce.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Well done, okay, oh, wow, that's interesting.
Okay, so save my facts aboutbounce later.
I mean, what I wanted to sayabout Jet Pilot is the
sequencing on this album isphenomenal.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
And you get three songs in it.
Sing on this album isphenomenal and you get three
songs in it's song four jetpilot, and you get prison song
and needles, deer dance you'relike fucking hell.
That's intense.
And immediately as soon as deerdance ends, jet pilot comes in
and it's it's on the chorus, onthe vocal.
It's not like a.
It's not like a one, two, three, four beat in, it's just
straight in and you're likefucking hell.
Every time it comes on I haveto poison someone.

(21:23):
This is too intense even for me.
I need a fucking breather fromthis heaviosity.

Speaker 5 (21:28):
I can't cope well the first half of the album is
pretty much in the same key aswell, so that, well, this is it.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
This is why that this is this thing that we, that we
said earlier about we somethingwe said off mic we said we
should keep for the podcast isthis thing about.
We all know the songs reallywell, we all love the songs, and
yet, even knowing this album aswell as we do, it can be hard
to tell the songs apart, andthose first three songs, and
actually most of the songs onthe whole album, are all in

(21:56):
exactly the same key, which isridiculous.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
I've got a note here from dave.
He says can you talkextensively about guitar tuning?

Speaker 4 (22:03):
so please carry on okay well, well, basically, uh,
it's, it's an answer.
Black sabbath trip, which is, Iplay in drop d a lot on the
acoustic.
I'm getting to it I'm doingwhat's happening, I know, I know
you do it yeah, no, butbasically you take your low e
string and you drop it down to dso that you have a nice, a nice
d drum note if you're playingin d, and basically what Malachi

(22:25):
and the guitarist in System ofa Down likes to do is play
everything in drop C, which isto say that you drop your low E
string down to C and then playeverything in the key of C and
you drop all the other stringsdown a tone no, no no

Speaker 1 (22:39):
oh, do you everything goes down to drop.

Speaker 4 (22:43):
C oh, that's not the drop C, I've played.
I've played a drop C, where Idrop it to C and then stay in
standard tuning for the rest anddrop D.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
Did you ever do that back in the 90s?

Speaker 4 (22:56):
oh drop fuck me, can you get these jokes?

Speaker 1 (22:58):
quicker fucking.
You look to me so blankly likewhat I was like.
We just talked about Drop D.
That's a good choice.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
Right.
Yeah, that's better Mate, youneed to just point or something.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Hold up a sign I'm going to get a flag.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
The audience won't see it and I'll know, and it'll
sound smoother Humour incoming,please react appropriately.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
Okay, so bounce goes through.
I can't believe it.
So round three is coming upalready, fast upon us.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
It is X versus Shimmy .
Tell the people, tell thepeople that arise.
We don't need to multiply, wedon't need to multiply, we don't
need to multiply, we don't needto multiply.

Speaker 7 (23:52):
Education for medication, and you are gone.
Education's education nowyou're a go.
Education for medication, andyou are gone.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
Don't be late for school again go.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
What, steve?
What had their career been upto this point?
What have they been doing?
What type of band were they?
How had they got going?
Well, they've been doing.
What type of band were they?
How they got going well they've.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
They've had, uh, one album, one self-titled album out
.
They've got a huge undergroundfollowing.
As guy said, rick rubens turnedup and said god, you're
hilarious.
And then produces every singleone of their albums after from
from the you know the beginningto when they, when they break up
or go on hiatus, quote, unquote, um, and yeah, they're
following just around the timeof Toxicity kind of explodes.

(24:49):
And Chop Suey particularly isthis single that causes a lot of
controversy, gets a huge amountof sort of MTV-type play and
they just blow up.
You know it's a classic exampleof band blows up seemingly
overnight, when really they'vebeen around for years and years
and years, you know, workingreally hard and it just looks
like they've blown up to usbecause we weren't with them

(25:09):
yeah, I think, I think it's.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
I think it's a very much a thing about luck as well
and just the timing and the like, the undertones in america at
that time, and they admit itthemselves that the world just
kind of coalesced.
I think you do need a bit ofluck to break through in in that
coming out of a scene,especially when there's probably
a plethora of bands.
Obviously they were verydistinctive from a lot of other
bands but you would never putmoney on them maybe when Rick

(25:31):
Rubin was seeing them or justbefore then to be the
quintessentially 2001 heavy rockband, really no.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
But they spent about three years that first album
they did quite quickly of Rubin.
He'd kind of seen them early onand signed them and gone.
Fuck, they're amazing.
I mean he was laughing becausethey were so good and he just
loved it.
It was so kind of crazy.
Like you do when you see areally great band that just
blows you away, takes yourbreath away, you kind of you
have to just laugh at theaudacity of what they're doing.
I think that's what he did.

(25:59):
But, um, yeah, and they did alot of a lot of touring.
They supported slayer a lot, um, and because they were
different and weird and had thisarmenian sense to them as well,
they have a lot of armeniankind of melodies and kind of
they get into some of thearmenian folk rhythms.
But they would get booedsometimes on stage and they
would just go right, just playthat song again, then just

(26:21):
repeat it love that.
There you go, have that, fuckyou.
So x versus shimmy says thesetwo are both kind of the most
punky.
I think they're the short, kindof short, straight in shimmy,
shimmy I mean it's justextraordinary that was those,
the uncanny impressions.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
It's very good, isn't it?

Speaker 1 (26:43):
that wasn't me putting search tankankin audio
file in.
That was actually me doing.
That was oh, that was, oh, mygod impressive.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Did you hear that English podcast?
The other day where all threeguys did Serge Chankin
impressions that were uncannyokay right.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Um, I'm gonna go for X because I just think it's just
phenomenal.
I mean, both of them move a lotand they've got loads going on
in their two minutes, but Ithink X is just it's insane.
I, I mean both of them move alot and they they've got loads
going on in their two minutes,but I think x is just it's
insane.
I'm going shimmy.
Okay, you're gonna shimmy,shimmy guy.
What are you going with?
You're gonna have to guysgrunting there.

Speaker 5 (27:14):
He's not sure it's tough, yeah, because it's yeah.
These again, I think.
If I'm honest, I think shimmyfalls into what psycho falls
into.
For me a little bit, it'sprobably my second least I want
to say least I am really, I amreally, we're talking hairs you
really want to.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
You want to.
Instead of saying leastfavorite, you want to say 13th
favorite so it makes it looklike you actually really like it
.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
But it's down the list.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, but you've got to cage it the right way I can.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
I really enjoyed, like I said, when I had this
album recently.
I was coming to it completelyfresh and it was really
interesting, the ones that stuckin your head and the ones that
maybe didn't.
Like we said, it's very hard todistinguish, and I think X I
just really like it as part ofthat first half, until you get
to Chop Suey.
It's almost like you're in amusical, you're in a concept
album, it's album, it's justright, it's just, it's uh, it's

(28:10):
fully intense and it'scompletely immersive.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, you're in, you're in their world.
That it's a dystopian sort ofla and it's just it's, it's part
of that.
So for me, I'm gonna have to gowith x.
Yeah, I think you're right.
All the way up to chop suit isjust a total intensity about it.

Speaker 5 (28:16):
Yeah, and that's why we'll get on to.
I'm sure we talk about chopsuit, but it's such a nice
palate cleanse almost, becauseit's just, ah, you can just take
in some melody and I mean thatin a positive way you've been
good, you can

Speaker 1 (28:30):
have a little bit of melody right now.
All right, so um round four isdear.
Dance versus needles.

Speaker 7 (28:42):
Circumventing circuses lamenting in protest.
A visible police presence wantsor fear.
Battalions of riot police withrubber, bullet, kisses, baton,
courtesy service.
With a smile, I'm the staplecenter.
You can see America With itsdire, poor, avenging disgrace.
Peaceful, loving youth againstthe brutality Of plastic

(29:04):
existence, forcing littlechildren With their folly
automatics.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
They like to force the weak around, forcing little
children With their follyautomatics.
They like to force the weakaround.
I cannot deny All the eviltraits and the filling of the
crates when you do come out andyou slither up to me in your
pippin majesty.
But I'm gonna grow Till you eatthe little bee.

(29:30):
Oh, when will?

Speaker 7 (29:31):
I be free in you, a parasite.
Just find another host, justanother stool to post, cause you
, my taper tells me what to doyou.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
My taper tells me where to go.
Pull the taper, buddy, you'reright.
So where, where are this bandfrom?

Speaker 5 (29:56):
guy uh, originally from uh, of armenian descent.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
They are of armenian descent.
Yeah, so they are from la, butthey are from armenian community
, armenian family, where theyactually went to same armenian
school, or three of them did,but never really met there in
that weird way that you can beat school with people and then
ignore them because they're in adifferent year to you and then
years later, school, classicschool.
So years later they um, theykind of got together in

(30:25):
rehearsal rooms.
They met in rehearsal rooms andthey were like oh, we're all
from OK.
So they shared a lot of similarkind of outlooks on life and
actually the hidden track onthis album, arto, is an Armenian
hymn.
They've got a famous Armenianmusician.

Speaker 5 (30:41):
I mean there's a great interview with Serge
Tankin and Rick Rubinin on thebroken record podcast which I
did skim through um earlier inthe week, and it was fascinating
to know that.
You know he was born in, sergetankin was born in in lebanon,
in lebanon and and was a sort ofhis family escaped the civil
war there and his earliestmemories are bombs landing in

(31:01):
and around and shelter and youcan.
You can see why.
You know he's dedicated hislife to activism and trying to
process that experience and putthat across uh and analyze it uh
, which I think is fascinatingand just just generally there
the armenian element and thatsort of eastern european balkan
area sort of sense of melody thescales, they use the

(31:24):
instrumentation, they use it'sjust it is the reason why they
are so special, because youdon't hear those scales anywhere
else in in rock let alone metal

Speaker 1 (31:32):
no, no no, and he.
He said, yeah, he was, he was.
He was brought up in lebanonfrom armenian heritage, heard
the sound of the bombs droppingand that allied with the, the
kind of suppression of, of thearmenian genocide um, which
happened, I think, in 1915, notin an empire yeah 1915, uh, over
a million people uh weresupposedly killed, killed in

(31:52):
that and all of that made himwant to become an activist.
He's an activist, he seems as anactivist first and a musician
second, but armenian heconsiders his first language.
So if he's like says, some ofthe lyrics kind of come across
as slightly weird.

Speaker 5 (32:06):
100%, yeah, I think.
Even with the Adalism on top ofthat, you've got this second
language thing, which again isan incredible play on words and
tenses.
Whether he mixes them up or not, it doesn't really matter, but
they're really fun to listen toand decode.
What did you say?

Speaker 1 (32:24):
What's he on about?
Why were the eyes of it?
I mean, you just got to comeback to that again because it's
just so mental, okay.
So I mean we've okay, good, sowe've sensitively discussed that
and I think it's the perfecttime for me to launch, uh,
tonight's quiz.
This isn't mine, this isn'tyours, this is armenia okay,
lovely, lovely lovely okay,steve's got that one, yep and he

(32:47):
really laughed.
Listen, he didn't hear it, butI saw it.
He did honestly laugh he'salways laughing.

Speaker 5 (32:53):
There was no audio representation of laughter he
just he looked.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
He looked.
Okay.
Well, I interpreted him lookingslightly less pained as him
laughing.
Get on with the quiz.
Okay, squeeze, okay.
Uh.
Is the capital of armenia,yeratin yeravan or yeratwat
yeravan?

Speaker 5 (33:12):
guy, I'm gonna concur .
I think it's yeravan.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
No, correct okay um love, a geography quiz okay, is
the population of armenia threemillion, seven million or
thirteen million?
Three, I'm gonna say thirteenoh, unlucky for some guy, it is
three million is it that small?
It's that small.
Okay, I didn't know, is it?

(33:35):
Well, this is why we do this,isn't mine.
This is armenia as a quiz.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
It's a great start with the title.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
Work backwards from the title I mean, that's as much
work I'm ever gonna do anything.
Um, is it predominant religion,christianity or islam?
Oh, that's got you.
That's got you what you'rethinking, homelessness.
What Is a predominant religionChristianity or Islam?
Oh, I don't know, that's gotyou, hasn't it?
What are you thinking,homelessness?
What are you?

Speaker 5 (33:56):
thinking Come on, you should know this Christianity,
I'd go with Islam.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
It is the first country to ever become a
Christian country.
Oh.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
Wow.
So not only is it Christianit's the first ever Christian
country.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Okay, which of these countries does it not border?
Because it's famously as weknow it's famously landlocked,
isn't it famously landlocked?
We all know that it's asobvious as the fact that the
system of down are very similarto the beatles.
Okay, so which is?
Does it not border turkey, iranor russia?

Speaker 5 (34:31):
iran iran.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, it does just border iran.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
I'm afraid it doesn't border russia oh, it's georgia,
it's georgia, isn't it georgia?
Georgia on your mind and thereit is I looked at a map um for
this and, yes, it's georgia,which, of course, I then thought
well, that's russian territory,so I counted as russia balls.
It was a trick, question trick,yeah turkey, ir, iran,
azerbaijan and Iran.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
It's a trick question because we all know the largest
disapora of people outside ofArmenia are probably in Russia,
and then subsequently LA, whichis where they all formed.
Now the last question in thisquiz, my favourite one, is how
many letters are in the Armenianalphabet?
Oh, 32.
Ooh, that's the strongest guy.
This is for the win.

(35:15):
By the way, just to ratchet upthe tension, I forgot to do that
.
That's a terrible hosting.
You're on two each.
This is for the win.
I'm going to go with 27.
Ooh, 27, 32.
Closest to the answer is thewinner, and it's 36 letters.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
Yay, get in there.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yes, one of the most sophisticated alphabets in the
world.
There you go, it is yourArmenia.

Speaker 4 (35:36):
Well done.
It's my Armenia.
That's lovely, beautiful,lovely stuff.
I enjoyed that very much, thankyou.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Fantastic Right.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
So we're on to round four deer dance versus needles,
and both of these have got kindof that Armenian influence
really heavily in the moment, Ithink it's that that the thing
again, though, between thepolitical stuff and the funny
stuff, because, you know, one isabout pulling a tapeworm out of
your arsehole and one is aboutpolice brutality again, or
military brutality, and so you,you've got to try to.

(36:03):
You know, they're both awesomemusically, so you just got to
decide like we did with withbounce and jet pilot, you've got
to decide which way you'regoing.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Um which one you love more?
Which one could you?
Which one could you?
Would you not be able to livewithout hearing again for me?

Speaker 5 (36:19):
for me, dear dance is my, is my, is in my top uh,
they like to push the weekaround I mean that again.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Another example of when you ever can hear any other
band coming close to a lyriclike that.

Speaker 5 (36:35):
It's amazing and the title as well.
Again, I've never used Googleso much for listening to an
album, whether it's for thelyrics or for the titles, but
being isn't it a deer dance, afolk dance?

Speaker 4 (36:46):
it's something to do with spirituality and peace and
it's an offering given some sortof to quell a hunter's thirst,
or something oh wow, so I guessit's I guess it's hinting at the
peaceful protest element of,yeah, the sort of brutality
towards peaceful protest, andit's kind of, again, a very deep
use of a, of a word or a title,um, to describe what is, on the

(37:09):
face of it, very frivolous andvery fun song, but it's actually
got a hell of a lot ofemotional heft I think I don't
want to talk about politics onit for too long, but I think
there is a I I totallyunderstand the rage against the
machine, um parallels that youdrew earlier and that people
draw in general, but I thinkthat there is a uh, without
getting too political for toolong, I think there's a very

(37:30):
specific difference, which isthat oh, it was lazy and easy of
no, no, no, I I know, but Ithink it's, I think I'm not, I'm
not just criticizing youdarling

Speaker 3 (37:38):
although I do enjoy doing that.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
It's one of my favorite past, obviously um, but
, but I think there's a majordifference, which is to say that
that rage against the machinessort of you know what would be
described as obviously very,very left-wing politics are.
It's quite, it's often quitefinance focused, because it's
it's about rich and rich andpoor and money and abuse of that
a lot of the time, whereassystem of downs is, I think,

(38:02):
much more socially focusedbecause, uh, it's much more, you
know, the abuse of uh, abuse ofpolitical power and abuse of
military power.
I know that, killing in theName, things like that as well,
but I think that they don't seemanywhere near as interested in
the monetary side of it asRage-R.

Speaker 5 (38:21):
Yeah, I see Rage Against Machine as more sort of
primary colour and then this ismore secondary colours.
It's a bit more nuanced, it's abit more layering to it and
it's a bit more.
Yeah, there's just so much youcan learn from hearing I think a
rage song.
You can learn some things andthere's politics, but it's very
sort of like this is the message.
This is the message.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
This is the message but it's not a message you
didn't.
You're right.
It's not a message you didn'talready know.
It's just being amplified,whereas I think the thing here
is I didn't know about thearmenian genocide, which is kind
of their point yeah, so for me,I I'm going to go with Dear
Dance.

Speaker 5 (38:50):
of the Two, that's my pick.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
I'm going to go with Needles, because Pull the
tapeworm out of your ass is oneof the greatest.
Again, another lyric that youknow damn well.
You're never going to hear onanother album.
There are so many lyrics onthis where it's like you know,
instantly you can listen to agreat Beatles song and think,
well, that's a great lyric, butI may, I may hear that somewhere
else.
Possibly.

(39:16):
That's like this lyric afterlyric on here, it's like never
gonna hear that anywhere elseyeah, that that is.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
You'll never hear it anywhere but that lyric
specifically, rick rubin saysnearly broke up the band oh,
yeah, yeah because they weresaying the, the.
The lyric originally,originally from Tonkin, was pull
the tapeworm out of my ass.
Yeah, and they're like no, fuckit.
The other two, like Darren andJohn no fucking way we're
singing that.
No way, fuck off.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
Well, again, it's not metal enough.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Stop messing with the metal.

Speaker 4 (39:45):
It makes us sound weak and pussy ass.
You know we can't do that, no.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
If you're in metal, you can't admit to having an ass
, let alone a tapeworm comingout of your ass.
Pull it out of your assactually.
Yeah, that's good, but if youcan pull it out of someone
else's ass, that's metal.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
Yeah, or jam it back in, jam it back into their ass,
stick it back up there.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
As long as it's not your ass and their ass.
That's a definition of what ismetal.

Speaker 5 (40:08):
So is it like when something's bollocks, it's shit,
but if it's the dog's bollocks,it's bloody brilliant.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
Exactly, exactly that these are small distinctions,
but they make all the difference.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
They make a big difference.
They make a big difference.
Who's?

Speaker 5 (40:19):
ass.
Did the tapeworm come from?

Speaker 1 (40:21):
Yeah, yeah, so I've got the deciding vote, haven't I
?
I've just realised.
I should be doing better thanthis, as I am hosting.
I'm hosting should know that Ijust worked it out.
Um, it's, it's gotta be.
I mean pushing all the childrenwith their semi-automatics.
They like to push the weekaround.
I mean I can't not vote for it,can't?

Speaker 3 (40:39):
not vote for it dear darts gotta go for it.

Speaker 4 (40:42):
I'm sorry steve had to look.
There's nothing.
I don't think anything on thisalbum I'm gonna be, you know,
upset about because everything'sso great there's not a huge
amount of tension is there withour discussion here.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
It's quite poor.
We need to maybe confect somekind of complete disgust of
something I think at some pointCall something really shit.
That chop shoe is rubbish.
It's so uncatchy, so few ideas.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
Right, well, edit everything you've just said out.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Read the next two titles and I'll tell you, one of
them is a stinker.
Let's do that.
Go, go, go for it.
Round five is Atwa versusAerials.

Speaker 7 (41:22):
Hey, you see me Pictures crazy All the world
I've seen before me Passing by,I've seen before me passing by.
I've got nothing to gain, tolose All the world I've seen
before me passing by.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
You don't care about how I feel.
I don't feel it anymore.
I don't feel it anymore.
Life is a waterfall.

Speaker 7 (42:08):
We're one in the river and one again after the
fall, swimming through the void,we hear the word.
We lose ourselves, but we findit all Cause.

(42:29):
We are the ones that wanna play, always wanna go, but you never
want to stay.
We are the ones that want tochoose, always want to play, but
you never want to lose.

Speaker 4 (43:00):
Well, I would say Atwa is an absolute pile of wank
.
What a piece of shit.
That song is Atwa for at wank.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
At wank, that's it, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
That's what it stands for.
He couldn't even be bothered towrite the rest of it or split
those two words up.
I can't look at it.
You're serious, aren't you?
Yeah, that's what it stands for.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
He couldn't even be bothered to write the rest of it
or split those two words up.
I can't look at this seriously.
No, he's definitely not.
Actually, nerd FACT is anacronym from Charles Manson.
It is Is.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
It Is that the origin yeah, and it stands for?

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Is it air trees?
Water animals, Air trees, water, animals.
I think Air trees water animals.

Speaker 4 (43:32):
Yeah, and Malakian got a lot of flack for this
because I think this came fromhim rather than Maflakian
Maflakian.
He got a lot of flack for thisbecause of the Manson thing and
it's a bit of a naive thing tosay it's like when people A bit
of flack for supporting CharlesManson, yeah, but that's the
thing.
His thing was that CharlesManson had these really, really
strong ecological views.

(43:53):
And he also killed some peopleand ran a cult and he's like I'm
really into Charles Manson'secological views, but let's not
talk about the cult thing andit's like when your grandma
posts something from theNational Front on Facebook
because she hasn't done, youknow, her research, and it's
like, and it's saying somethingthat looks, you know, about

(44:16):
soldiers coming back from warand it's like, oh you know, back
in my day this wouldn't happenand it looks sort of relatively
sensible.
But the fact that it's like thenational front, you lie, you
fucking idiot man.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
come on yeah, I mean you do diligence.
Yeah, I do remember readingsomething about it.
He's like going well, you know,I mean I obviously I don't
agree with that part of it, buthe had some good ideas like yeah
, I mean you know you won, youknow you run one murderous cult
and everyone, that's alleveryone can ever remember, yeah
, you know, hitler and mussolini, they made the trains run on

(44:40):
time, but there was some, youknow some pesky stuff, you know
some some things I didn't agreewith.

Speaker 4 (44:45):
But uh, you know, hey , those trains it's pretty
extraordinary.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
It's quite extraordinary reading that, but
he did it is about that it'spretty extraordinary.
It's quite extraordinaryreading that.
But he did.
It is about that, it's um.

Speaker 5 (44:56):
It's probably the most kind of folky sounding yeah
, I think of it as the PaulSimon, simon and Garfunkel song.
It's kind of got that la-di-da,da-di-da.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
It's got this sort of breezy all the world before me
passing by.
Yeah, but he has thatincredible, uh role of the art
on I don't feel there anymore,which took me ages to work out
what the lyric is.
I don't feel there anymore andI can't roll my house.
So I can't do it, but I waslike I was like what is that
lyric yeah?
Because he has that, he hasthis, like I don't know how he
manages to roll his arm thatmany times in the space of time

(45:27):
he's got.

Speaker 5 (45:27):
It's quite something, but they're two of the two of
the sort of you know the melodicside of the record, aren't they
?
They're kind of two, yeah, moresung.
I mean we talked about earlierbut you don't.
Track six is the first timethere's actually a vocal well,
arguably a vocal sung melodywhich is chop, suey, so all.
And then all of a sudden youkind of get into the second half
, which is a bit of that.
But then it can.
You know, aerials again is moreof a classic rock, if you were

(45:49):
to say there's a classic rocksong on here that would be the
one because of the tempo.
It still does its crazy stuff,but it has much more of a trad
journey.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
If anything it's going to get on Magic FM, it's
aerials.

Speaker 5 (46:01):
Is that what we're saying?
Absolutely, that's the one.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
I think it's going to get on Radio 2.
Yeah, it's fodder playlists.
Um, it's really easy for me.
This I mean I do like at work,it is nice, but I mean reading
it's a bit about charles mansonslightly puts me off, or you
know.
Again another beatles reference, isn't it?
Um, I'm gonna go with aerials.
It's obviously the superiorsong, surely?

Speaker 5 (46:24):
yeah, I think I think I'm gonna come first.
Bit of tension, well, no, but Ithink I'm gonna concur.
The only reason I hesitate isbecause it's so nice when Atwa
comes in for a piece of it andit's such a nice, the
instrumentation and the sort ofthe levity that it brings and it
has a sort of again, it's just,it's a different side to them

(46:44):
that you kind of think it'sweird.
It's an album of very much ofone thing and also, at the same
time, of of not that one thing,because it just twists and turns
and the instrumentation is allover the place in in a great way
.
Um, but aerials is just such apowerful when they do the heavy
riff down, down, down, down.

Speaker 6 (47:03):
It's just just yeah, it's, it's, it's just a fact
that rubin suggested that.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Um can I?
Can I interject at this pointwe have reached?

Speaker 4 (47:11):
I would say our limit for singing guitar lines or
doing tanking impressions.
I think we've gone over theline and we need to stop all of
us?

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Are you saying it would be irritating to listen to
perhaps not perfect impressions?
I've listened to so manypodcasts recently where you've
just got this.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
You've got this in some some mid-laid white bloke
doing singing the guitar line.
It's like I know how it sounds.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
I listened to the album before listening to the
podcast.

Speaker 4 (47:46):
I don't need you to sing it to me please.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
So yeah, okay, um it's not just you guys, it
doesn't.
It doesn't have the sameproduction values as rick rubin
and system of a down spendingfour months in a studio doing an
impression of system of down.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
It would sound equally good to system of a down
, almost certainly that's.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
That's, that's the power of the rubin okay, well,
good thanks for admonishing us,uh, for just basically enjoying
ourselves.
What are you voting for?

Speaker 4 (48:16):
when you say it like that, I feel bad.
I don't, I don't care becauseI'm right.
Aerials obviously obviouslyokay.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
So aerials go through .
So last round of the qualifyinground is round six and we're
going to get to thequarterfinals.
Because it's the last round,it's Forest versus Science.

Speaker 7 (48:44):
The last round is Forest vs Science.
Why can't you see?

Speaker 2 (48:47):
that you are my child .
Why don't you know that you aremy mind?

Speaker 7 (49:01):
Tell everyone in the world, making new possibilities
a reality, predicting the futureof things we all know, fighting
off the disease, programming ofcenturies, centuries, centuries
, centuries.
Science has to recognize thesingle most Important element of
human existence Letting thereins go to the unfolding Is

(49:24):
faith, faith, faith, faith.
Science has failed our world.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Science has failed on my very eyes.
Science has to recognise thesingle most important Ooh I
think that's relatively easy.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
What are you going for, steve?
What would be your gut on thosetwo?
Because we can get into thedetail a bit more, maybe in the
next Forest.

Speaker 4 (49:49):
Forest has grown on me probably most of the things
on the album actually over timeand I think so it's on you.

Speaker 6 (49:56):
Yeah, the front, I see what you did there thanks,
he held up

Speaker 4 (49:59):
his he held up his joke flag guys.
Um, yeah, but I think science.
Uh, I liked equally to forestat the beginning, but I haven't.
I don't like it any more thanwhen I started.
Um, yeah, so it's great.
Yeah, that would be it.
That's what I've got to say.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
I said it now.
Okay, so you're going withForrest Guy, let's just push
through on this one.
Let's push through to thosequarterfinals.
What are you going with?

Speaker 5 (50:22):
I'm probably going to go with the same answer,
although it does at times sounda little bit reminiscent that
they found a formula, sometimesin terms of melodically
reminiscent that they found aformula, sometimes in terms of
yes, of melodically it's similar, is it chop suey?
It's kind of it's got elementsof it.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
It feels like a relative, I think.
I think atwa and forest havestructural similarities to chop
suey yeah but I yeah it stillhas enough merit, I think, to
win in this scenario.

Speaker 5 (50:45):
I still think it's brilliant, uh, and when I did my
first full listen through, itwas the one that I was really
surprised.
In the second half I was like,oh, I really like that.
I didn't know that one at allalso Forrest.

Speaker 4 (50:55):
I love the little vocal ticks.
He sticks at the end of lines.
Come with me, my little friend,and he does these little.
He makes those lines moreinteresting by doing this little
little tick or little likeexclamation at the end of each
line can I just bring you backto your previous?

Speaker 5 (51:13):
point about doing impressions shut up, I've blown
it listeners.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
I've blown it.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
I mean you were you were cool for at least two whole
minutes there and you fucked upyourself langley's called me
out and I've got you out, not onthis album, it's just.
You just want to imitate itbecause it's so infectious.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
Yes, it is happening more than usual.
Yes, that is fucking beautifulthis album okay.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
So, um, yeah, forest, I totally agree, we'll get.
We'll talk about that in thecourse it's going through the
quarterfinals.

Speaker 5 (51:39):
Uh, science so yeah, it feels it feels dismiss it,
but it's really good.
Oh, it's so good like it's gota real.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
It's got probably the most face melting, face melting
riff on the album.
Oh fuck, I've just done it.
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry, guy, you're theonly one left.
We need a swear jar.
You're the only one left now.
But now we can't do anymorebecause Steve's told us.
It's awful, he's been the worstdefender from the point that
you told us off since theinterjection.

(52:07):
When I say that from the pointyou told us you did it first and
then I was agreeing, and then Ifucking did it.
I agree.
It's awful.
It's awful broadcasting.

Speaker 4 (52:16):
It's terrible we've all done it.
I hate it.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
You're the only one left guy who's got any integrity
all the people like it.

Speaker 5 (52:21):
Let's do more of it.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
Oh, that's it but it is an incredible riff that
specifically that moment remindsme of Rage Against the Machine.
Quite a lot that riff.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
Yeah, and on the sorry Brett.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
No, no, I love it.
I mean, I mean, it's got somecrazy, it's got, actually it's
got some quite woo-woo hippielyrics.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
Well, this is the point I was going to make
because I what annoys me, um, isthat you got, you know again I
referenced earlier.
You know you get the parentthrowing the cd out of the
window, because when angelsdeserve to die, I don't want any
of this satanic nonsense.
And it's like firstly, he'sagain, he's, he's singing that
in the character as a narrator,and it isn't.

(53:01):
There's nothing satanic aboutthat, it's just someone who's
suicidal we'll get to the songchop serial.
Someone who's suicidal and isis miffed about a whole lot of
stuff.
So they're, they're throwingall sorts of accusations around,
again in character.
And then you look at somethinglike science which is
essentially saying you know,spirit runs through all things
and faith is the most importantthing that we have.

(53:22):
You know, science has failed us.
What we need right now is isthe solidity of religion to hold
society together.
But your parents don't want tohear that, they just want to
hear psycho, groupie, cocaine,crazy.
Do you know what I mean?
And it's like come on, use abit of common sense here, don't
just do the parental thing youknow?

Speaker 1 (53:39):
no, I just think those bloody parents in the
early 2000s what were?

Speaker 3 (53:42):
they like outrageous.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
A repressive bunch of bastards, terrible.
Um, I mean to be honest, mostcouldn't have deciphered any of
the lyrics because they'repretty impenetrable impenetrable
.

Speaker 5 (53:54):
I have actually just Googled them because I could not
remember what he says, and it'sthe spirit moves through all
things, but he says it at suchspeed that I thought it was
something about hysterical ballbearings.
Who knows.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
Yeah, yeah, it could be like telling you to go fuck
yourself, and that's what itfeels like.
It's like he's so powerful hisvocal, but it's basically, yeah,
his spirit moves through allthings and science has failed
Mother Earth.
I mean, it's so hippie If youput that over a nice acoustic
guitar in the background.
You're like, oh, this is like alate 70s or an early 70s folk
rock lyric.
You know it's incredible.
Yeah, but it's going out, it isrun, you are through to the

(54:34):
quarterfinals okay, so we'reready for the quarterfinals.

Speaker 6 (54:36):
A upshot just popping out a goal to tell you it's now
time for the quarterfinals,okay so we've waded our way
through the opening round andwe're now at the quarterfinals.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
This is a business end to the competition.
If this is a great, this isjust going to get harder and
harder.
I think to kind of whittle down.

Speaker 5 (54:55):
Yeah, now it gets really serious and really hard
it's going to get as brutal assome of their riffs.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Okay, so first quarter final, and it's been
waiting there.
Glowering in the background isChop Suey vs.

Speaker 7 (55:25):
Prison Song prison zone Undescribable with a shake
up.
Why'd you leave the kids up onthe table?
Here you go, create anotherfable.
You wanted to Grab a brush andput on a little makeup.
You wanted to.
Undescribable with a shake up.
You wanted to.
Why'd you leave the kids up onthe table?
You wanted to.
Well, I don't think you trustIn my self-righteous suicide I

(55:50):
cry.
Angels deserve to die.
Minor drug offenders fill yourprisons.
You don't even flinch All ourtaxes paying for your wars
against the new non-rich.
Minor drug offenders fill yourprisons.
You don't even flinch All ourtaxes paying for your wars
against the new non-rich Mother.
I crack my smack, my bitch,right here in Hollywood.
The percentage of Americans inthe prison system, the prison

(56:12):
system has doubled since 1985.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
They're trying to build a prison.
They're trying to build aprison.
They're trying to build aprison.
They're trying to build aprison For you, I mean a living,
indeed.
I mean, we're just talkingrecently we were just in the
last round about Forest and thatbeing kind of like a Similar to
Chop To, but it's like aprototype, isn it, of that song.
Sometimes bands will do thatthey'll write certain songs that
are similar to it and thenthey'll perfect it, like queen,

(56:36):
for example, on, on.
They did the prophet song,didn't they?
And bright and rock, and thenthey perfect it with bohemian
rhapsody.

Speaker 4 (56:41):
That's just literally nothing that queen perfected,
but let's move on wow, that's abummer I did the last time.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
I did the introduction, I did say the man
who puts the cons intocontroversy and that was quite
the most controversial thing tojust drop.
I love it.
Do you want to back it upanyone?
I mean, is there going to be alot of crossover between System
of Down and Queen?

Speaker 5 (57:06):
I think there is Queen can fuck off?

Speaker 4 (57:07):
No, I think there is.

Speaker 5 (57:08):
Don't spell down.

Speaker 4 (57:09):
Queen, there is.
Queen needs a fuck riser.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
He's on it.
I love it.
I mean, dare I goad him intomore of a rant?

Speaker 4 (57:15):
Save it for the day.
Well, edit that out.
I didn't say anything.
I don't want to deal with thepost.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
You do not want to deal with that?
Okay, so Chop Suey versusPrison Song, it's just.
I mean, just what can you sayabout Chop Suey?
Guy, talk to me, I'm struggling.

Speaker 5 (57:32):
This is just the song .
It's an amazing song, but it'sthe song, I think, of all the
early 2000s and MTV still beingaround and going to Reading
Festival and just that whole erawas defined by this one mad
song about such angst and sortof darkness.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
It's a phenomenal song.

Speaker 4 (57:53):
Were you aware of it at the time then?

Speaker 5 (57:56):
yeah, oh yeah.
So this is one of the threesongs.
I mean, I knew the singles.
I mean, hands up, I only reallyknew the singles when this
album came out and, uh, thething that really struck me was
the lyrical content.
That was what made them soobviously the rhythm changes and
the stops and the starts andthe kind of weird sort of banjos
and 12 strings in there andstuff, but it was the lyrics

(58:17):
that really, just, um, saidthings that you didn't normally
hear in these sort of songs, um,and they were really, uh, yeah,
really kind of captivating, Ithought this song passed me by
completely, really, um, so it'spassed you by.

Speaker 4 (58:31):
This song I had not.
Basically, I came to this albumaround about 2010 in its
entirety.
I don't remember why I pickedit up and listened to it.
I stuck a CD in for a journeyto go and see my aunt and I
listened to the whole thingRelaxing journey.

Speaker 5 (58:48):
How fast were you driving?
Calm me down.
How did you, how, how?

Speaker 4 (58:50):
fast were you driving .

Speaker 1 (58:51):
Calm me down.
How did that happen?
So you put the CD on, yeah, andyou're like I'm just going to
put the CD on and it must havemelted your brains off?

Speaker 4 (58:58):
It did, and I remember listening to it time
after time, after time again.
But the thing is Chop Suey.
I guess it did stand out, butto me I didn't know.
Oh, so you had no knowledge ofwhat was the single I I had not
ever heard that song orexperienced that song in any
manner.
So I listened to the whole ofToxicity back to front about six

(59:18):
times on that trip without ChopSuey having any sense that that
was the big single.
So I guess it did stand out,but it didn't come with any
weight, any more weight than anyother song.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
Okay, that's interesting.
Well, this album I mean Ibought this album because I
heard this, this single.
I mean I just I loved it at thetime when it came out um, and I
had the album and it it was sointense.
I just really could only listento two or three songs at a time
.
At that time I just couldn'tprocess any more of it.
But I would always listen to tothe three singles.
I'd go to them and the otherswere just kind of became

(59:51):
impenetrable.
It was about, probably about2010, 2011.
I started to listen to the wholealbum in its entirety and it's
one of those albums which youyou'll probably understand this
both you we're kind of luckyenough we can get a guitar and
play along to it, and sometimesyou can really enjoy an album
from listen to it or dance to itor whatever.
But if you can play along withit on the guitar, that's another

(01:00:12):
way of enjoying an album.
Yeah, I particularly enjoyeddoing that with this album.
It's incredibly enjoyable to dothat, but it took me a long
while to be able to digest it inone sitting.
It's just so powerful andintense, it's just full on.
And they actually said Iremember reading john del maine
saying that, um, they are.
They specifically wanted it tobe under 45 minutes because they

(01:00:34):
understood that such heavymusic is so hard to digest more
of, really, than that type oflength so that they were very
specifically wanting to keep itshort.

Speaker 5 (01:00:43):
Yeah because they didn't.
They wrote, I think, over 40songs recorded, 30 with the idea
to kind of whittle it down to atight great that's right that's
the rubin approach.
Why not have the best possiblematerial you can onto the album?

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
yeah, um, yeah even though it is shy.

Speaker 5 (01:00:59):
Just under 45 minutes and we have said earlier we
felt it could be shorter.
I think that's just because therichness and how powerful, what
that, what there is, there isit's so it's.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
I think 35 would be perfect.
I think 35.
35 minutes 45 is still long.
It wasn't long at that time butthat's still quite long for an
album, bearing in mind that youknow you've got albums coming
out in sort of the early 70s orwhatever.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
You know it was 30 minutes, 35 minutes and
apparently, according to Shavothe bassist, they had to all
listen to the album anonymously.
They had to all listen to thealbum anonymously, vote on all
the songs anonymously and thengive it a grade a, b or c and
then they'd pull out those votes, and then the ones.
All the ones that got the a'swere definitely on the album,
and then any left.
They would then kind of discussfurther as but that's how they

(01:01:45):
all did it, because it was likethere's just so many good, good
songs, we don't know what to puton.
So that's how they kind of theygraded it.
That's brilliant for me.
I love that.

Speaker 5 (01:01:53):
So chop, so obviously got triple a, I would imagine
yeah it's like a very good alevel shooting here it has it's
going to trump um prison song.

Speaker 4 (01:02:04):
Uh for me I'm voting prison song for me, uh, yeah is
that?

Speaker 5 (01:02:07):
is that a wonderwall syndrome?
What is that?
What's the reasoning there?

Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
no, as I said, it's not wonderwall syndrome, because
I hadn't heard Chop Sue thatmany times For me.
I just think Prison Song issuch an incredible way to open
an album.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
It is amazing.

Speaker 4 (01:02:22):
And I have heard songs about suicide and those
kind of.
You know the lyrics in Chop Sue, don't get me wrong.
I love it, it's brilliant.
But on reflection that's thesort of lyric I have heard in
other contexts.
And I tell you what I havenever heard mandatory minimum

(01:02:44):
sentences anywhere, or any ofthat stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:02:46):
He's just done it again.

Speaker 4 (01:02:48):
I know, I know, I know I thought I'd got away with
it.
Two-one, you're ahead of me.
But the thing is, you knowthere are so many lyrics.
You know drug treatment shouldbe increased.
You know drug treatment shouldbe increased, all this sort of
stuff you know Well done.
It was about the war on drugsand Bush and all of that stuff.
And it just blew my mind.

(01:03:08):
I'm like what am I listening to?
Because, because, musically,musically, when I first heard it
, when I put that cd and I waslike what the hell's happening?
But then, lyrically I was, Iwas just like I've never heard
this in in a metal context ever,maybe in like a rap song or
something, but I've never heardthis in metal ever.
And when I got to chop, see, Iwas like this is also awesome,

(01:03:29):
brilliant.
But I I have heard some ofthese types of lyrics before.
So if I'm being forced to makethat distinction, I'm going to
have to go Prison Song.
And also because, you know, Icare about how an album opens
and ends and I think it's theperfect opening.
So for me it's Prison Song.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
Only just, but it is.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
The point being, I'm not being contrarian.

Speaker 5 (01:03:49):
Fair enough.
No, that's valid answers.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
I'm afraid Prison Song isn't going to do any more
time because I'm going to votefor Chop Suey.

Speaker 4 (01:03:55):
I didn't think it would get through.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
It's good to vote.
It is great.
It's a great opening song.
It probably should have been inthe semi-final.
I don't know who's organisingthis draw, because they're
amateur.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
Yeah, you cocked it up.
It's outrageous.
You cocked it up, I cocked itup.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Okay, so the next quarterfinal is Bounce versus X,

(01:04:37):
so bounce is interesting.
We've discussed it.
Um is a song about group sex,but still managed to turn up on
the soundtrack for, uh, theanimated film the secret of the
secret.
Um.
Secret life of pets.
Animated film the Secret of theSecret Secret Life of Pets.
Thank you, for fuck's sake, I'mgetting old.
My brain is really failing me.

(01:04:58):
So how did that happen?

Speaker 5 (01:05:00):
I don't know.
I mean, I am the Secret Life ofPets Hearing that for the first
time and I'm trying to work outif you're bullshitting or
whether that was genuine.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
No, I mean it's on the soundtrack.

Speaker 4 (01:05:13):
Maybe they thought it was just about pogoing and a
pogo stick.

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:05:19):
That is one brave music supervisor.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
He's made a real cock up, hasn't he.

Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
He's held up his joke flag.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
I'm hoisting it aloft , joking coming.

Speaker 4 (01:05:33):
Amusement about to happen.
I want X to be about populationcontrol.
I don't know that it is, I'venot managed to work that out,
but I would like to think that X.
I think it is, isn't it?

Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
It's something I don't really fully understand.
There's something aboutmultiplying at the end, isn't
there?

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Yeah, we don't need to multiply.
We don't need to multiply Hencethe X.

Speaker 4 (01:05:50):
Yeah, we don't need to multiply, we don't need to
multiply, we don't need tomultiply.
Hence the x.
Uh, you know, I guessmathematically, but you know we
also don't need to nullify.
So I, I, I haven't got there,uh, I'm, I'm going, I'm going
bounce again because I, I love,I love, I love a bit of pogo
origin.
How's it go?
I'm not I'm not, don't youdon't you dare goad me into that

(01:06:11):
sort of thing, uh uh Brett,what are you?

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
going to go for.
I'm going to go for X.
I just love, I love it.
It's got a really tight,treble-y intro and then it just
opens this huge bassy landscape.
It's just, it's got a real nicebit of production.
I love it.
I'm going to go X.
Um, I, I'm going to go X.

Speaker 4 (01:06:30):
I mean, I'm not.
She has so many friends.
I've done it again.
I mean Three ones.

Speaker 1 (01:06:37):
He's completed the hat trick Already.
I am watching everything I doand say now.

Speaker 4 (01:06:44):
I'm just not thinking about anything.
I'm saying I would like to editthis episode so that I can
leave me in telling you both offand then remove me failing to
take my own.

Speaker 1 (01:06:56):
I like it um and just keep me in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah clever.

Speaker 5 (01:07:00):
I think I'm gonna have to go with bounce just
because, having watched live.
I spent today watching livevideos of it and it just looks
like, oh, it must be so much funlive.
Yeah, it's just's just, it isfun, it is silly.
Maybe it hasn't got the weightof X, but I bloody love it.

Speaker 4 (01:07:16):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
Bloody love it.
Okay, so Bounce goes through2-1.
Okay, the third quarterfinal isDeer Dance versus Aerials.
Come on talk to me.
I mean this is.

Speaker 4 (01:07:48):
It doesn't get any easier.
Okay, I know why I'm voting foraerials.
It doesn't get any easier.
Okay, I know why I'm voting foraerials because if you watch
the live footage of them playingaerials at the 2015 concert
they did in the main square in,uh, the capital city that we
learned the name of earlier,that I forget yaro, yarovan,

(01:08:09):
yarovan, yeah, yarovan.
And when they're doing aerials,there's some footage on youtube
if you watch it.
But behind it's behind the drums, and they're doing it in this
incredible storm, um, and he'sgoing aerial and you see, shush,
don't do it.
I'm in the middle of a thingfour, I know I've done it four
times now.

(01:08:29):
Fuck these guys.
For what?
For your own game.
I hate you both.
So he's doing the big drumthing in the middle and this
enormous piece of lightningcomes down in the distance as
they're doing aerials and it'sthe most atmospheric thing you

(01:08:50):
will see.
I can't dissociate aerials fromthat live performance now
because, again, the historicalweight of what they're doing and
the storm, it's just whoa, andAerials is just so atmospheric
and great.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
What a great tune yeah.
Great, great, yeah.
Okay, I mean, that's fairenough.
Guy, what are you going withDeer Dance?

Speaker 5 (01:09:12):
I'm going with dear dance, yeah I am pushing all
that, oh shit, I've got to makethis.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
There's just, there's just that.
Why are you going?
Well?

Speaker 5 (01:09:19):
like I think it is the a really good amalgamation
of the folk rhythms and melodiesand sort of semitonal note
shifts.
He's doing the way the band allkind of come together.
What's your favorite bit?
It's the little the way theband all kind of come together.

Speaker 4 (01:09:32):
What's your favourite bit.

Speaker 5 (01:09:33):
It's the little bit before the ending when it kind
of goes.
How does it go?
Clever.
I nearly did it, you know whatif you hadn't been raising your
eyebrows on camera?
Then I would genuinely havejust gone into it.
So you sabotaged yourself there.
I gave myself away.
It's the bit where they goreally quiet before the last
chorus and it's the bit wherethey go really quiet before the

(01:09:53):
last chorus and it's like awhisper and then it just comes
back in.
I mean, pop music is best, Ithink, when it's simple and
repetitive and it is one head ofa message.
But it is told again and again,and again and it just becomes
infectious because of how theydo it, how they sound together,
how they deliver it and thedynamics they have in a band.
It's just amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
I love it oh, bloody hell, I thought you were going
to make this easy and vote foraerials, because aerials is just
, it's a huge song and so andit's a great.
Oh, it is absolutely beautiful,and one of the singles uh, dear
dancer, does have thatincredible lyric how's it going?
Pushing all the children,pushing all the children with

(01:10:34):
their semi-automatics.
They like to push the weekaround.
I'm trying to do it in no way,trying not to do it.
I cannot be.
Having done a bad tonkinimpression, I didn't tank that.
Um, I'm gonna go with that joke.
Tank though I'm gonna go.
Yeah, I'm gonna go with aerials, just because it's just like.

(01:11:01):
Yeah, I think if I had to takeone of those two to a desert
island aerials is just sobeautiful although deer dance
probably is more representativeI'm torn and I can't help it.
I can't help it.
Aerials, okay, right, the finalquarter, final is forest versus
.
Oh, the first time of a tiredheart Eating seeds is a pastime

(01:11:44):
activity.

Speaker 7 (01:11:47):
The toxicity of our city, of our city?
No, what do you own?
The world, how do you own?

Speaker 1 (01:11:56):
this order.
This order, steve.
Yeah, toxicity has turned up.

Speaker 4 (01:12:01):
Finally, I'm going to go with Toxicity straight off
the bat.
There again another lyric.
You will never hear.
What's the opening lyric?
Something about software 7.0anyway, yeah, version 7.0 yeah
version 7.0, you know compressed, I can't remember exactly what
it is, but it's you know againit just opens with that, I'm
like nope, no, I heard thatbefore and again I mean I'm

(01:12:21):
having to pick.
I love for it, I love in forforest because it keeps going up
, it keeps going, it keepsgetting higher and higher and
higher.
And I'm thinking his vocal isgoing to break, his vocal is
going to break and it doesn't.
But I think toxicity, uh, justwins it for me because it's just
a, it's a great, um, it's, it'smore melodic and again it's,
it's.
It's nicely placed on the albumto bring a bit of a melody in

(01:12:44):
there it's, it's just a greattune, yeah okay, guy, what are
you feeling first turning up?

Speaker 5 (01:12:50):
yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna echo steve, I think, and
go for toxicity.
Uh, it reminds me of you.
Actually, it's the song that Ithink we one of the early songs
that we used to constantly bringup in band practice too much to
our bandmates, sort of likewhat's he going on about?
What are you listening to?
Because it is it's crazy, butit is the oh it's amazing,
there's a reason why the album'scalled this.

(01:13:11):
I think this song um yeah, is isa very apt clever um
centerpiece of it.
I don't think it.
Um it can go out of the stage.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
It's too important oh no, no, it's way too important.
Yeah, it's just three nil,three nil straight through to
the semifinals.
Okay, so we're already there.
We're at the semifinal stage.
Stuff's getting tougher.
We're into the arena.
Semifinals are on um.
What do you think about thevocals on this album?

Speaker 4 (01:13:39):
I think they sound like tom waitss.
We've done that.

Speaker 5 (01:13:41):
No, I think they're great.
Actually, today I did noticethat they're pretty dry.
It's really a raw album.
It sounds like even I'm surethere is layering and stuff of
the guitars, but the vocals arejust.
It's just him on a mic goingfor it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:59):
Do you think it's a live mic or something like that?
It's so immediate.

Speaker 5 (01:14:01):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I don't know it, it could be,
it could be like a handheld micand he's just.
He's just performing it becauseit is so and there is no real
you know attention to pitch inplaces, and that's what I love
about it it doesn't soundwackily out of tune, it just
feels right and it just feelsfierce and direct.
It's like they're just right infront of you and the vocals are

(01:14:23):
the the perfect example of thatso powerful aren't?

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
I mean this.
I mean he talks about um ascoming it to it in a band as
being like a, like an activist.
He doesn't see himself as aslike a classic musician, that
sense, and he would say, well,if a guitar can make that noise,
why can't my voice?
So he'd try and make his voicesound like a classic musician in
that sense and he would say,well, if a guitar can make that
noise, why can't my voice?
So he'd try and make his voicesound like a guitar or add
distortion or those type ofthings.
So he would come at it from atotally unique perspective in

(01:14:49):
the way he wanted to sing.
Uh, just, you know, justextraordinary his vocals on on
this album.
But he also adds in like a bitof falsetto now and then, or,
you know, like straight up, likehe's trying to to rap, or and
then he then he does do likesome actual proper singing as
well as like the whole you knowthrash metal vocal as well.

(01:15:10):
So he's got a lot of weapons,doesn't he, in his artillery for
what he can do at any givenpoint follow-up question what do
you think of the guitar playingon this album?
yeah, I love it.
I love it.
I mean, obviously I would saythat that's a very boring thing.
So what I do say morespecifically is I like the fact
that he's not afraid to gotrebly, trebly and not sound
super thick and powerful.

(01:15:30):
It's not just massively chunkyall the time.
He's really happy to havetrebly, that trebly, not a
weaker sound, but a lightersound or a clearer, more
vulnerable sound.

Speaker 4 (01:15:40):
That's great because it gives the contrast all right,
here's a question then did ittook me listening after
listening, after listening, andI suddenly noticed that there
was something totally omittedfrom, like completely missed off
from the whole record, in inguitar terms.
Does anyone want to guess?
Oh, um, standard tuning, that Iwould definitely expect on a

(01:16:03):
metal record.
A solo there's not a singlesolo on the entire right that's
perhaps why guy and I like, yeah, not much.

Speaker 5 (01:16:11):
We're very anti-solo the guy doesn't.

Speaker 4 (01:16:14):
The guy does not shred at all and you see, I, I,
I hate eddie van halen typesoloing, but but I enjoy
shredding, really mad shredding,when it's like Dimebag Darrell
and Pantera doing his thing orwhatever it's like, because
contextually, that sort ofridiculously fast playing, I
really enjoy it.
But what I like about this isthat he's taken his rhythm

(01:16:34):
guitar thing really seriously,because I don't like it when
you've got a one-guitar band,you know like Free, free got
Paul Kossoff, and it's like,okay, I'm doing this wonderful
rhythm stuff and now there's asolo.
So what am I going to do?
Well, on the record, I'm goingto overdub me playing a solo
over my rhythm guitar and whenwe play live, it's just going to

(01:16:57):
sound really thin becausethere's gonna try and fill the
sound while I play this solo andit's gonna sound like shit
and he just he has the either.
I don't know whether it's thathe's not a soloist and he can't
play them or it's a choice, buteither way I I love the
stylistic choice of it's not.
You know, they're a solo.
I've heard people talk in otherpodcasts and things and
interviews I've said about whenhe plays solos, but those aren't

(01:17:18):
solos.
Those are sort of melodicsections where he's playing the
guitar but there isn't a solo,what I would call a guitar solo
anywhere on the entire album.

Speaker 1 (01:17:28):
It's brilliant.
You're right, there's no reallylong.
Certainly not a widdly-widdlyguitar solo.
Yeah, it's beautiful guitarplaying.

Speaker 5 (01:17:35):
The guitar's kind of more akin to a string section to
me the staccato sort of thing.

Speaker 3 (01:17:39):
That's a great point.

Speaker 5 (01:17:40):
yeah, it's really cinematic and symphonic, and
that's.

Speaker 1 (01:17:43):
Yeah, Once he put the vibrator down his guitar sound
was amazing.
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:17:53):
All right, it's me Maka again.
It's only time for the bloodysemifinals, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
So we're at the semifinal stage.
We need to start discussingsome.
This is going to get hard now,isn't it?
We've actually, weirdly, gotthree of the singles in the
semifinals.
Having said, it's an amazingalbum and all the tracks are
brilliant, we've just put threesingles through the semifinals,
hey you don't look at me, I justvoted, I'm looking at you.

Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
I don't look at me, I just voted.
I'm looking at you.
I did not vote for Chop Suey.
I'm looking straight at you.
I did not vote for Chop Suey.
Oh yeah, that's true.
And you're both like why is he?

Speaker 4 (01:18:24):
being contrarian, no, and I'm about a sterling
defence of why I wasn't so youcan.

Speaker 3 (01:18:28):
You two can fight that out.

Speaker 1 (01:18:30):
It's nothing to do with me, mate good, you're
clawing back after losing mycredibility, yeah clawing back
the cred with the kids, Allright.
First semi-final is Chop Sueyversus Bounce.

Speaker 3 (01:18:42):
When angels deserve to die in my head Self-righteous
suicide.

Speaker 2 (01:18:55):
I crave when angels deserve to die.

Speaker 7 (01:19:01):
I went out on a date with a girl a bit late.
She had so many friends.
I brought my pogo stick just toshow her a trick.
She had so many friends, I meanthat's really straightforward.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
Even I know that's chop suey, let's move on.

Speaker 4 (01:19:17):
Of course it's chop suey.

Speaker 5 (01:19:19):
I think so the fun's's over.

Speaker 1 (01:19:20):
now we're getting into the, the heft into the
heart anything you want to sayabout bounce before it literally
does that hang on can you notsay the fun's over?

Speaker 4 (01:19:28):
that's as bad as when Brett says every episode oh,
it's getting interesting now.
It's like it's like wrap it up.
Get to the end the podcast willbe no more fun from this point
onwards, kids no, yes, no.

Speaker 5 (01:19:40):
But I think there's a reason why the three singles
are here because they havethey've managed to do that
special thing that bands do whenthey do crossover on their own
terms, without doing you know,something too live and direct,
like a cover or something that's, you know, a massive departure
from their, their signaturesound, and so the album sounds
completely different.

(01:20:00):
They've still done the perfectbalance of what is them, but
they've also opened it up andmade it very evocative with the
choruses, because they say tothemselves this album, they
start to write choruses, peoplewould sing back to them.
I think all these songs, bounceincluded, have just great
simple hooks that you can singback at the stage and that's uh,

(01:20:21):
that's amazing.
But yeah, I think chop suey hasto go through.

Speaker 1 (01:20:25):
Yeah, yeah.
I'm going for chop suey.
It's just three nil for chopsuey straight through to the
final.
Okay, the other, the othersemifinal is this is going to be
more tricky is is aerialsversus toxicity.

Speaker 5 (01:20:38):
This is tough now because I would genuinely love

(01:21:15):
to sing Deer Dance in the final,because I love it that much.
But these two are, yeah, reallyevenly matched, but um, very
evenly matched.

Speaker 1 (01:21:26):
I mean toxicity.
We haven't really spoke aboutit, but it's just got this
incredible drum part on it.

Speaker 5 (01:21:31):
Oh, it's amazing, the little different rhythms of the
sort of it goes between rhythmI.
I don't know the technical termfor it, I think it's compound
rhythms, but it's just, itchanges, the groove changes
within certain phrases and thedrummer.
The drummer is incredible inthis record, on this record.
I think we haven't spoken aboutthat, but like he's, just
amazing.
If you didn't have that, therest doesn't work at all.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
No, well, he wasn't the original drummer, was he the
drummer smashed up his handwhen they first formed and he
was out for like six months.
They had to get a new drummerand this, and they got john.
I didn't know that, um, yeah,he's.
Uh, he's.
Obviously he's of armenianheritage as well.
So they actually were in a.
I think they started off in ain a prog band called soil, and

(01:22:13):
then they kind of they, they, Ithink surgeon and um darren kind
of met for a rehearsal studio.
Oh, we went to the same schooland then they got in Chavo, who
was a guitarist at the time andhe was Darren's friend, and he
said just come in and play bass,because you're just going to do
it the right way.
And then they went from there.
In fact, chavo started offbefore playing with them as

(01:22:34):
their manager, right.
He was their manager, yeah, andthen he became manager player.

Speaker 5 (01:22:42):
yeah, manager player player manager, didn't he?
Am I right in thinking?

Speaker 1 (01:22:44):
that he started off.

Speaker 5 (01:22:45):
Toxicity as well as a song, wasn't it called?
Version 7.0 and it kind of gotshelved and then do you know,
darren?

Speaker 1 (01:22:52):
came back with it yeah, I've chopped this up, man,
let's try this out.

Speaker 5 (01:22:56):
And they kind of took it from there, the idea that
the reason why he mentions that7.0 line is because at the time
a well 5.0 had just come out soI'll think ahead.
I'll add some numbers on it'slike name checking, mission
impossible 15.
It's like it's such a funny, sowhen it comes out it'll be in
the future it'll be like whoa, Ijust that's such a it's a very

(01:23:18):
teenager thing to say and it'ssuch it actually dates it quite
badly, but it still sounds.
It still sounds cool when hesings it.

Speaker 4 (01:23:25):
So, um, on that, on that basis, I am going to go for
toxicity, I'm going to go earlyand I'm going to go for
toxicity oh it's awesome, steve,I'm going to go for aerials and
and I think I really clickedfor me once I realized it wasn't
about metal aerials, um, and Iand I and I was like, oh, okay,

(01:23:46):
that, that that makes a lot moresense.
Because I was like, is hetalking about satellites, is it
whatever?
And then, and then I'm likewhat's the reception?

Speaker 1 (01:23:53):
on that.
Yeah, what is it about then?
What is it about?
Well, I mean aerials.

Speaker 4 (01:23:57):
In this case is is like can you?

Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
Can you get where is Channel 4?

Speaker 4 (01:24:00):
No, like fairies, like sprites, like beings that
float around in the air and S4C,that's the one Classic.

Speaker 5 (01:24:10):
When you said aerials , I genuinely had a picture of
the intro theme tune toCoronation Street All these
metal aerials.

Speaker 4 (01:24:19):
Sorry, it just went where my mind went when you said
it's not about metal aerialsbut I'd always assumed it was,
and once I sort of realised itwasn't, the rest of the lyric
sort of fit in, and then Istarted to listen to it more and
it's become, like you know, forme the biggest grower on the
whole album, I think, and it'sthe one I it's a great closer,
isn't it?
And again, yeah, same thing.
I love the fact that it.

(01:24:40):
I know there's Arto after it,but basically it's the album
closer.
And again brilliant opener,brilliant closer.
So Ariel's gets my vote.

Speaker 1 (01:24:49):
Okay, which?

Speaker 4 (01:24:50):
way.
Are you going to go then?

Speaker 1 (01:24:51):
I'm sorry you're going to have to receive this
message, Steve, but it'stoxicity that's going through.

Speaker 3 (01:24:56):
Oh, come on On a clear signal.

Speaker 1 (01:24:58):
It's got to be Toxicity.
It's just awesome.

Speaker 5 (01:25:01):
So we've gone for the most predictable final, really
chop, suey and Toxicity.

Speaker 4 (01:25:08):
I mean to be fair.
Aerials would have been better.
This should have been shimmyand bounce.

Speaker 1 (01:25:14):
Listen.
There's plenty of episodes ofthis podcast where we have done
the unexpected.
This is after bag banging onabout how amazing this album is
from top to bottom.
We have sold ourselves a bitshort, I do admit that, but for
fuck's sake, we've done enoughcontroversy over the years.

Speaker 5 (01:25:30):
I do like the fact that when bands put out singles,
it tends to be songs that do acertain thing to the widest
people.
There's a reason why we're hereat the final with these songs,
I reckon, because a certainthing to the widest people.
And you know, there's a reasonwhy we're here at the final with
these songs, I reckon becausethey are perfection when it
comes to system of down whatthey do.
Um, so yeah, I think it'sreally interesting.
I mean, I wasn't sure how it'sgoing to go tonight because

(01:25:50):
there are so many album tracksthat I genuinely love.
But you can't deny.
There's a reason why the bandblew up when they did because of
these songs.
And here we are oh, it'sincredible.

Speaker 1 (01:26:00):
So we're at the final .
Before we get to the final, anyother business, anything else
we need to mention?
What genre are they?

Speaker 4 (01:26:08):
oh, all sorts.
They've been called everythingfrom sort of rock to armenian
rock, to heavy rock, to.
I hate it when they get taggedwith the new metal thing,
because I yes, there are bandslike slipknot who I I think are
are brilliant, who get taggedwith it, but there are so many.
For every slipknot there's alincoln park and for every you
know uh system of a down there'sa fucking um, what's the fred

(01:26:31):
durst's band?
Then biscuits, you know what Imean?
It's like lincoln biscuit,lincoln biscuit, that's it.
Uh, it's just.
You know that I think the newmetal scene was, was just just
where it makes me feelphysically ill thinking about uh
, so please don't link them in.
People who link them in withnew metal.
Take it off wikipedia.
Go ahead and hack that out yeah, oh my god, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:26:51):
Why have they not split up yet?
They haven't done anythingsince 2005, apart from two
singles what do you mean?

Speaker 4 (01:26:57):
why have they not officially split up, despite
being together?
Because, because I theimpression I've got from
interviews I've watched is thereare band of brothers who have a
really strong uh link, theyhave a strong political link,
and it's not that they've fallenout, but that they, they, they
just can't get past that that.

(01:27:20):
Whatever those creativedifferences are, I think it's
entirely creative differences,because I think I think tankin
wants to I mean tankin's made aflipping jazz album, do you know
what I mean?
I think he wants to be, likeyou say, an activist, a musician
of all different kinds, of allthese things.
And I think I think malakianwants to make metal.
And and it's just they can'treconcile no tapeworms.

Speaker 1 (01:27:41):
Is the jazz album called tapeworms coming out of
my ass with the my yesunderlined, and that's why
there's a tapeworm and it'scoming out of my ass in sevenths
.
Yeah, okay, so there's no otherany other business.
We're done with that.
We get through to the final.

Speaker 6 (01:28:04):
Ladies and gentlemen, step right.
This way, it's the one and onlyGrandif finale.
Yeah, you can do it.

Speaker 1 (01:28:13):
Our final is Chop Suey versus Toxicity.
Steve, talk to me.
Can you ask Guy, Steve sing mea riff?

Speaker 4 (01:28:21):
No, talk to me.
Can you ask Guy?

Speaker 1 (01:28:22):
Steve sing me a riff.

Speaker 4 (01:28:23):
No, I'm not singing anything.
I'm grumpy about this final.
These are not the two songs Iwanted anywhere near the final.

Speaker 1 (01:28:32):
What would you have chosen as the final if you'd
have got your own way?
You?

Speaker 5 (01:28:35):
stroppy bastard Prison Song and Aerials Okay, so
the bookend you are big on thebook he just he he does look
genuinely, I can get my revengenow for when I had to listen to
a revolver and hear eleanorrigby go out round one oh don't
get me started.
Oh, there's just one.

(01:28:55):
There's one part in what, inone of the songs, that just
really does something to me, andthat is the Bible sort of verse
in the middle eight of ChopSuey Of Chop Suey.

Speaker 1 (01:29:07):
They do great middle eights.
Sorry to interrupt you, they dodo incredible middle eights.
They can turn on a dime.
You think, oh, they've chuckedin loads of great ideas in a
song and you think if most otherbands were like, well, we can
retire, happy on that, and theygo.
No, let's put another idea inand they put something else in.

Speaker 4 (01:29:22):
Do you know the story about that particular bit, guy?
Do you want to tell that story?
What happened, what's?

Speaker 5 (01:29:27):
that.
I'm not sure of the exactcontext, but at some point Serge
went to Rick Rubin to say thathe hit a block or he didn't know
what to happen next orsomething, or to happen next or
something, or they had a section, um right, and they were trying
to find lyrics.
So, yeah, they reached for abook and opened it on a random
page and the lyrics justhappened to be perfect for that

(01:29:48):
section and he just he read thatline and that was what they
literally opened the book.

Speaker 4 (01:29:52):
It was that, mr father, father bit yeah, and now
I think that story is absoluteshit.
Right because it's classic,just because you haven't got
your final no no, listen to it,hear me, I think that story is
absolute shit.
Right, because it's classicRick Rubin.
Come on, john Lee Cornyn, justbecause you haven't got your
final.

Speaker 3 (01:30:04):
No, no, listen, hear me out.

Speaker 4 (01:30:06):
Hear me out.
So the story is classic RickRubin.
It's like, look, I'm this great, crazy producer.
And it's like, oh, just pullout the first book off the shelf
and something will come to you.
And it's like the first time Iheard the story I was like
that's such a great story.
It's classic Rick Rubin.
And then I sat and I thoughtabout it for a minute and I'm
like, so let's get this straight, right.
This is a song about suicidethat already has references to

(01:30:27):
angels in it, and the first bookthat you put off the shelf
could have been the Haynesmanual for a mini.
It could have been like, youknow, like Harry Potter.
Do you know what I'm saying?
It could have been literallycookbook, and what you happened
to pick off was the Bible.

Speaker 5 (01:30:48):
And you managed to get Jesus' last words on the
cross to God as he's beingforsaken.
Steve, nothing is impossible,just improbable.
Therefore, it could havehappened.

Speaker 4 (01:30:55):
That is just way it's like.
No, Come on.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
I'm not having it.
Too convenient.
A good story, it is a commonsongwriting thing that people do
.

Speaker 5 (01:31:04):
They just they'll just read everything's out and
um, but yeah you, you might beright, you might be right I
think that was like the 95thbook.

Speaker 4 (01:31:11):
They opened and they were like, you know, they were
there all night like openingevery, every single book they
could find going what's this?
It's a novel about a snail.
No, that's not gonna work, youknow, whatever.
And it's like eventually hegets like the bible and it's oh,
this will do it's like pullingout the yellow pages never let
the truth get in the way of agood story, but

Speaker 1 (01:31:29):
there you go it is a great story it's.

Speaker 4 (01:31:31):
I've ruined it for myself.

Speaker 1 (01:31:33):
I did love it the first time yeah, it was a
beautiful romantic end to thepodcast yeah, my commotionliness
destroyed.

Speaker 4 (01:31:39):
I'm so irritated by this final, I felt some
curmudgeonliness was needed.

Speaker 1 (01:31:44):
The irritation rippling off of you at this
final.

Speaker 5 (01:31:48):
Having said that, the end of toxicity does also do
something to me thinking aboutit in terms of when they just
throw in that.
Ha Ha Ha.

Speaker 2 (01:31:58):
Ah, you did it Finally.
Well done Steve.
There he goes, keeping.
Ha ha ha.
Ah, you did it Finally.
Well done Steve.

Speaker 1 (01:32:02):
There he goes, keeping him long enough, keeping
him long enough and he willfall into the riff trap.

Speaker 4 (01:32:07):
He's blown it.
He's blown it.
Listeners, there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:32:09):
He's looking at him.
Oh, look at his gut.
He's slumped in his chair.

Speaker 5 (01:32:12):
His credibility sliding in the episode I lasted
longest.
I surely did.
That's not the point.

Speaker 1 (01:32:21):
You did Stamina.
That's not the point.
Yeah, that is true.
That was a tantric performance.
When it goes on Pirates of theCaribbean at the end.

Speaker 5 (01:32:27):
Bloody love, it Sucks galloping off Toxicity yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:32:46):
Yeah, it's, yeah, I abilities to just swing.
They're heavy, heavy as fuck,it's not.
Their intensity is not justthat, they're heavy and they're
metal to the max, which they are.
And he's got all these, youknow these gears in his voice.
And then the guitars areamazing.
It's the fact they can swing aswell.
They've got groove.
It can make you kind of tapyour toe, swing your ass as well
, and it's that ability toswitch up all of those emotions
they can stir in you and keep itup at like nine, ten out of ten

(01:33:06):
on the on the intensity ometer.
Yeah, it's just ridiculous.
So it is a relentless album andlike I do have to take breathers
from it, I mean I've lovedlistening to this album, um,
getting into it.
As I said, it took me ages tobe able to listen to the whole
thing back to back.
Even now I have to take a briefpause.
But it's just, it'sextraordinary.
I mean this band reminds you,guy, of the Beatles, steve, tom

(01:33:28):
Waits.
For me it's obvious what theyremind me of it's ABBA.
I mean it's obvious, isn't it,why they remind me of ABBA?
It's just straight up, becauseyou put them on, that act on,
and it just takes you away.
It just changes your mood.
They just have the power tojust create this universe.
You just slide into it.
They've just which, which, uh,you know, um, benny and bjorn

(01:33:49):
could do as well.

Speaker 4 (01:33:50):
So is it the flamboyant outfits?

Speaker 1 (01:33:55):
it's the flares.
Basically that does it.
Yeah, that sort of reallyreminds me, yeah, and, you know,
also discussing which one youthink is the prettiest as well.
Oh yeah, the one with theblonde hair, the brown hair,
that's, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:34:06):
Which one of System of a Down would you do?
Sister of a Down, sister of aDown, sister of a Down, which is
an all-female System of a Downtribute act, and I'd do all of
them they're very attractive.

Speaker 5 (01:34:20):
Sister of a Down.
If that hasn't happened, it'shappening now a nun rock album.
Come on guys.

Speaker 1 (01:34:25):
Yeah, it's great lovely stuff, beautiful,
beautiful.
So yeah, just that ability tojust create this incredibly
intense universe and to just seeit through.
But the ideas are justchock-block.
Both of these songs arechock-full of ideas and they
both have like kind of coderysections which you're thinking,
how can this get any better?
And they chuck something elsein.
There's just so many layers.

(01:34:47):
I mean I love the Chop Sue.
The vocals, the backing vocalsyou got coming in on Chop Sue
are so intense.
Where he's singing it almostbecomes the melody because he's
singing it so loud as well wasit?

Speaker 4 (01:34:56):
what was it called originally?
What's the original title?

Speaker 1 (01:34:59):
of chop suey.
Yeah, it's suicide.
That's what we call rollingsuicide yeah, literally, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:35:04):
It literally says yeah.
Rolling on suicide.

Speaker 1 (01:35:06):
At the beginning they're like no, you can't call
it that yeah, and the basisthinks they called it chop suey,
because it's hey, choppingsuicide in half, chop suey.
I mean, it's like a, it's a punso bad it wouldn't even get on
my intro, which I admit wasterrible, but I think Malakian
wanted to put it in because it'slike, oh, make them chaps like

(01:35:26):
in a gangster film.
If you really study theirlyrics you're right.
I mean, dada-esque is the wayto.
Did he say Dada-esque, was thatit?

Speaker 4 (01:35:33):
Yes, but I don't think this is so much because it
does have a a strong subjectmatter, which which is suicide
and actually I think so, whilstwhilst they changed the title
because the record company werelike you just can't call it that
I think actually suicide wouldhave been too on the nose as a
title, just because it just toounsubtle.
I like the fact that you haveto work a little bit with some
of the lyrics and the titles.

(01:35:55):
Um, so actually chop suri.
I think is is a better title,because you're going what?

Speaker 5 (01:35:59):
what?
But definitely from a labelperspective you'll get way more
radio play out of it, of courseyeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:36:05):
But Toxicity is incredible as well.
And the drums part, which isreally famous, comes from.
The bassist came up with theriff and he's like I know he's
trying to explain it to thedrummer he needs to play it like
this.
And the drummer's gettingpissed off is oh, for fuck's
sake, stop fucking telling me toplay drums.
He's like oh, do you mean likethis, do you?
And just does like a kind of aparody of what he thinks he's
like yeah, that's it perfect.

(01:36:26):
That's what the drums were,that's how they got them, so
it's.
You know it's.
All those things can make agreat record, but sometimes
trying to take the piss is whatworks best.

Speaker 3 (01:36:34):
Yeah, absolutely right, we've asked him how do we
vote?

Speaker 1 (01:36:37):
yeah, we've got to vote.
Um, I'm gonna go and ask Stevewhich of these songs?

Speaker 4 (01:36:45):
that he hates to ask me first to vote, and I'm voting
for Chop Sue okay, as I say, asyou know, I'm irritated by this
final, uh, the idea of were you, I didn't realise this shut up,
uh the um.
The idea of chop su winning thisis irritating to me.
However, I am going to vote forit.
I'm sorry that that takes thetension out of it, because it

(01:37:07):
does mean that's going to win um, but but I'm gonna, because
it's it's hairline between thetwo for me.
I'm gonna vote for it, simplyon because I have to pick
something.
The reason, the fact that it'sthe reason that system of downs
fans, downs fans, um troll surge.
Do you know why they troll himand why it drives him absolutely
mental?

Speaker 1 (01:37:28):
no, why?
What do they tell him about?

Speaker 4 (01:37:30):
because fans come up to him like if he's sitting
having a cup of tea or somethingand like a quiet cup of coffee
in like a restaurant orsomething, fans will come up
behind him and go wake up andhe's like what?
And he said?
He said I know that's funny,but I really really need people

(01:37:50):
to stop doing it because,because it's doing, it's really
messing with my blood pressure.
Wake up.
Oh god, that's awful yeah so,and it's like he does, it's like
this whole thing that justwon't go away.
That's been going on for years,and I love the fact he's
created a sort of hell of hisown making there.
So so I'm gonna vote for chopso, because I can't pick between
them, so I'm gonna go for thatreason alone okay, guy, I was

(01:38:14):
hoping it was going to be tenseand exciting I was actually
going to go for, on reflection,whilst you, whilst you guys,
have been talking toxicity andthat's genuinely so.

Speaker 5 (01:38:22):
I mean, I love Chop Suey but there's always
something about toxicity that itjust takes me back to when we
were talking about it, back inwhen it would have come out, I
imagine, and just the sort ofthat guitar intro, the sort of
again it does what Chop Sueydoes, but in a very different
way.
I find it darker because ChopSuey has, you know, thinking

(01:38:43):
about it.
Chop Suey has an amazing kindof pop chorus but Toxicity just
has an unrelenting thing andit's the centrepiece of the
album.
I think it's the perfect titlefor for the, for a body of work.
I think it's a uh, an amazing,amazing, um for sure song.
And yeah, yeah, um, it's just,it is just unrelenting and it

(01:39:06):
well, just when you think youknow what's coming next, like
chop suey, but in a moreaggressive way, it just, it just
goes.
We're going left, we're goingthis way now.
Yeah, okay, cool.
No, we're going that way, okay,what the hell's going on?
By the end of it, you just wantto lie down and that's the best
feeling you can have.
Listen to rock music oh, it'samazing.

Speaker 1 (01:39:20):
I mean just everything.
I think I'd have been happy ifanything had won.
Um, this competition tonight,steve obviously was very
specific, um, but I mean, I meanif, if something has to win,
it's got to be chop suey, hasn'tit?
I mean it's just extraordinary.
Guitar solo.

Speaker 7 (01:40:05):
Wake up, Grab a brush and put a little make-up.
Undiscuss the fadeaway, theshake-up.
Why'd you leave the keys up onthe table?
Here you go, create anothertable.
You wanted to Grab a brush andput a little make-up.
You wanted to.
Undiscuss the fadeaway, theshake-up?
You wanted to.
Why'd you leave the keys up onthe table?
You wanted to.
Why'd you leave the kiss up onthe table?
You wanted to.
Why?
I don't think you trust In myself-righteous suicide.

(01:40:27):
I cry when angels deserve todie Bye.

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Toxicity (System Of A Down)

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