Studio Album · No. 3
Steal This Album! Songwriting Credits by System of a Down
Produced by Rick Rubin, Daron Malakian · Engineered by David Schiffman, Thom Russo, Andy Wallace, Vlado Meller
Holds writing credit on 16 of 16 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 16 / 16 documented
Scored across the 16 tracks with documented writers, by whether System of a Down carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 16 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Steal This Album! collects completed versions of Toxicity-era tracks that had leaked online in early 2002 as a bootleg dubbed 'Toxicity II,' so its material is largely outtakes rather than freshly written songs. The authorship split holds as elsewhere: Daron Malakian composed the music and Serj Tankian wrote the lyrics, with Rubin and Malakian producing. 'Boom!' had circulated earlier on the leak as a Tankian-only track before being reworked. Despite its outtake origins, band members have named it among their favorite releases.
Steal This Album! came out on American Recordings and Columbia on November 26, 2002 and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200. Its sixteen tracks are finished versions of Toxicity-session songs that had leaked earlier that year as low-quality MP3s under the name Toxicity II, and the title nods both to that leak and to Abbie Hoffman's book Steal This Book. Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian produced, Andy Wallace mixed, and 'Innervision' was the only single. John Dolmayan and Serj Tankian have each named it their favorite record the band made.