Studio Album · No. 1
System of a Down Songwriting Credits by System of a Down
Produced by Rick Rubin, System of a Down · Engineered by Sylvia Massy, Greg Fidelman, Nick Raskulinecz, D. Sardy
Holds writing credit on 13 of 13 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 13 / 13 documented
Scored across the 13 tracks with documented writers, by whether System of a Down carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 13 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Rick Rubin produced the debut with the band co-producing, beginning a partnership that ran across every System of a Down studio album. Daron Malakian composed most of the music while Serj Tankian wrote nearly all the lyrics, the lone shared exception being 'CUBErt.' The arrangement of duties was already firm here: Malakian as principal music composer, Tankian as lyricist and lead vocalist. Shavo Odadjian shares the music credit on four tracks, 'Know,' 'Sugar,' 'DDevil' and 'Mind,' and Tankian on two of those. The record set the template of compressed, lurching alt/nu-metal that later albums would expand.
System of a Down's debut came out on American Recordings and Columbia on June 30, 1998, cut at Sound City in Van Nuys with Rick Rubin producing alongside the band. It stalled at number 124 on the Billboard 200 but topped Billboard's Heatseekers chart, and after Toxicity broke the band in 2001 the debut worked its way up to 2x platinum in the US. 'Sugar' and 'Spiders' were the two singles, and the cover reworks a 1928 anti-fascist poster by the German artist John Heartfield.