Daron Malakian Quotations

When we were a club band, we always used to say, 'Man, if we ever see success, we'd like to open doors for other people, to push the boundaries and fully contribute something to art, to music, that is going to help it evolve instead of doing stuff for the sake of money or doing stuff for the sake of being popular.

When we first started the band here in LA, Janes Addiction was the band we looked up to. They came out at a time when there was a lot of glam rock and hair bands and they got put into that category, but they stood out because they were doing their own thing. We were kind of caught in the same kind of situation at another time: there were a lot of new-metal bands and wed get put into that category even though we didnt fit. Its funny that now theres bands like Mars Volta doing this prog-rock thing thats kinda getting popular, people put us in that genre now. That may be closer to the truth, but I think Hypnotized is going to go further in terms of getting people to understand what were doing.

Music is an emotion, and I put it out there.

My dad is my biggest influence on me as a musician, even though he's not a musician.

Politicians use religion, and they get their troops riled up with religion.

I don't get it when people complain that baseball games are too long.

I am depressed sometimes, but it's not what keeps me at home or focused on work.

I always want to grow and top myself.

Basically I write songs, and I need for there to be a home for these songs.

I'll always be a member of System of a Down. That will never change.

If I was money-motivated, I wouldn't have joined a rock band with three other Armenian guys.

I don't think when I'm doing music. Things just happen. I've even taken my clothes off while performing. But then I'm so shy that I can't even take my clothes off in the dressing room, even though it's just the other guys in the band in here with me. It's really weird.

I don't understand some of the music I hear on MTV or the radio, because they don't mention the times we live in. They have nothing to do with nothing.

Whatever I write has to evolve around my taste in music at that moment, because that always changes.

He's gone so far to find no hope/ He's never coming back.

I was always searching for something bigger, faster and better, and Slayer came up with that.

I'm so inside of it that maybe that's a little tough for me to tell, but I don't see too big of a difference. I see them both as one record, you know? Not to compare us to, like, the Beatles, but the only thing I can compare it to is, like, you listen to the 'White Album' and it's a double album, but, like, they're just a bunch of great songs.

I would never cancel a tour unless I had real reasons and personal things that require my undivided attention.

We wanted to make a record that was a success beyond where we were at. All of my favorite bands evolved, and I really wanted our band to evolve.

You know, even U2 took a little time off, and then they came back with a new sound.

We haven't figured out how we are going to present that yet, but it's going to come on a separate thing. I think we might put it on a separate disc.

Why don't presidents fight the war? - Why do they always send the poor?

Masturbation is great for the right arm

I would expect another Scars album before another System album.

Other kids would take their parents to the toy store and I'd take my mom to the record store.

Does it bother me that some people are burning their own System CDs and taking money out of my pocket? Not really. This has always been about putting the best possible version of the song in the fans hands. It was like selling an artist's painting before he had finished it.

I like to watch retarded people have sex, am I alone?

Superman told me... that we needed to make a double... type of record... and so I answered: 'Okay, Superman. We will make... a double type of record but it won't be a double album because... Batman... didn't want a double album'

Back in the day, when the emperor or the king or whatever waged war, they went to war, too. But that's been lost in time.

But love is just as important as politics to me. They both exist in the world, you know? And if you dont reflect the entire world around you, then youre leaving something out.

It's important not to take yourself too seriously, ... and I think sometimes people take us a lot more seriously than we take ourselves, especially when it comes to politics. Politics, for me, is a reflection of the world I live in. But love is just as important as politics to me. They both exist in the world, you know? And if you don't reflect the entire world around you, then you're leaving something out.

Masturbation is good for the right arm.

Why don't presidents fight the war?/ Why do they always send the poor? ... B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bombs).

Every song I've written is luck, I think; it's luck - 'How did that just happen?'

There's no rule that says you have to make records constantly, like clockwork, to continue being who you are.

I see them both as one record, you know? Not to compare us to, like, THE BEATLES , but the only thing I can compare it to is, like, you listen to the 'White Album' and it's a double album, but, like, they're just a bunch of great songs.

People's attention spans don't run too long these days.

As a writer I kind of go crazy. I even had, like, at least 20 or 30 more songs to bring into the band. But we had to stop and get into the studio at some point.

As a musician, I don't think I'm the greatest guitar player. I'm a bigger fan of the drums than I am the guitar; I just happen to play guitar. I play drums almost every day at my house. I wrote a lot of songs behind the drum kit, just having the music and vocals in my head and playing the rhythm.

You put too many songs on your record, and it ends up like a family with too many kids: some of them get neglected.

They'd say, 'It kind of sounds like this,' or 'It kind of sounds like that,'

You can't just release double albums and expect people to sit there and devote their time to it.

Everybody's going to the party ... dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine.

System of a Down is the music that I wanted to buy but couldn't find at the store. It's the band I wanted to be a fan of.

I just wrote the song sitting in my car waiting for my girlfriend. That's about it, man. You will know what I mean when you hear the song.

In Glendale, where I live, there's a street called Broadway. The bottoms of the light posts have swastikas on them.

In 'Kill Rock n' Roll,' the choruses came about at the moment I was listening to a lot of the Supremes, and if you listen to that part, you can hear a melody and a harmony there that's not too far away from what the Supremes would probably be doing, but there's heavy guitars in the back.

I like structuring verses, choruses, but sometimes the verses might be a tango and the choruses might be death metal.

I'm not very happy. I'm frustrated with human beings. I'm the guy who just wants to smack people in the face and say, 'Wake up!'

I'll be honest with you: politically, I have no issue with people, but my beef sometimes is with religion at the end of the day.

I just think religion is something... It could be a beautiful thing for the individual, but when it becomes organized, that's when religion starts taking a kind of ugly turn to me.

I played for about two seconds in the game. No one knew who I was. They were looking at me like, 'Who is this guy?' But I don't think that Frankie Avalon is the biggest System of a Down fan.

In the Middle East in the summertime, to keep cool, a lot of people sleep on the rooftops.

I guess you'd say I'm a gearhead. It's not just guitars; I have five or six drum sets, a bunch of keyboards... It's like Guitar Center exploded, and all the cool stuff dropped in my backyard. I'm a really lucky guy, I have to admit.

How does a band like System of a Down get big?

I feel like people have only heard half a record so far. But we like releasing shorter records. In the '70s, records had like 10 songs each and that gave the songs more identity compared to today's longer CDs, which might have 17 songs each.

I feel like people have only heard half a record so far,

A lot of times, I don't feel responsible for the songs myself. But that's my job or my place in life: to keep my search and catch the ideas before they pass me by.

A lot of MTV's programming is hip-hop based, and the messages are usually all about bling bling. A lot of hip-hop artists sing about stuff that's more important, but they seldom get heard. The ones who get heard are the ones saying, 'Think about yourself. Make your money. It's all you. Everybody have a good time and party.'