<P> System of a Down's lyrics are often oblique or dadaist, and have discussed topics such as drug abuse, politics and sexual intercourse . "Prison Song" criticizes the War on Drugs whereas Rolling Stone describes "Roulette" as a "scared, wounded love letter". "Boom!", among the band's most straightforward and unambiguous songs, lambasts globalization and spendings on bombs and armament . Commenting on the track "I-E-A-I-A-I-O", drummer John Dolmayan said it was inspired by an encounter he had with Knight Rider's actor David Hasselhoff in a liquor store in Los Angeles when he was around 12 . On Mezmerize, "Cigaro" makes explicit references to phallic imagery and bureaucracy, while "Violent Pornography" harshly views television and degradation of women . System of a Down's discontent towards the controversial Iraq War arises in "B.Y.O.B.", which includes a double entendre reference to both beer and bombs, containing the forthright lyric "Why don't presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?" "Old School Hollywood" describes a celebrity baseball game . On their album "Hypnotize", "Tentative" describes war, "Hypnotize" refers to the Tiananmen Square events and "Lonely Day" describes angst . The album title Steal This Album! is a play on the book Steal This Book by left - wing political activist Abbie Hoffman . System of a Down's firm commitment for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide emerges in two songs: "P.L.U.C.K." and "Holy Mountains", which rank among the band's most political songs . </P> <P> Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated "Like many late -' 90s metal bands System of a Down struck a balance between' 80s underground thrash metal and metallic early -' 90s alternative rockers like Jane's Addiction". System of a Down's music has variously been termed alternative metal, nu metal, hard rock, progressive metal, thrash metal, art rock and avant - garde metal . Malakian has stated that "We don't belong to any one scene" and that "I don't like the nu - metal drop - A 7 - string guitar sound; it is not my thing, at least not yet ." In interview with Mike Lancaster, he also said, "People always seem to feel the need to put us into a category, but we just don't fit into any category ." According to Tankian, "As far as arrangement and everything, (our music) is pretty much pop . To me, System of a Down isn't a progressive band . (...) But it's not a typical pop project, obviously . We definitely pay attention to the music to make sure that it's not something someone's heard before ." </P> <P> The band has used a wide range of instruments, such as electric mandolins, baritone electric guitars, acoustic guitars, ouds, sitars and twelve string guitars . According to Malakian, he would often write songs in E ♭ tuning, which would later be changed to drop C tuning in order to be performed by the band . Malakian states that "For me, the drop - C tuning is right down the center . It has enough of the clarity and the crisp sound--most of our riffy stuff is done on the top two strings, anyway--but it's also thicker and ballsier ." </P> <P> The band's influences include Middle Eastern music, Ozzy Osbourne, Dead Kennedys, Frank Zappa, Slayer, Kiss, Mr. Bungle and Van Halen . One reviewer claimed that their music encompasses different sounds, from sounding like "Fugazi playing Rush" to sometimes "tread (ing) close to Frank Zappa territory ." Malakian has stated that "I'm a fan of music . I'm not necessarily a fan of any one band ." Dolmayan stated "I don't think we sound like anybody else . I consider us System of a Down ." Odadjian stated "You can compare us to whoever you want . I don't care . Comparisons and labels have no effect on this band . Fact is fact: We are who we are and they are who they are ." </P>

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