System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian has spoken about the surreal moment that he learned that his band’s second album, 2001’s Toxicity, had debuted at Number One in the US, while watching the horrific events of 9/11 unfold in New York from his home in Los Angeles.
Speaking to Kerrang.com, Odadjian recalled exactly where he was when he discovered that the LA quartet had topped the Billboard chart with Toxicity.
“I found out on 9/11 itself,” he says. “I remember my mom phoning me and telling me to turn on the TV, and right when I switched on, one of the Twin Towers fell down live. I didn’t know what was happening, or if it was real or not, and so I’m watching in horror and the phone bleeps, and it’s my manager, and he says, ‘Congratulations, you’re Number One on Billboard,’ at the same time my mom is saying that the world is going to end. Crazy. I just got chills talking about it.”
Metal Hammer writers subsequently declared Toxicity the Best Album of 2001.
With SOAD forced to cancel all touring plans for 2020, Odadjian recently released the first material from his hip-hop side project North Kingsley.
