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"Aerials"
Aerials
Single by System of a Down
from the album Toxicity
B-side "Streamline" (Alternate version)
Released June 11, 2002
Format CD, Cassette, Vinyl, Airplay
Recorded February 15, 2001
Cello Studios
Hollywood, California
Genre Alternative metal
Hard rock
Length 3:54 (without hidden track)
6:11 (with hidden track)
Label American
Writer(s) Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian
Producer Rick Rubin, Daron Malakian, Serj Tankian
System of a Down singles chronology
"Toxicity"
(2002)
"Aerials"
(2002)
"Innervision"
(2002)

"Aerials" is a single by System of a Down, released in 2002 from the album Toxicity, which earned the band its second Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2003.

Aerials hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and Hot Modern Rock Tracks charts.[1]

While the album version of Aerials is 6:11 minutes long, a hidden track called "Arto" starts at 3:58 seconds. "Aerials" itself ends at 3:54.


Awards[]

  • It made #106 on the Y2KROQ Top 200 Songs of the Century.


Music video[]

The music video was directed by Shavo Odadjian and David Slade.

The video starts out in a desolate, desert-like place. The viewpoint then shifts to a circus tent. Inside, the band is getting ready, and being watched by a very abnormal looking young boy. The eyes are pulled back, and the mouth is very small. The point is that he is an alien and he's unlike everyone else. The band starts playing. It then shifts to the boy surrounded by people in an urban environment, with a large group around him dancing. It then shifts back to the band playing inside the tent. Back outside, the boy is walking down the Hollywood Walk of Fame with two women in red dresses. The scene then becomes that of the boy, two different women in similar dresses as the first, and an older man, who seems to be interviewing them, or making an agreement. Exiting the building, paparazzi swarm the boy and begin photographing the boy. People begin interviewing him, but he is never seen to respond. It then cuts back to the band for a short period of time, where after it displays the boy in a photo shoot, being examined with different clothes. The scene continues to cut between the photo shoot and the band, until near the end, where it shows the boy with two women in red dresses, reaching for money that is falling from above. At the end of the song, every scene the boy has been shown in is shown briefly. He then walks to the middle of the circus tent, lays down in the middle, and closes his eyes, as the song ends.

Some fans of System of a Down claim that the song is about man's nature to be a paradox, i.e., different people at different time[1][2]because of lines such as "Life is a waterfall, we're one in the river, one again after the fall." Other fans interpret the track as a critique of mainstream American luxury compared to the band's rejection of the mainstream, e.g., the scene with the alien leaving the press after being publicly scrutinized for his fame and retreating to the band playing in a barren desert. Some fans believe that lyrics such as "And we are the ones that want to choose/always want to play but you never want to lose" and the line "Life is a waterfall/we drink from the river then we turn around and put up our walls" refers to humankind's tendency to exploit the Earth's resources, something through the eyes of a heavenly being whether it be an angel or an extra-terrestrial[2][3].

on Phenoixnewtimes.com Shavo explained more about the song, saying, "Daron Malakian wrote 'Aerials' the song. But the video, that's me in the video. I've never told [of] this in an interview; I'm giving you something: so that little [alien] kid is me. No one knows that. I've always felt alienated. So, I made him like a little alien kid. back then, it took me weeks and a lot of CGI [computer-generated imagery] money to come up with that face … nowadays, it's a filter. Right? On Snapchat. Everybody's like, 'Who's that little alien?' I'm like, 'I'm not going to tell you.' But now, it's like, so many years, 20 years later, I'm telling you."[4]

Track listing[]

Aerials (UK Import)[]

CD1[]

# TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Aerials"  Tankian, MalakianMalakian 3:58
2. "Toxicity" (Live)TankianOdadjian, Malakian 4:51
3. "P.L.U.C.K." (Live)TankianMalakian 4:09
4. "Aerials" (Video)Tankian, MalakianMalakian 4:03

CD2[]

# TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Aerials"  Tankian, MalakianMalakian 3:57
2. "Streamline" (alternate version)Tankian, MalakianMalakian 3:38
3. "Sugar" (Live)TankianOdadjian, Malakian 4:06

Aerials (Australian LE)[]

# TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Aerials"  Tankian, MalakianMalakian 3:57
2. "Toxicity"  TankianOdadjian, Malakian 4:41
3. "P.L.U.C.K."  TankianMalakian 3:40

Aerials (Maxi-Single)[]

CD1[]

# TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Aerials" (Radio edit)Tankian, MalakianMalakian 3:54
2. "Toxicity" (Live)TankianOdadjian, Malakian 4:51
3. "Sugar" (Live)TankianOdadjian, Malakian 4:04
4. "P.L.U.C.K." (Live)TankianMalakian 4:07
5. "Aerials" (Video)Tankian, MalakianMalakian 4:03

Aerials (Promo Single)[]

# TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Aerials"  Tankian, MalakianMalakian 3:57

Aerials (7" Single)[]

# TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Aerials"  Tankian, MalakianMalakian 3:57
2. "Snowblind (Black Sabbath Cover)"  Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Bill WardButler, Iommi, Osbourne, Ward 4:40

Lyrics:[]

[Verse 1: Serj Tankian]

Life is a waterfall

We're one in the river and one again after the fall

Swimming through the void, we hear the word

We lose ourselves, but we find it all

'Cause we are the ones that wanna play

Always wanna go, but you never wanna stay

And we are the ones that wanna choose

Always wanna play, but you never wanna lose


[Chorus: Serj Tankian]

Aerials in the sky

When you lose small mind, you free your life


[Verse 2: Serj Tankian]

Life is a waterfall

We drink from the river then we turn around and put up our walls

Swimming through the void, we hear the word

We lose ourselves, but we find it all

'Cause we are the ones that wanna play

Always wanna go, but you never wanna stay

And we are the ones that wanna choose

Always wanna play, but you never wanna lose, oh


[Chorus: Serj Tankian]

Aerials in the sky

When you lose small mind, you free your life

Aerials, so up high

When you free your eyes, eternal prize


[Outro: Serj Tankian with Daron Malakian]

Aerials in the sky

When you lose small mind, you free your life

Aerials, so up high

When you free your eyes, eternal prize

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

Ah, ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

Ah, ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, om

Covers:[]

Machine Gun Kelly covered the song on the infamous Howard Stern Show. although system members Daron and Shavo gave good opinions on the cover, many system fans and MGK fans protested against MGK not even trying.

External links[]

References[]

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