System of a Down has evolved from a cult band whose demo tapes swapped hands voraciously on the metal underground to one of the world’s biggest bands, having sold in excess of forty million albums. It’s not just well-informed music fans that love them—the CIA certainly knows about them . . . and trails them closely.
Featuring exclusive new interviews with the band and major players involved in their story, Ben Myers’ book is the first and the definitive account of this remarkable band.
Ben Myers is a highly respected music journalist and currently features editor at Kerrang!. He is the author of several books, including Green Day. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Kerrang!, Melody Maker, and Q.
He is an award-winning author and journalist whose recent novel Cuddy (2023) won the Goldsmiths Prize.
His first short story collection, Male Tears, was published by Bloomsbury in 2021.
His novel The Offing was published by Bloomsbury in 2019 and is a best-seller in Germany. It was serialised by Radio 4's Book At Bedtime and Radio 2 Book club choice. It is being developed for stage and has been optioned for film.
The non-fiction book Under The Rock, was shortlisted for The Portico Prize For Literature in 2020.
Recipient of the Roger Deakin Award and first published by Bluemoose Books, Myers' novel The Gallows Pole was published to acclaim in 2017 and was winner of the Walter Scott Prize 2018 - the world's largest prize for historical fiction. It has been published in the US by Third Man Books and in 2023 was adapted by director Shane Meadows for the BBC/A24.
The Gallows Pole was re-issued by Bloomsbury, alongside previous titles Beastings and Pig Iron.
Several of Myers' novels have been released as audiobooks, read by actor Ralph Ineson.
Turning Blue (2016) was described as a "folk crime" novel, and praised by writers including Val McDermid. A sequel These Darkening Days followed in 2017.
His novel Beastings (2014) won the Portico Prize For Literature, was the recipient of the Northern Writers’ Award and longlisted for a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award 2015. Widely acclaimed, it featured on several end of year lists, and was chosen by Robert Macfarlane in The Big Issue as one of his books of 2014.
Pig Iron (2012) was the winner of the inaugural Gordon Burn Prize and runner-up in The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize. A controversial combination of biography and novel, Richard (2010) was a bestseller and chosen as a Sunday Times book of the year.
Myers’ short story ‘The Folk Song Singer’ was awarded the Tom-Gallon Prize in 2014 by the Society Of Authors and published by Galley Beggar Press. His short stories and poetry have appeared in dozens of anthologies.
As a journalist he has written about the arts and nature for publications including New Statesman, The Guardian, The Spectator, NME, Mojo, Time Out, New Scientist, Caught By The River, The Morning Star, Vice, The Quietus, Melody Maker and numerous others.
He currently lives in the Upper Calder Valley, West Yorkshire, UK.
Aivan loistava kirja. Eikä vain siksi, että SOAD lukeutuu lempibändeihini, vaan koska kirjoittaja selvittää hienosti ja mukaansatempaavasti niin bändin ja sen jäsenten historiaa kuin itse biisienkin taustoja.
Koska teoksen kieli on erityisen ilahduttavaa (hatunnosto kääntäjä Ilkka Salmenpohjalle), haluan jakaa muutaman minua miellyttäneen lausahduksen: - Jeesusmainen kajahtanut profeetta (Serj) - synkeän vinkeä popmetalli - Paniikkikohtauskitarat - Äkkiväärä rockmusiikki - Musiikillinen mielialahäiriö - aggressiivinen pomppumetalli - Suupielten poikkeuksellinen aurauskulma (Serjillä promokuvissa :) - sporttimetalli (sanoitusten perusteella viittä vaille lukutaidottomien jenkkiläisten numetalbändien tuotanto)
Mielenkiintoisen bändin mielenkiintoinen tarina, joka kuitenkin sortuu yhtyeen liikaan palvomiseen ja ylistämiseen. Ensimmäiset pari lukua ovat todella hyviä, mutta mitä pidemmälle kirja etenee, sitä selvemmäksi käy, että SOAD on kirjoittajan mielestä maailmankaikkeuden suurin, mahtavin, ihanin ja kaunein bändi. Toki tekijä myöntää alussa, että on suuri fani, mutta pahimmat hypettämiset olisi voitu karsia pois. Toistoa on myös hiukan liikaa, samat asiat saatetaan kertoa kolmeen, jopa neljään kertaan. Puutteistaan huolimatta ihan hyvä ja ennenkaikkea mielenkiintoinen kirja.
The background info on the band was great. But it is written from a fans perspective, so it got rather boring and mundane when the fan/author elaborated on his own stories about the band. I didn't finish it.
This book was fantastic for an insight into the band's history and the inspiration behind their work. Provided me with an abundance of information for an essay at university.