2001Released
3:55

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Aerials. By Songfacts®.

This song is about how people can lose their identities and become just like everyone else. Some lyric analysis: "Life is a waterfall,we're one in the river, one again after the fall." - We all start off the same and we all end up the same. "Swimming through the void, we hear the words,we lose ourselves, but we find it all." - As we go through life we are told lessons, but we ignore them. We forget who we really are in the mix of seeking the synthetic lifestyle, and that's the price to lose who we really are. "'Cause we are the ones that wanna play, always want to go, but you never want to stay." - We always want to be part of the scene. We strive for what we want and when we get it, it still does not satisfy. "And we are the ones that want to choose, always wanna play, but you never wanna lose." - We want and want. We do whatever we can but if trouble is ever near we do whatever we can to maintain innocence. "When you lose small mind you free your life." - When we stop to see the full picture is when we really have control of our lives. "Life is a waterfall, we drink from the river then we turn around and put up our walls." - We take and take and in the end we give nothing. This shows how greedy, oblivious and inconsiderate people can be.

Toxicity was the highly anticipated follow-up to System Of A Down's 1998 self-titled debut album. It was released on September 4, 2001 and went straight to #1 in America, but then September 11 happened. For a while, there was little music to be heard in the US, and when radio stations returned to regular programming, many dropped the first single, "Chop Suey," which references death and suicide. The album kept going strong, just on a different schedule. The title track was issued as the second single in January 2002 and made a strong showing on rock radio. "Aerials" was issued a few months later as the third single and did even better. It made #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart September 28, over a year after the album was issued. On October 5, it topped the Alternative Songs chart, reflecting the wide cross-section of radio stations that played the song. The album ended up selling over 3 million in America - not bad for an off-the-wall Armenian metal band.

The lyrics were written by guitarist Daron Malakian and lead singer Serj Tankian; Malakian wrote the music. They also have producer credits on the album along with their label boss, Rick Rubin, who was a big part of System's success.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Aerials.
CKey
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
79BPM

Album

The album Aerials is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Aerials.
American/Columbia
(P) 2001 Sony Music Entertainment. With American Recordings, LLC.

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