Aerials (song)

"Aerials"
Single by System of a Down
from the album Toxicity
B-side	"Snowblind"
Released	June 11, 2002
Format	7" CD cassette
Recorded	February 15, 2001 Cello Studios Hollywood, California
Genre	Progressive rock alternative metal
Length	3:54 (without hidden track) 6:11 (with hidden track)
Label	American
Writer(s)	Daron Malakian Serj Tankian
Producer(s)	Daron Malakian Rick Rubin Serj Tankian
System of a Down singles chronology
"Toxicity" (2002) "Aerials" (2002) "Innervision" (2002)
Music video "Aerials" on YouTube

"Aerials" is a single by the rock band System of a Down. It was released in 2001 from their second album Toxicity, which earned the band its second Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2003. The song 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. "Arto" (an unofficial name for the track) features Armenian musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan, with the band playing a traditional Armenian Church hymn, "Der Voghormya" ("Lord Have Mercy"). Daron Malakian on a MTV! Interview said the hidden track called "Arto" is a tribute to "Leading the Rats" from the Morbid Angel album Blessed Are the Sick.

Serj Tankian plays rhythm guitar when the song is played live.

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, providing him with a strikingly alien appearance and separating him from everyone else. The band starts playing. It then shifts to the boy surrounded by people in an urban environment flashing gang signs while a large group around him dances. 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 red dresses similar to the first pair, and an older man, who seems to be interviewing them or making an agreement. Exiting the building, paparazzi swarm the boy and begin photographing him. 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 afterward 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, lies down in the middle, and closes his eyes as the song ends.

Chart positions

Cover versions

The song was recorded as a cover by melodic death metal band Amon Amarth, and was released as a bonus track to the iTunes edition of their eighth album, Surtur Rising. Alternative rock band The Pretty Reckless included the song in their live set-list during their 2012 headlining tour The Medicine Tour.

Track listing

References