raising funds, raising awareness about this. Time will tell whether this leads to something else or not." In January 2023, Dolmayan claimed that Tankian "hasn't really wanted to be in a band for a long time [...] and quite frankly, we probably should have parted ways around 2006. We tried to get together multiple times to make an album, but there were certain rules set in place that made it difficult to do so and maintain the integrity of what System of a Down stood for." Despite the major setback, he said the chemistry to play live together as a band is still great. Artistry Lyrical themes System of a Down's lyrics are often oblique or dadaist and have discussed topics such as drug abuse, politics and suicide. "Prison Song" criticizes the War on Drugs whereas Rolling Stone describes "Roulette" as a "scared, wounded love letter". "Boom!", among the band's most straightforward and unambiguous songs, lambasts globalization and spending on bombs and armament. Commenting on the track "I-E-A-I-A-I-O", drummer John Dolmayan said it was inspired by an encounter he had with Knight Rider's actor David Hasselhoff in a liquor store in Los Angeles when he was around 12. On Mezmerize, "Cigaro" makes explicit references to phallic imagery and bureaucracy while "Violent Pornography" harshly views television and degradation of women. System of a Down's discontent towards the controversial Iraq War arises in "B.Y.O.B.", which is a double entendre reference to beer and bombs, containing the forthright lyric "Why don't presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?", "Old School Hollywood" describes a celebrity baseball game. On their album "Hypnotize", "Tentative" describes war, "Hypnotize" refers to the Tiananmen Square events, and "Lonely Day" describes angst. The album title Steal This Album! is a play on the book Steal This Book by left-wing political activist Abbie Hoffman. System of a Down's firm commitment for the Armenian genocide to be recognized appears in two songs: "P.L.U.C.K." and "Holy Mountains," which rank among the band's most political songs. Music Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated "Like many late-'90s metal bands System of a Down struck a balance between '80s underground thrash metal and metallic early-'90s alternative rockers like Jane's Addiction". System of a Down's music has variously been termed alternative metal, nu metal, heavy metal, hard rock, progressive metal, thrash metal, art rock, and avant-garde metal. Malakian has stated that "We don't