WHY'D YOU PUT THE COFFEE ON THE TABLE!

April 10, 2013 3:54 PM

Got 15 seconds? Then you can watch an animation of Serj Tankian ordering coffee at a Starbucks.

Got three and a half minutes and want some context, especially if you're not familiar with his band, System of a Down? We've got that too.

Got an hour-forty-six and want to watch a full concert from this most unusual and adventurous metal band? Hey, we got that as well.

(SoaD, previously.)

posted by jbickers (25 comments total)

Got 15 seconds?

"Welcome to Der Wienerschnitzel, may I take your order, please?"

"Yeah, I want..."
posted by DaDaDaDave at 4:07 PM on April 10, 2013 [12 favorites]

If we're gonna bring the (awesome) Descendents into it, I'll see your "Weinerschnitzel" and raise you "Coffee Mug," which fits two verses, two choruses and a bridge into 35 seconds.
posted by jbickers at 4:13 PM on April 10, 2013 [9 favorites]

I love System of a Down. I can still listen to Toxicity front-to-back and enjoy it, and I loved the SOAD concert I saw about 8 years ago (Mars Volta opening), surrounded by kids in black hoodies singing along.

Most of my friends hate them and would mock them if the subject ever came up. But it's an act. It's fun. It's tongue-in-cheek. And it doesn't really matter now anyway because they're haven't been relevant in a few years.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 4:22 PM on April 10, 2013

Good to see that New grounds still exists.
posted by Aizkolari at 4:27 PM on April 10, 2013

That first video was awesome.
posted by resurrexit at 4:27 PM on April 10, 2013

You know the urban legend about LSD being stored up in spinal fluid, so you crack your back later and start tripping again (if you don't know that one, then enjoy that new tidbit of "knowledge")? Music must be like that for youth. I would have thought I'd emotionally and musically matured way past my days of thrashing out to SOAD, but no, I started having flashbacks as soon as I heard those first few notes and now I pulling up other videos and it is like a fucking time machine for my brain.
posted by Panjandrum at 4:30 PM on April 10, 2013 [3 favorites]

In '07, Serj and Dave Grohl covered Holiday in Cambodia and while I'm not terribly fond of either System of a Down or Foo Fighters (although I don't have anything against them either) it is the only cover I've heard that is actually really good.
posted by griphus at 4:31 PM on April 10, 2013 [8 favorites]

In the less caffeine, 100x the qualuudes direction, Stevens and Grdnic's Fast Food.

"A double-cheeseburger, fries, and a large orange drink."
posted by zippy at 4:34 PM on April 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

It's an act, it's fun, it's tongue-in-cheek -- and Tankian has a great voice and the songs are catchy as hell, less metal than really good pop. The title track from Toxicity has like a half-dozen amazing hooks crammed into it. I'm a fan.
posted by eugenen at 4:53 PM on April 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

i wish i had not watched this with my volume up as high as it was.
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 5:06 PM on April 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

In '07, Serj and Dave Grohl covered Holiday in Cambodia and while I'm not terribly fond of either System of a Down or Foo Fighters (although I don't have anything against them either) it is the only cover I've heard that is actually really good.

At the VMAs, no less.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:10 PM on April 10, 2013

I'll stand behind most of Toxicity as well as the first album, particularly "Spiders" (musically, I mean - oh god that video is cheesy.)

Next we need a proper FPP on Marilyn Manson. Surely Antichrist Superstar is worth a reevaluation.
posted by naju at 5:19 PM on April 10, 2013

Here is a version for first link for people who don't have flash.
posted by birdherder at 5:24 PM on April 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

That version of Holiday in Cambodia is indeed awesome!
posted by Vindaloo at 5:53 PM on April 10, 2013

A few months ago my girlfriend and I sang along to the whole of Toxicity on the way back from Baltimore despite neither of us having heard it for probably 7 or 8 years. That album is amazing and I love my girlfriend.
posted by azarbayejani at 5:54 PM on April 10, 2013 [4 favorites]

Oh man, that's a great Holiday cover indeed. And I was enjoying it but thinking the crowd and scene were weird for such a punk, screw the rich groovy people song, and wondering where it could be and how appropriate it was. Were they intentionally mocking their audience. And now I see it's the VMAs. Well played, gentlemen. Well played indeed in both senses.
posted by freebird at 6:22 PM on April 10, 2013 [3 favorites]

Once SoaD took off, I began to look with suspicion upon Neil Stephenson. Yeah, the virtual samurai crap never took off, but predicting the rise of Armenian metal in LA was something only someone really tuned in could have predicted.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:44 PM on April 10, 2013 [5 favorites]

Kind of hedged their bets with "brothers feel cold" though.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 6:57 PM on April 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

You're all bad people and going to hell. There's no reason you shouldn't get to hear one more Descendents tune before you go though...
posted by evilDoug at 7:27 PM on April 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

The one and only case where I can say I saw the band before they were big. I befriended a street teamer through Yahoo Chat, who mailed me a demo cassette. I saw them play at a club (more of a closet) in Corona, where they opened for Machine Head. I remember being totally blown away by their stage presence. They had awesome beards.
posted by Brocktoon at 8:24 PM on April 10, 2013

Tenacious D style: "a SMALL, a SMALL Chocolate Shake. Because I'm tryin to watch my figure, not a large, a small."
posted by asterisk at 10:20 PM on April 10, 2013

I just watched this almost as many times in a row as I did Happy in Paraguay when someone first posted it.
posted by aloiv2 at 11:55 PM on April 10, 2013

Every time I get sent to Newgrounds I am amazed that it has stuck around for so long. I remember when it was a little baby website full of shockwave content and html "games" where you got to shoot Barney. I have no idea how I found out about that website, because I was in fifth grade at the time, but I pretty much thought it was the best thing ever.

I guess what I am saying is that their content has improved.
posted by NoraReed at 3:09 AM on April 11, 2013

Next we need a proper FPP on Marilyn Manson. Surely Antichrist Superstar is worth a reevaluation.

I have to say, the most offensive thing about Manson is how boring and predictable his music is. If he put half the thought and effort into his albums that he invested in his appearances on Politically Incorrect and in Bowling for Columbine...
posted by pxe2000 at 9:02 AM on April 11, 2013

Ooh! Ooh! Now do these guys.
posted by Splunge at 10:57 AM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]