“Aerials” by System of a Down

"Aerials" was the third single from System of a Down's second album, Toxicity (2001), and it's the band's heaviness bent toward something almost hymnal. Daron Malakian wrote the music, he and Serj Tankian wrote the words, and the two share the vocals, Tankian's voice swooping and pleading while Malakian's harmonies lurk underneath.

Malakian's guitar riff is the hook, a coiled, grinding thing that Loudwire later named among the 10 best metal riffs of the 2000s, and he adds sitar for an eerie, far-off shimmer. Shavo Odadjian's bass and John Dolmayan's drums keep the song swaying between hush and heave. Rick Rubin produced it with Malakian, Tankian co-produced, and Andy Wallace mixed.

It gave the band their first number-one hit, topping both Billboard's Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock charts, and it brought them their second Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 45th ceremony in 2003. Loudwire and Kerrang both rank it third among the band's greatest songs, and it was played at the funeral of the Prodigy's frontman Keith Flint.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.