Needles (System of a Down song)
Encyclopedia
"Needles" is the second song in System of a Down
's album Toxicity
, and follows on from the previous track "Prison Song
".
"Needles" was written by Serj Tankian
and Daron Malakian
. The lyrics describe the dangers of drug abuse. The song compares the feeling of drug addiction to "having a tapeworm"; i.e. the more you feed it the bigger it gets, but you get nothing back from it.
After the second chorus, a bass riff
leads into the bridge
, where Malakian sings "I'm sitting in my room with a needle in my hand, just waiting for the tomb of some old dying man" (again, following the theme of drug addiction). Later in the song Tankian joins and leads into the last chorus with a death growl
.
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
's album Toxicity
Toxicity (album)
Toxicity is the second album by American heavy metal band System of a Down. Produced by Rick Rubin, Toxicity was released on September 4, 2001 by American Recordings, debuting at #1 on both the United States, with 220,000 copies, and #1 on the Canadian charts...
, and follows on from the previous track "Prison Song
Prison Song (song)
"Prison Song" is the opening track to System of a Down's 2001 album Toxicity. The song was released as an unofficial airplay-only single, and a promotional live video of the song was released....
".
"Needles" was written by Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer–songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, playwright, record producer, poet, and political activist...
and Daron Malakian
Daron Malakian
Daron Vartan Malakian is an Armenian-American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist, songwriter, and occasional vocalist of the heavy metal band System of a Down and as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and songwriter of the alternative...
. The lyrics describe the dangers of drug abuse. The song compares the feeling of drug addiction to "having a tapeworm"; i.e. the more you feed it the bigger it gets, but you get nothing back from it.
After the second chorus, a bass riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
leads into the bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
, where Malakian sings "I'm sitting in my room with a needle in my hand, just waiting for the tomb of some old dying man" (again, following the theme of drug addiction). Later in the song Tankian joins and leads into the last chorus with a death growl
Death growl
A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
.