"B.Y.O.B." ("Bring Your Own Bombs") is a song by Armenian-American heavy metal band

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

. It was released in March 2005 as the lead single from their fourth album ''

Mezmerize ''Mezmerize'' is the fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band System of a Down, released on May 17, 2005, by American Recordings and Columbia Records. Upon its release, the album received acclaim from critics. The album sold over 4 ...

''. Like their earlier song "Boom!", it was written in protest against the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. The song reached number 27 on the US ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, the band's highest peak to date on the chart.

Music video

Directed by

Jake Nava Jake Nava is a British director, mostly known for his work in music videos for Beyoncé, Arctic Monkeys, Adele, Britney Spears and The Rolling Stones. He also directs TV commercials, notably for Guinness and Levi Strauss & Co. Early life and ed ...

, the music video for "B.Y.O.B." shows an army of soldiers marching through the streets, wearing paintball masks with television screens projecting words like "DIE", "TRUTH", "OBEY", "BUY" or "GOD", with the band members playing in the middle of the street. During the chorus, the band is shown playing inside a night club. Midway through the video, co-lead vocalist Daron Malakian is shown screaming the words ''"Blast off! It's party time! And we don't live in a fascist nation! Blast off! It's party time! And where the fuck are you?!"'', when the soldiers storm the night club and force everyone to put on the drone masks, during which the masks show images of television shows and war. At the end of the video, the band members are shown wearing the drone masks, which are playing static. As of January 2023, the song has over 417 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Songwriting legal case

Casey Chaos Karim Chmielinski (born October 9, 1969), known professionally as Casey Chaos, is an American singer and songwriter. His music has encompassed a number of styles, including hardcore punk, death rock, and metal. He is the frontman of the metal ba ...

claimed to have helped write the song in 2002, and Malakian offered to gift him a 2%

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

credit. When Chaos asked for more, the offer was rescinded. Casey Chaos then subsequently sold a 50% interest in the song to Maxwood Music Ltd. However, in 2010 a

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

court ruled Malakian and Tankian to be the sole writers of the song.

Accolades

*B.Y.O.B. won the "

Best Hard Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011. The academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time at the 31st Grammy Awards (1989). The category was ori ...

" category in the

2006 Grammy Awards The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005. Irish rock band U2 were ...

Track listing

;CD single * The live tracks were recorded at the

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...

2005 festival. ;Digital download

irst version An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. IR ...

;7" single • digital download econd version

Personnel

System of a Down *

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...

– vocals, keyboards *

Daron Malakian Daron Malakian (born July 18, 1975) is an Armenian-American musician. He is best known as the guitarist, songwriter, and second vocalist of metal band System of a Down, and as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwrit ...

– vocals, guitars, bass (uncredited)Alan Di Perna https://www.guitarworld.com/features/daron-malakian-21st-century-schizoid-man (September 29, 2008)Fabrizio Pedrotti https://fabriziopedrotti.com/2019/07/18/shavo-odadjian-system-of-a-down-nunca-va-a-morir/ (July 18, 2019) *

Shavo Odadjian Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian ( hy, Շավարշ "Շավո" Օդաջյան; born April 22, 1974) is an Armenian-American musician, best known as the bassist of heavy metal band System of a Down. He also plays bass in a trap group called North Kingsl ...

– bass (credited but does not perform) *

John Dolmayan John Dolmayan (; born July 15, 1972) is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American musician, best known as the drummer of System of a Down. He is also the drummer for the band Indicator and former drummer for Scars on Broadway. Dolmayan ranked number 33 ...

– drums, percussion Vocals * "Soldier Side" - Intro: Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian (both main) * "B.Y.O.B.": Tankian (main), Malakian (second voice) * "Revenga": Tankian (main), Malakian (second voice) * "Cigaro": Tankian (main), Malakian (second voice) * "Radio/Video": Malakian and Tankian (both main) * "This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on this Song": Tankian * "Violent Pornography": Malakian and Tankian (both main) * "Question!": Tankian (main), Malakian (backing vocals) * "Sad Statue": Malakian and Tankian (both main) * "Old School Hollywood": Malakian and Tankian (both main) * "Lost in Hollywood": Malakian (main) and Tankian (second voice) Production *

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

– production * Andy Wallace – mixing * David Schiffman – engineering *

Jason Lader Jason Lader is an American record producer, audio engineer, and mixer from New York. He is also known for playing bass guitar, keyboards, piano, guitar, and as a programmer. He was a member of the band Furslide, and has since worked with Howard B ...

– editing * Dana Neilsen – editing * Phillip Broussard – engineering assistance * John O'Mahony –

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

engineering * Steve Sisco – mixing assistance * Joe Peluso – mixing assistance Additional personnel *

Marc Mann Marc Mann is an American keyboardist, guitarist, programmer, arranger and conductor. He has a Master's Degree in Music from UCLA. Mann is known for his work with Oingo Boingo Oingo Boingo () was an American new wave band formed by songwrite ...

– string arrangements * Vartan Malakian – artwork * Brandy Flower – graphic design

Chart positions

Certifications

References

External links

Listen to ''B.Y.O.B.'' at the band's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byob (song) 2005 singles Anti-war songs System of a Down songs Songs of the Iraq War Music videos directed by Jake Nava Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance Songs written by Daron Malakian Songs written by Serj Tankian Columbia Records singles Thrash metal songs