System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian has revealed which song from the band’s extensive catalog contains the lyrics that left him the most confused. In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Odadjian pointed to the track “Bounce” from their classic 2001 album, Toxicity.
When asked by a fan if any of frontman Serj Tankian’s lyrics ever made him say, “WTF?”, Odadjian had an immediate answer. He recalled the song’s creation, noting he wrote the music while Tankian handled the lyrics.
“It was called ‘PJs’”, Odadjian said. “Instead of ‘Jump! Pogo pogo pogo pogo…!’, it was like, ‘Da! Pisha pisha pisha pisha…!’ I was like, “What the f**k are you saying, bro?!” Actually, every album has shit where I say, “What the f**k is he talking about?!” Ha ha ha! But that’s part of the beauty of Serj. He does that but there’s always something there for everyone to read into”.
The song “Bounce” is famously about group s*x, using a pogo stick as a metaphor. Despite its adult theme, the track was surprisingly used in a trailer for the 2015 animated children’s movie, The Secret Life of Pets.
For his part, Tankian has previously described his lyrical approach on his Patreon page. “I usually start with the music first, and then I’ll look for inspirations,” Tankian stated. “What is this music saying to me? What is it talking about? Is it talking about a bird? Is it talking about the Earth? Is it talking about a love? Is it talking about politics?…Once you’ve figured that out, then you have your theme. Your theme’s important because it gives you focus”.
Earlier this year, Odadjian also took the opportunity to set the record straight regarding a long-standing rumor about a 2007 altercation with Brent Hinds of Mastodon. Initial reports from the incident, which left Hinds hospitalized, suggested Odadjian was responsible for his injuries.
“I never knocked out Brent Hinds,” Odadjian clarified. “That’s something that Brent was told by I-don’t-know-who”. He explained that his friend, rapper Reverend William Burk, landed a punch in self-defense after an inebriated Hinds threw a punch at him. This account aligns with statements made by Hinds and other members of Mastodon in the years since the incident.
System of a Down has been active in 2025, playing several stadium shows with what they vowed would be “drastically” altered setlists. The band has made good on that promise, performing deep cuts that haven’t been played in over a decade, such as “Arto,” “Marmalade,” and “Mind”.
The band has recently garnered attention for footage from their South American tour. Shavo addressed the reasons behind their return to touring after a seven-year break.
“We’re older now, and we respect each other, and we’ve talked. We’ve noticed how social media, and the media in general, has swayed us. We’ve just turned everything off and… we’re grateful for each other. We love each other. Anything that has happened between us is minuscule. We’re just playing, doing what we feel like doing,” Odadjian explained.
