Since Bruce Dickinson joined Iron Maiden in the early 1980s, he became one of the most important Heavy Metal singers of all time. Replacing Paul Di’Anno, he took the band to another level in terms of songwriting and vocal possibilities. Iron Maiden was a direct influence on most of the Heavy Metal bands that emerged in the following decades. As the genre evolved, Bruce Dickinson always paid attention to what was happening and has given his opinion on many newer bands, including System of a Down. What is Bruce Dickinson's opinion on System of a Down Although System of a Down isn’t exactly the kind of music Bruce Dickinson is into, he said that he “kind of liked” the band, especially because it was something different that managed to become mainstream when it normally wouldn’t have. “You'd got like, the extremities. I mean, because Punk didn't really change it that much. Punk just borrowed the aggressive guitar, like Marshall types tones. But now you got some Metal bands, look at the grandaddies of everything, Slayer, and a band like Sepultura: just big, fat slabs of angry ‘Grrrrr!’” "Which your blues rockers just went, ‘Ugh, we hate that! What's that all about?' And it’s like, well, you have to get in the headspace of why they’re writing stuff like that. Because, if they’re young kids, which they were when they were doing it, they’re going, ‘We don’t wanna be like my grandad, who plays really proficient blues guitar. It’s going nowhere, because I can never be as good as him. And, even if I was as good as him, people would say, 'You’re not as good as him.' So I’m gonna do something different.’” "So you've got that palette, that then diversified into Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down. Those kinds of things that started doing really kind of the things that were a little bit more out there. I kind of liked System Of A Down, simply because of the fact that it was that eccentric. I’m not sure where it came from. I mean, if it was like Armenian or weird Anatolian goat music or whatever the hell was his inspiration to it." Bruce Dickinson continued: "I love the fact that it did get mainstream exposure. I think it’s great when stuff like that breaks through. I’m not sure what I could take from it, for my purposes. But, nevertheless, it’s great that it’s out there,” Bruce Dickinson told Loudwire in 2024. The Iron Maiden vocalist mentioned Armenia because all the members of System of a Down are of Armenian descent. Serj Tankian (vocals) and Daron Malakian (guitar) were both born in Los Angeles, California, but their parents were born in Armenia. Drummer John Dolmayan’s parents were Armenian as well, but he was born in Beirut, Lebanon, where they were living at the time, and later moved to California during the Lebanese Civil War. Bassist Shavo Odadjian is the only member who was actually born in Armenia. He was born in Yerevan, when the country was still called the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. He and his parents moved to Los Angeles when he was 5 years old. Serj Tankian said seeing Iron Maiden live was one of the most impactful moments of his life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iywaBOMvYLI&list=RDiywaBOMvYLI&start_radio=1&pp=ygUIdG94aWNpdHmgBwE%3D The members of System of a Down are fans of Iron Maiden, especially the band’s vocalist Serj Tankian. The first concert he ever attended was an Iron Maiden show in 1984. Interestingly, he wasn’t even a big rock fan at the time, but his girlfriend was a huge Maiden fan, so he went along with her. He immediately became a fan himself and later said it was one of the most impactful moments of his life. "The first one that I ever saw, my first rock show I ever saw was Iron Maiden in 1984. I'd like to say — 1984, maybe. My girlfriend at the time was a huge Maiden fan. I, at the time, didn't even listen to much Rock music. I hadn't even smoked pot. It was the first time I started smelling pot outside. I was a 4.0 good kid in school. So that was impactful for me because of the timing more than anything. And you'll hear those kind of horses galloping within System's music that's influenced by Maiden as well. Everyone in Rock has been influenced by Maiden," he told Monsters, Madness And Magic in 2024. In the previous decade, he talked about that show in an interview with A.V. Club, saying he first didn't get it and his first impression was that a really loud kind of music. "I thought it was one of the craziest things I'd ever seen. (Laughs) I'm, like, 'This is madness! What is this? Everyone, hide!'" He continued: "At the time, I wasn't actually a metal fan at all. I thought, 'Wow, this is really noisy music, I don't get it.' To be completely honest, I wasn't in love with it. And now I'm a huge Iron Maiden fan, and I know Bruce Dickinson and see the guys on tour and whatnot. But time changes. It's interesting. But at the time, I wasn't a metal or even a rock fan, to be honest." System of a Down was formed in Glendale, California, in 1994, a year after Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden. Their debut album came out in 1998, and since then they have released three more, the most recent being Mezmerize and Hypnotize, both in 2005. The band broke up the following year but reunited in 2010 and has remained active since, although they haven’t released any new albums.The post Bruce Dickinson’s opinion on System of a Down appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.