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Question!

2005 single by System of a Down

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

"Question!" is a song by American heavy metal band System of a Down, released in July 2005 as the second single from their fourth studio album, Mezmerize (2005).

01Release

After the release of "B.Y.O.B.", the band were deciding what song to release as a single. They eventually chose "Question!" after finding out radio stations had already been playing the track.

02Music video

Shavo Odadjian produced the video, and co-directed it alongside Howard Greenhalgh, after allegedly having an image of the video in a nightmare, which consisted of a boy offering a girl berries, unaware that they were poisonous. It is claimed that before the dream he did not intend to produce the video and did not want any special treatment over other possible producers for being in the band, thus submitting the idea anonymously.

Filmed mostly in the Los Angeles Theatre, which opened in 1931, the video opens with a gray-haired, gray-clothed, and gray-skinned boy shooting a red bird with a slingshot in an alleyway, after which the song starts. It then switches to the band members in dark suits in the theatre's forestage performing music for a play, similar to an orchestra. Based on a theme of life, death, and reincarnation, the play revolves around two lovers, a man in a dark suit and a woman in a red dress, who are shown both as children and as adults. As the music reaches its climax, the woman collapses after eating a red berry and the man screams in grief. The video closes with an intense scene of a woman giving birth in a hospital room, followed by a shot of a newborn baby wrapped in red cloth. The color red significantly links the bird, the girl, the woman, and the baby in a cycle of rebirth.

Tankian described the theatre, "It's an amazing old theater that is due for renovation. I'm glad they haven't renovated it yet, because it has the right character for what we were looking for. It has a fairy tale vibe."

03Track listing

CD single
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Question!" (album version)TankianTankian, Malakian3:20
2."Sugar" (explicit live version)TankianMalakian, Odadjian3:54
Maxi CD single
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Question!" (album version)TankianTankian, Malakian3:20
2."Forest" (explicit live version)TankianMalakian5:11
3."Prison Song" (explicit live version)Tankian, MalakianMalakian3:27
4."Question!" (live video)TankianTankian, Malakian3:25
DVD single
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Question!" (concept video)TankianTankian, Malakian3:48
2."B.Y.O.B." (concept video)Tankian, MalakianMalakian4:17
3."Sugar" (explicit live version)TankianMalakian, Odadjian3:54
4."B.Y.O.B." (explicit live from Astoria)Malakian, TankianMalakian4:19

04Personnel

System of a Down

Additional personnel

Production

  • Rick Rubin, production
  • Andy Wallace, mixing
  • David Schiffman, engineering
  • Jason Lader, editing
  • Dana Neilsen, editing
  • Phillip Broussard, engineering assistance
  • John O'Mahony, Pro Tools engineering
  • Steve Sisco, mixing assistance
  • Joe Peluso, mixing assistance
  • Vartan Malakian, artwork
  • Brandy Flower, graphic design

05Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Question!"
Chart (2005) Peak
position
Canada Rock Top 30 (Radio & Records) 29
Hungary (Single Top 40) 7
Ireland (IRMA) 47
Scottish Singles Sales (Official Charts) 39
UK Singles (Official Charts) 41
UK Rock & Metal (Official Charts) 3
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 (Billboard) 2
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard) 9
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard) 7

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Question!"
Chart (2005) Position
US Mainstream Rock Tracks (Billboard) 32
US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard) 44

06Certifications

Certifications for "Question!"
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA) Gold 500,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Watch videos about Question!Explainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Question!, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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