10 Most Infamous SNL Musical Guests
8. System of a Down
For as long as it has been on the air, SNL has never been shy in featuring the more political side of the spectrum. Hell, some of the most high profile moments in recent memory have either come from politicians being on the show or being satirized in various segments. As far as political bands go though, things were a little bit dicey when it came to System of a Down.
From a marketing perspective, having System on was a great idea considering they had just come off one of their greatest runs of albums with Mesmerize and Hypnotize. Everything started going off without a hitch...until they got to BYOB. Short for Bring Your Own Bombs, this track normally killed in System's live set, but Daron Malakian had something else in mind when playing it that night.
In the middle of the heavy breakdown at the end of the song, Malakian's final scream into the microphone resulted in him blaring "F*CK YEAH" on live television, after which the show quickly went to commercial. With only one in the can, this would be the last time System were on the Studio 8H stage, breaking up shortly after to work on solo projects. Given System's habit for more offensive material, this is probably the most logical conclusion for a song like BYOB to end.