The song was chosen from all the songs on the Steal This Album.
Steal This Album had a tough job to achieve when it was released in 2002. It was the successor to the hugely successful System of a Down (1998) and Toxicity (2001). The most interesting thing is that the album didn't feature entirely new songs. Instead, it consisted of tracks composed for the two previous albums that hadn't made it past the mixing stage.
Nevertheless, what was found was that the album didn't sound like "leftovers." Steal This Album presented fans with a whole new range of new System of a Down hits.
Wikimetal readers voted for their favorite song from the album, and the big winner was “IEAIAIO”, with 33% of the votes. “Roulette” followed closely with 12%, and “Innervision” with 10%.
A curious fact about the winning song is that it was inspired by a meeting between the band's drummer, John Dolmayan, and the actor David Hasselhoff. At the time, Hasselhoff was starring in the series Knight Rider . Dolmayan, then 12 years old, shouted at the actor, who winked and pointed at him. That's where the lyrics came from: “Meeting John Dale's Jr. / Winked an eye / And point a finger”.
Steal This Album received platinum certification in Brazil, with 40,000 copies sold, and in the United States, with 1,000,000 copies sold.
Listen to “IEAIAIO” below:
