What inspired "Downer of a Sister?"

Part of the inspiration for the "Downer of a Sister" parody came from Arron Daniels, a DJ friend of ApologetiX at KBNJ in Corpus Christi, TX.

In early 2003, Arron was visiting with the band in Pittsburgh, PA, as they were discussing potential songs to spoof for their upcoming CD project. At the time, System of a Down's "Chop Suey" was on the long list of potential songs, but it wasn't looking like a very strong candidate because of its overall harshness. In fact, of the three System of a Down songs being considered for parody, it looked the least likely to succeed. However, when Arron heard "Chop Suey" was on the list, he began to do his impression of System of a Down's lead singer, Serj Tankian, shouting "Wake up!" as he does in the original version. Arron's impression brought the band to fits of laughter, and lyricist J. Jackson was never able to look at the original song the same way again.

Suddenly J. realized the comedic potential of the song. Listening to "Chop Suey" in the car a few days later, he noticed that "Wake up" rhymed very nicely with "Jacob." Then the imagery came to him -- Leah the morning after the wedding, breaking the news to Jacob that he had married the wrong girl! The sheer lunacy of Leah singing in the harsh voice of a hard rocking band like System of a Down played nicely into the overall image of Leah being less desirable than the lovely Rachel. J. knew they had a winner of their hands and that God had once again provided inspiration where days before there was nothing.