An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious. The term is also applied to an object that incorporates such a statement or displays such an act.

In a legal context, the term obscenity is most often used to describe expressions (words, images, actions) of an explicitly sexual nature. The word can be used to indicate a strong moral repugnance, in expressions such as "obscene profits", "the obscenity of war", etc. It is often replaced by "salaciousness".

According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, that which is obscene (i.e.: an obscenity) is quite simply defined as repulsive, or disgusting to the senses.

The definition of what exactly constitutes an obscenity differs from culture to culture, between communities within a single culture, and also between individuals within those communities. Many cultures have produced laws to define what is considered to be obscene, and censorship is often used to try to suppress or control materials that are obscene under these definitions: usually including, but not limited to, pornographic material. As such censorship restricts freedom of expression, crafting a legal definition of obscenity presents a civil liberties issue.

System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California, formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals), Shavo Odadjian (bass, background vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums).

The band achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums; from which three debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and won the award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song "B.Y.O.B.". The group went on hiatus in August 2006, but reunited in November 2010, embarking on a worldwide tour in 2011.

Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, and Shavo Odadjian all attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School while children, although because of their eight-year age difference they did not meet until 1992 while working on separate projects at the same recording studio. They formed a band named Soil with Tankian on vocals and keyboards, Malakian on vocals and guitar, Dave Hakopyan (who later played in The Apex Theory/Mt. Helium) on bass and Domingo "Dingo" Laranio on drums. The band hired Shavo Odadjian (another Rose and Alex Pilibos alumnus) as manager, although he eventually joined Soil as rhythm guitarist. After three years, only one live show, and one jam session recording, Hakopyan and Laranio quit the band, feeling that it was not going anywhere.

John Allen Stagliano (born November 29, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois), also known as Buttman, is an American entrepreneur, pornographic actor, producer and director, who founded and owns the Evil Angel pornographic film studio.

Stagliano grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and attended high school from 1965 to 1969. He enrolled in college, but dropped out in 1969 for several semesters. He then went back to college and studied subjects including English, journalism, and engineering, before transferring to UCLA to major in economics. He originally planned to get an economics Ph.D. and become a professor. He then switched to studying theater, playwriting, modern, and jazz dance, partly because there were more women in those classes.

In the 1970s, he wrote erotic fiction for a small newspaper, and did some softcore modeling. He made his debut in a hardcore pornographic film in an 8mm loop in 1974. In 1979, he was looking for dancing jobs in Hollywood. He replied to an advertisement in the Daily Variety looking for male strippers for the new Chippendales show. He performed with the group four or five nights a week for the next four years. In 1982, when he was 30, he began publishing a small pornographic magazine on newsprint, which he called Evil Angel.

Twin Obscenity is a Norwegian death/black metal band.^{[citation needed]} They borrowed their name from Zhar and Lloigor, collectively known as the Twin Obscenities, in the Cthulhu Mythos.

Discussions about starting a band (which later became Twin Obscenity) started in 1989 with drummer Knut Næsje, who went to the same primary school as bassist Jo-Arild Tønnessen. Twin Obscenity was founded in 1991 when, in high school, singer/guitarist/keyboardist Atle Wiig met Tønnessen, who had previously been playing with Naesje. Over the next few years they recorded three demo tapes.

Twin Obscenity's debut album, Where Light Touches None, was released in the summer of ‘97 on the Norwegian label Head Not Found. After the band signed to Century Media Records in the beginning of 1998 they recorded their second album, For Blood, Honor and Soil.

Tønnessen, who was born in Stavenger, graduated as a software engineer in 1997, and has worked in the field since. He is married and has two children.