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May 2024
1h 36m

Serj Tankian

Rick Rubin
About this episode

Serj Tankian is a Grammy-award-winning artist best known for being the frontman of System Of A Down. His powerful vocals and thought-provoking lyrics helped the group achieve wild success, including over 40 million records sold worldwide, multiple platinum albums, more than a billion YouTube plays, and multiple Grammy nominations (winning Best Hard Rock Performance in 2006 for "B.Y.O.B."). Beyond System Of A Down, Tankian has released five solo albums (Elect the Dead, Imperfect Harmonies, Harakiri, Orca, Jazz-Iz-Christ, and Elasticity), composed music for film and television (Body of Lies, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, among many more), and been a prominent activist for human rights, environmental issues, and causes related to his Armenian heritage (In 2011, he was awarded the Armenian Prime Minister's Medal for his significant contributions to the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide). His book Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts)—which shares his extraordinary life story, from his childhood in war-torn Beirut and his family’s move to Los Angeles, to his decision to pursue music and his rise to fame as the lead singer of System—is out now!  


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