Serj Tankian Talks Toxicity and Activism

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Pushkin Industries

Music, Society & Culture

4.5 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2021

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

System of a Down’s classic Rick Rubin-produced album, Toxicity, turns 20 this year. Released in 2001 one week before 9/11, the politically charged and wildly bizarre album provided the perfect soundtrack for a world descending into chaos. Serj Tankian, the lead singer of System, is no stranger to conflict. His family is Armenian and migrated to Los Angeles from Lebanon to escape a civil war when Serj was seven years-old. Today we’ll hear Rick Rubin talk to his good friend Serj about how hearing bombs drop outside his childhood bedroom turned him into a lifelong activist. Serj also explains how a funny line about a tapeworm almost caused System to break up, and why the first time Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine heard System play, he called it music for crazy people.

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Check out a playlist of our favorite System of a Down songs HERE . And hear a playlist Serj put together of his favorite tracks HERE.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Pushkin
0:15.0	System of a Downs classic Rick Rubin produced album, Toxicity, turns 20 this year.
0:21.0	Released in 2001, one week before 9-11, the politically charged and wildly bizarre nature
0:28.0	of Toxicity provided the perfect soundtrack for a world descending into chaos.
0:35.0	Life is a waterfall, we're one in the river and one again after the fall.
0:47.0	Swimming through the void we hear the word, we lose ourselves but we're finding all.
0:56.0	Search Tonkin, the lead singer of system, is no stranger to conflict. His families are
1:02.0	union and migrated to LA from Lebanon to escape a civil war when Serge was seven years old.
1:09.0	In Los Angeles, he grew up in a tight-knit Armenian community along with the rest of his younger system bandmates.
1:16.0	As Serge's star began to rise in the late 90s, his activism intensified.
1:21.0	And to this day, he continues to raise awareness around the Armenian genocide and the impact of corporate greed.
1:28.0	Last month, he released a documentary, Truth to Power, which documents the intersection of Serge's work as a musician and an activist.
1:36.0	Today, we'll hear Rick Rubin talk to his good friend Serge about how hearing bombs drop outside his childhood bedroom turned him into a lifelong activist.
1:44.0	Serge also explains how a pretty odd and funny line about a tapeworm almost caused system of a down to break up.
1:52.0	And why the first time Tom Morello of rage against the machine, heard system play, he called it music for crazy people.
1:59.0	This is Broken Record, liner notes for the digital age. I'm Justin Richmond.
2:11.0	Here's Rick Rubin and Serge Tonkin.
2:15.0	Maybe we start by talking about the movie. How did the movie come about?
2:19.0	So the idea originally was in 2011, 2011's the year that system of a down started touring again after years of hiatus.
2:28.0	And I knew I was going to have an incredibly busy professional year.
2:32.0	I was touring with system of a down, touring with my backup band, the FCC, doing orchestral shows with different orchestras around the world.
2:39.0	Going to Armenia, protest movements, like doing all this crazy. That year, I knew was going to be insane in terms of work.
	...

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