Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts) (2024) Review - Serj Tankian’s Restless Mind Behind System of a Down
Serj Tankian has never fit into the standard rock-star mold.
As the frontman of System of a Down, he helped create one of the most politically aggressive and musically unpredictable rock bands to break into the mainstream during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
If you come to this book expecting a chronological talk of albums, tours, and backstage debauchery, you will quickly realize this isn’t that kind of memoir.
Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts)
Why should we care about Serj Tankian?
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Armenian parents, Serj Tankian’s family relocated to Los Angeles when he was seven, settling into a large Armenian diaspora community. Tankian later studied marketing at California State University and started a computer software business.
System of a Down formed in 1994, with mainstream breakthrough success with the album Toxicity in 2001. Released just days before 9/11, the album led by Chop Suey!, with its frantic structure and lyrics, became an unlikely anthem. Heavy radio airplay and festivals followed, including headlining Ozzfest in 2002.
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By the time Mezmerize and Hypnotize arrived in 2005, internal tensions within System of a Down were becoming apparent. Guitarist Daron Malakian’s increasing songwriting role shifted the band’s balance, and System of a Down went on hiatus.
Tankian remained busy with solo work and he founded Serjical Strike Records to support politically engaged artists and remained outspoken on issues ranging from war, environmental collapse and corporate greed.
System of a Down would reunite sporadically for tours and, in 2020, released two new songs—Protect the Land and Genocidal Humanoidz—their first new material in 15 years.
System of a Down has sold over 12 million albums.
Down With the System was released on May 14, 2024.
Not a Traditional Rock Memoir — and Proud of It
Tankian makes it clear early on that this is a “memoir (of sorts),” and that subtitle matters.
The book moves in loops: childhood memories, political awakenings, philosophical tangents, musical breakthroughs, and personal reckonings woven together more like a collection of essays than a straight autobiography.
At times, the structure mirrors System of a Down’s music itself — abrupt shifts in tone, unexpected detours, moments of beauty interrupted by anger, and anger softened by reflection.
"I think it’s safe to say we were as unlikely a chart-topper as had ever existed in modern music history: a band of Armenian-Americans playing a practically unclassifiable clash of wildly aggressive metal riffs, unconventional tempo-twisting rhythms, and Armenian folk melodies, with me alternately growling, screaming, and crooning lyrics that could pivot from avant-garde silliness to raging socio-political rants in the space of a single line. I’d be the first to admit it: it’s not easy listening." - Serj Tankian, Down with the System
Roots: Armenia, Identity, and the Weight of History
Tankian spends significant time discussing the Armenian Genocide, not as a historical footnote, but as a living trauma carried through generations. This context is essential to understanding both the man and the band.
"But to understand anything about me, my life, or even System Of A Down, you need to understand the Armenian Genocide, which is the rough, rocky river that runs through it. It’s the original sin that’s nearly always being reckoned with, even when it seems far out of sight." - Serj Tankian, Down with the System
System of a Down: Brotherhood, Tension, and Creative Friction
When Tankian turns his attention to System of a Down, the tone becomes more conflicted. There is deep affection for the band’s early unity — the sense of purpose that fueled their explosive rise — but there is also unmistakable tension when discussing later years.
"There had always been a feeling within System that I cared more about our message and our political activism than I cared about the band itself. Ultimately, this was probably more true than I realized or was willing to admit at the time." - Serj Tankian, Down with the System
Art, Activism, and the Limits of Fame
He describes moments where System of a Down’s platform amplified political messages to millions, but he also interrogates how quickly those messages are absorbed, commodified, and forgotten. Success, in Tankian’s telling, is a double-edged sword: it gives you a megaphone, but it also tempts you to soften the message to keep the audience listening.
"Mixing music and politics can often feel like walking on a tightrope. For years, I’d been disparaged for my activism. “Shut up and sing” was the unimaginative rejoinder frequently lobbed in my direction, as it is at any performer who dares give voice to an unpopular opinion."
What This Book Does Better Than Most Rock Memoirs
Where Down with the System truly succeeds is in refusing nostalgia. Tankian doesn’t romanticize the past or treat his most famous work as a peak he’s been chasing ever since. There is a humility in that perspective that’s rare in rock memoirs. Tankian seems genuinely uninterested in being remembered solely as a singer from a famous band.
"By rock ’n’ roll standards, my version of decadence was relatively tame. I drank almost daily, smoked a bunch of weed, and tried some of the drugs that were offered to me."
Final Verdict
Down with the System is not for readers looking for sex, drugs, and backstage chaos.
It is for readers interested in why music matters and how identity shapes art.
This will be polarizing. Readers looking for tight storytelling may find sections overlong or overly abstract. Others will appreciate the ambition — the sense that Tankian is genuinely wrestling with ideas rather than packaging up old rock anecdotes.
Like System of a Down’s music, the book is uneven, challenging, and impossible to ignore. It doesn’t always entertain, but it consistently provokes. And in a genre crowded with recycled legends, that alone makes it worth reading.
Rating 4/5
