Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts)

by Serj Tankian

He and my mother had sacrificed for me so that I wouldn’t have to sacrifice for them.

If you’ve ever wondered why so many musicians end up with drug problems, it must have something to do with navigating the distance between that glorious natural high onstage and the other twenty-three hours of monotonous drudgery that make up each day.

Making a gorgeous noise or a vibrant painting or an energetic protest aren’t only a means toward something else—truth, beauty, justice—they are an end in and of themselves. In fact, these are the things we stay alive for.