Talk:Serj Tankian

This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Biography: Musicians This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles This article is supported by WikiProject Musicians (assessed as Low-importance). Armenia Low‑importance Serj Tankian is within the scope of WikiProject Armenia, an attempt to improve and better organize information in articles related or pertaining to Armenia and Armenians. If you would like to contribute or collaborate, you could edit the article attached to this page or visit the project page for further information.ArmeniaWikipedia:WikiProject ArmeniaTemplate:WikiProject ArmeniaArmenian articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Progressive Rock Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Progressive Rock, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Progressive rock on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Progressive RockWikipedia:WikiProject Progressive RockTemplate:WikiProject Progressive RockProgressive rock articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Rock music Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Rock music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Rock music on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Rock musicWikipedia:WikiProject Rock musicTemplate:WikiProject Rock musicRock music articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Metal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Metal, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of heavy metal music on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MetalWikipedia:WikiProject MetalTemplate:WikiProject MetalHeavy Metal articles Veganism and Vegetarianism Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Veganism and Vegetarianism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of veganism and vegetarianism on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Veganism and VegetarianismWikipedia:WikiProject Veganism and VegetarianismTemplate:WikiProject Veganism and VegetarianismVeganism and Vegetarianism articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Please follow proper Wikipedia discussion page format when adding to this page. Avengerx 14:18, 11 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For some reason the band "Flying Cunts of Chaos" redirects to this page. The band members are listed as 'members' in the infobox (even though this is an *artist* infobox). There is also a list of members in its own section. These should all probably be moved to their own page. -- PsyberS (talk) 12:50, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"While in college, Serj maintained a 4.0 grade average." Does anyone have any more information about this? As in, where did he go, when did he graduate, etc.? I've looked for it online but can't find it.. --DanielNuyu 00:12, 5 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

All I could find is where he went for College and what degree he received, nothing yet on grades or what years.

I find a source where Serj claimed to have received a 4.0 in high school and throughout most of college. http://board.serjtankian.com/index.php?showtopic=1476&st=0&start=0

What kind of student were you back in High School? I'm guessing you we're the quiet kid, since I read you had a 4.0 GPA. We're you ever in any sports teams?

Played basketball a bit but not for the school just with friends. Yes, I was a 4.0 honor student throughout high school and most of college.

--J.shellenbarger (talk) 09:16, 1 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Serj Tangyan?" "Սերժ Թանկեան."

Since when is Serj Tankian a Muslim???--KingVegeta2000 03:48 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Until This can be properly cited I am removing any reference to his mother being a muslim or him being a muslim this is how rumors get started--KingVegeta2000 18:59 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Very well, I have allied myself with KingVegeta2000 and we will take out facts of his religion, whether thats Islam, Christianity or whatever religion until it is proplerly sourced since someones religion is personal and its not nice to spread rumours about it. --Enter the chicken

Where, if you can cite it, I'd be interested in seeing it.--KingVegeta2000 08:07, 6 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Most Armenians are Christian. It'd be very unlikely that Serj Tankian is a Muslim, unless he converted to Islam. -- Augustgrahl 14:17, 14 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

He was born in Lebanon; a good percentage of that country is Muslim; but around 40 percent is Christian. I have never seen him affiliate himself with either religion...or any religion for that matter... --

Serj Tankian is Armenian. A good percentage of Armenians in the world, especially in Lebanon, are Christian. Chances of him being Muslim are very dismal. He has never affiliated himself with any religion, true. But he was most probably baptised Christian, as it is Armenian tradition to do so. He would have also announced in an interview or his own website if he had converted to Islam anyway. Fedayee 00:43, 15 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Good points there; I wonder if "Enter the Chicken" was actually serious when he posted that since he hasn't returned since.

Serj has stated in an interview [1] that he believes in the spirituality of pre-civilized cultures. However, he doesn't name any particular religion, so it's probably best not to label him as anything for the purposes of the article. Now, there's nothing wrong with him being a Muslim, or atheist, or anything else. However, it would be at best adding unverified information to the article to say that he is a Muslim, and any potentially contentious statements in the biographies of living people are in special need of credible sources. -- Augustgrahl 04:33, 25 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

HEY THE SITE SAYING HE WAS A MUSLIM WASFAKE. BUT KEEP SEARCHING EVERYBODY THEIRS BOUND TO BE A LINK TO HIS RELIGION SOMEWHERE Enter the chicken

Q: What are your views on religion and what effect do you think it has on American culture? What are your beliefs on God or organized religion? Do you believe in a "cosmic mutual mind connection"?

A: That's a hell of a question (smirk).. All modern religions were born out of this 10,000 year old civilization. None have any direct lineage to our indigenous past. The indigenous life had intuition, understanding and respect for why we're here as an element of nature, equal by definition. Modern civilization has instead nurtured the mind versus the heart and has gotten us all lost in the process. All modern organized religions have parts of the truth embedded in them, though none present the full answer. Every time I'm asked about my religion or spiritual practices, I tell journalists to go ask the tree outside, cause it's the same one.

This is excellent its from the serjical strike myspace site...would this lead to him being an animist i believe someone made that comment, he probably doesn't believe in any organized modern religion or any religion at all KingVegeta2000 08:31, 20 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe we could quote him about his religious views, but I wouldn't do anything more than that. -- Augustgrahl 12:48, 20 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It will probably be best to leave out mention of his religion as it is currently rather ambiguous, clearly he does follow believe in some sort of personal spiritual being, but defining it as something with the current evidence would be wrong.

It's an important part of the article as well as an important fact. Why leave it out? 98.198.83.12 (talk) 17:44, 12 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Delete anything that says he is engaged unless it is properly cited. As of December 2007 no information is available that would prove he was engaged.

Serj got married with Angela Madatyan (an armenian actress) on October 23/05 in Vanadzor (Armenia). Here is the page: http://www.soadfans.com/index.php?module=PhotoGallery&do=showpic&pid=554&orderby=dateD —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.230.237.163 (talk) 16:42, 30 March 2008 (UTC) and here is other page that prove it: http://hyeforum.com/lofiversion/index.php?t12748.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.230.237.163 (talk) 16:55, 30 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I just wanna make sure: Does the mention of Sako Shahinian supposed to say "Fellow Armenian" or does it mean what it says? 65.100.147.48 02:16, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think those are interchangeable words. (In this situation) While they both share Armenian ancestry, they also both were raised in Los Angeles, thus I doubt it makes a difference.

Passages in this article like this "Serj hates celebrity gossip. He believes it is a waste of time and due to the spreading of rumors, can destroy close relationships" are purely hearsay without a source. - Gilliam 17:21, 16 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Believe it or not I think those statements actually did have a source which must have been edited out but they could be written in a better way, I will see if I can find that source. -KingVegeta2000 07:17, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the interview where he stated this has recently been taken down. It used to be located at www.marpop.com/serj KingVegeta2000 07:28, 10 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

However he is a site that infers his disdain for gossip http://soadfans.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=301&theme=Printer KingVegeta2000 07:32, 10 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Another interview source about paparazzi and serj http://www.168.am/en/articles/816 KingVegeta2000 07:52, 26 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a sourced info about Serj's birth date? Armatura 17:56, 10 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Please do not add ANY ethnicity labels to the LEAD sentence per WIKI policy

Have you carefully read the policy that you keep referring to? It says "Ethnicity should generally not be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability. The policy does not say that ethnicity should NEVER be added to the opening paragraph, just that it should only be included when relevant. Serj Tankian, an Armenian-American, is the lead singer of System of a Down, a band composed of all Armenian-American members that speaks out about many Armenian related issues. The band was recently featured in a documentary called Screamers about the Armenian Genocide. I do not see how one can argue that the fact that he is of Armenian ethnicity is not strongly related to what he is notable for. -- Augustgrahl 16:21, 10 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe your agenda pushing is getting in the way? If you want to say "of Armenian decent" or some other nonsense, fine, go for it. Jewish/Italian/Armenian/XXXX-American should NOT be used. This is about standardization, ect. There are VERY few bios that use the "hypenated American" correctly in the lead, and those should be reverted. I will revert as per my suggestion above. Cheers, --Tom 16:35, 10 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Tom, what we have in the article top now (your latest version) is fine, IMHO. Thank you very much for excellent compromise. The only thing I'd like to ask you for is being a bit more careful when calling someone's edits "agenda" and the phrase "of ***** descent" - "nonsense"... Let's discus the subject in a friendly, polite manner. Thanks. --Armatura 18:17, 10 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Armatura, you're welcome. Yes, you are right that i shouldn't have said nonsense in regards to ethnicity. I'm a pure mutt :) As far as agenda pushing, I know I am suppose to assume good faith, but I'm pretty jadded at this point. Anyways, thanks for your reply and I will try to take your sound, level headed advice. Cheers!--Tom 18:43, 10 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What agenda pushing? If I see somebody removing information from an article and justifying it by referring to a policy that clearly doesn't support their actions, I think I have every right to question it. Even if it's your opinion that people's ethnicities are "nonsense," you are not granted a right to impose that view on the articles here. Please read over

WP:AGF. But, the way it's worded now is fine. -- Augustgrahl 23:16, 10 April 2007 (UTC)[reply

]

No, clearly the policy I referred to supports removing ethnicity from the lead sentence of bios. The article reads like crap, imo, but its a compromise for people with an agenda, still. Also, please don't tell me to read any policies around here, I am sick of them, thanks. --Tom 13:05, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Please stop assuming that other editors working on the article have an agenda to push. Remarks like these can be taken as personal attacks, and are a negative way to contribute to Wikipedia. If you wish to improve the article, civil discussion will be more productive than saying that the article is crap, calling other people's ideas nonsense, and accusing them of having an agenda. -- Augustgrahl 14:32, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

<yawn> Are we done here? Can I go now? Thanks,--Tom 16:15, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What is the problem with having Tankian's ethnicity in the lead? The guy had dedicated himself to the Armenian Genocide, some of the songs (for example, Holy Mountains and PLUCK) are about the Armenian Genocide, SOAD was featured Carla Garabedian's (another Armenian) Screamers, again about the Armenian Genocide and all other genocides, [2] here he is meeting with ANCA officials, [3] here he's campaigning in the States' capital..., [4] check the title of movie he is narrating... etc etc. His ethnicity is important. Do not accuse people of having an agenda while we can easily accuse you of having one of your own. - Fedayee 16:48, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No need to accuse me of having an agenda since I freely admitt to having on and I have stated it on my user page. Anyways I'm just an odar(sp) so who cares what I think :) j/k --Tom 17:21, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Please do not try to turn this into a racial issue; it will not lead to anything good. -- Augustgrahl 18:13, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

ENOUGH! I added a smily face and also a just kidding j/k to my post. I am married to a nice Armenian woman. Also, my daughter is 100% Armenian even though I'm zero Armenian. Can anybody explain how that happens? And no, the postman is not Armenian either :) j/k. Cheers! --Tom 18:49, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, because I'm only mildly retarded. Adoption. The policy clearly allows and in this case it is reasonable to include his heritage/ethnicity in the opening. When you get a correction from me on policy that's a clue that you're very very wrong. I hope you didn't adopt someone and then marry them. That would just be untoward. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.49.77.67 (talk) 06:10, 30 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed Tom. Troll much?

Friends, do we really need to have all isntrumental skills of Serj described in the lead sentences? It's becoming too long... —The preceding

It seems to be what this individual is noted for so it seems ok. Do you have a suggested alternative? If so, post here and let the editors comment or BE BOLD and make the change yourself :) Cheers! --Tom 13:17, 13 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Here are some statemets from Tankian's article, which remain unsourced a long-time: If you have reliable references, you can re-add the into article with citing sources:

• Serj has lots of furniture from IKEA which he thinks is a great place with low prices ^{[citation needed]}
• He has a female Siberian Husky named Bowie after the artist, because its eyes have different colours.^{[citation needed]}
• Serj is a
  vegetarian ^{[citation needed}
  ]

Armatura 10:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just an aside. Please only add sourced material that is relevant, notable, and flows in the article. What pets one has doesn't seem of encylopediatic. Anyways, thanks for moving that stuff to here Armatura. --Tom 15:06, 23 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have a magazine somewhere stating Serj has a husky, but I don't remember if it tells her name. As for being a vegetarian, I saw that on a PETA site when there was a vote for sexiest vegetarian in the world (he should have won!). I don't know the exact locations, but I know that I've seen those before. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.95.70.134 (talk) 07:21, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I can also confirm that his dog is a Siberian Huskie called Bowie, because of the different coloured eyes, was written in a music magazine. It's typical that i threw out my old magazines recently...

• He is a vegetarian, as in a previously mentioned source (citing his 4.0 grade average) it also confims he is a vegetarian as he says (along the lines of..) My body type is different that i dont need meat or something along those lines.
• It wouldn't suprise me if his furniture is mostly Ikea. Its good quality. ;) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Capt. Sexington (talk • contribs) 16:52, 21 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. I noticed that someone repeatedly changes Serj's surname from Թանգյան with Թանգեան. Pls don't do this whithout citing a source. Unless you've got a reliable source which proves this version of his Armenian sripted name, I'm going to revert to Թանգյան (it corresponds to official Armenian orthography and is much more popular in internet then Թանգեան). Thanks for understanding. Armatura 10:03, 28 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wouldn't the proper spelling of the surname be Թանկյան, the Mesrobian alphabet lists the K as Կ, the -ian and -yan fixtures found commonly in Armenian and some Persian surnames directly translates to the Mesrobian յան as the i/y is written that way, the exception being the Ye Է, on another note who removed his name in Hayeren and for what reason? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.177.55.174 (talk) 15:49, 1 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I dont know whether being Armenian myself and having tought myself the alphabet recently has any validity to my point (since I live in England), but the use of the 'Eh' sound used in this context is correct. However, the use of the 'J' looking symbol, which is a 'He' sound, is correct in Eastern Armenian, spoken in Azerbaijan and in minority Armenian communtinities in places like Azerbaijan, and the surrounding diaspora. Information was gained from my mother who is a full blooded, literate Armenian. A(Capt. Sexington (talk) 17:06, 21 September 2010 (UTC))[reply]

Just wondering, does anyone know whether Serj is a recreational drug user? —The preceding

I think we should make a single template like tom morellos listing all the bands on the same template. i think having 6 template looks stupid, so we should make one.74.124.33.181 02:21, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you give me some time, I'll make one a little later. FallenWings47 18:30, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Did he really work for eGames? Methinks somebody's fulla crap around here. 69.95.203.7 (talk) 04:10, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No he did not really work for eGames. 68.38.15.69 has been spreading false information all over Wikipedia. I'm in the process of reverting it all.

NTFS (talk) 02:10, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Umm...? Besides the baseless facts, the POV, etc... Argh! This will keep me up all night, gah.

Just curious. Does he speak Eastern or Western Armenian. Also how popular are SOAD in Armenia? 65.100.188.178 (talk) 16:16, 8 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is not a discussion forum, but I'll answer your questions. He speaks Western Armenian, and this will answer your second question. VartanM (talk) 19:04, 8 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Someone posted the character he allegedly plays in World of Warcraft... sources? 75.74.67.1 (talk) 03:36, 18 January 2008 (UTC)nick[reply]

It looks like it'd just be someone advertising their own character. I'm going to remove it... SouperAwesome (talk) 09:44, 19 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The sentence, "It caused a lot of controversy, particularly because it reveals that Serj is really a terrorist" should be removed, no? 67.110.137.5 (talk) 03:28, 25 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

• I think he supports it deep down! Listen to his songs! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.191.64.130 (talk) 01:49, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Supporting" a terrorist act against a country which is continuously fighting in places where it shouldn't, is not the same that BEING A TERRORIST. This is a serious accusation, and those things must be avoided in wikipedia. Please remove it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.144.2.244 (talk) 11:41, 6 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Serj is certainly not a terrorist. He writes his songs based on the War on terror purely because people are being murdered, not because he supports any terror attacks. He is clearly against violence —Preceding

The picture says its a "self made" image of Serj Tankian. Does he visit here? Has he edited his own article? Scryer_360 (talk) 17:40, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I garuntee it's a copyvio... - -[The Spooky One] | ^{[t c r]} 21:01, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is an error in the article that says that one of the song's name is Beethoven's cock not cunt when in fact it is the other way around, i tried changing this and it was immediately reverted --151.118.150.158 (talk) 21:27, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's Beethoven's C--- (Which stands for Beethoven's Cunt). - -[The Spooky One] | ^{[t c r]} 18:57, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The song title is Beethovens CUNT, please stop changing it to C--- ~ST

It appears as beethoven's C--- in on the tracklisting. - -[The Spooky One] | ^{[t c r]} 20:57, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The "C" is a censor, when song titles are censored on albums or compilations or LPs, Wikipedia states them uncensored. The song is Beethoven's Cunt. Do not change it anymore.

• Wikipedia goes with what the song title actually is. Even though we all know what C--- stands for. the name of the songs is Beethoven's C--- - -[The Spooky One] | ^{[t c r]} 22:46, 14 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No it doesn't. Every article that has to do with track listings and if there is a word that is an explicit word in the title, and if it appears censored on the album it appears uncensored on the artcile, Here's pleanty of examples for you

• I think you might be missing my point: the names of the songs you listed are the actual names of the songs. The name of the song in question here is actually "Beethoven's C---". That's how it appears on the tracklisting. This is not a case of censoring Wikipedia; this is called having the correct title. I Might also suggest reading
  WP:CIVIL- -[The Spooky One] | ^{[t c r]} 00:03, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply
  ]

I believe you would be best to leave it as "Beethoven's C***" as it is on the official track listing. If you don't, well let's see...

original research anyone? It could stand for a multitude of things, we have no references stating that it stands for "cock," only the official album, which says "C***..." I rest my case. --The Guy _complain ^edits 22:00, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply

]

i bought the album off itunes and it listed the track as "Beethoven's C---", so is it dashes or stars? - -The Spooky One (talk to me) 22:10, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Currently, iTunes has it listed with ***. --The Guy _complain ^edits 22:41, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ugh....The song name is Beethoven's Cunt. You can see it in the last paragraph of the album booklet. I'd quote it but I can't find it. I've seen him live he said "Here is a song from the Cunt of Beethoven himself".99.146.24.194 (talk) 07:31, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

have a look at this link - http://www.taringa.net/posts/tv-peliculas-series/1924101/Serj-Tankian:-Live-In-Ostrava-2008-%5BHD%5D.html

It's a set list of serj's gig. Beethoven's Cunt

He often collaborates as well with his close friend, director Diran Noubar on various projects, including the voice-over of Noubar's "Armenia, a Country Under Blockade". Noubar played some guitar on Tankian's Elect the Dead album on the track "Saving Us" and directed the music video for "Baby".

though discografy sais "Baby" Isaac "Eye-Sack" Flores and as far as i know, eye-sack is the longbearded guy on the video

so, what's right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.52.108.235 (talk) 21:01, 19 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can't anyone find an image that doesn't look like Kenny G holding a mic in front of his face? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.190.24.237 (talk) 20:51, 8 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know or really care what his nationality is -- but the change was put in by an editor who also said that Serj and Daron Malakian went to high school together. Banaticus (talk) 17:35, 19 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Serj is originlly from Lebanon. He and Daron went to the same school, but not at the same time.--

^Speak. 04:39, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply

]