Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

People's "political" bands these days are so crappy, I mean Green Day aren't exactly the first place you look for grand world opinions and System of a Down are pretty nuts.

I really think that because most music is just rehashed or commercial pap, we've lost some of the spirit we once had as a progressive race. Music has influenced many a generation, and has been a driving force behind many a movement in the background.

Rage Against the Machine were one of the most outspoken and provocative bands of their time.

You'll probably have heard this song in the Matrix(Wake Up):

Come on, although ya try to discredit
Ya still never read it
The needle, I'll thread it
Radically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66
And like E-Double I'm mad
Still knee-deep in the system's spit
Hoover, he was a body remover
I'll give ya a dose
But it can never come close
To the rage built up inside of me
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown
'Cause all these punks
Got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Yeah!
Yeah, back in this...
Wit' poetry, my mind I flex
Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then stick and move like I was Cassius
Rep the stutter step
Then bomb a left upon the fascists
Yea, the several federal men
Who pulled schemes on the dream
And put it to an end
Ya better beware
Of retribution with mind war
20/20 visions and murals with metaphors
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
Ya know they murdered X
And tried to blame it on Islam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Uggh!
What was the price on his head?
What was the price on his head!


I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

'He may be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed obediance to white liberal doctrine
of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism'
'Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them.
Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them
and neutralize them, and neutralize them, and neutralize them'

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

How long? Not long, cause what you reap is what you sow


They were pretty great. I'd love to see their reaction to some of the ridiculous Ad Hominem style attack the people not the message rubbish that "Political" music gets these days.

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CLOCK

I agree... there's an unfortunate lack of really good politically driven music out there now. Outside of a few songs on American Idiot, not much from the last few years or so is coming to mind. A shame that is.

There are some Rage songs and lyrics I really like a lot ("Wake Up" particularly included among them), though I think they would have had more impact if their style wasn't so one-dimensional. It's rare that I really feel like listening to them.

why did the music from the 70's and freedom rock have to change?

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Shouldn't this be in Off-Subject?

Well if Zack De La Roca didn't think he would have a better solo career, RATM would still be together.

I actually prefer System of a Down to Rage Against the Machine.

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Rage Against the Machine contributed to the profits of an exploitative, billion dollar industry. While their lyrics might be inspiring, I'm all too suspicious of their actual motives. I prefer Tom Gabel's and Gil Scott-Heron's poetic styles than de la Rocha's, anyway.

Musically speaking, it was time for Rage Against the Machine to end. I was never able to get into The Battle of Los Angeles. First, two big singles from it were essentially the exact same song. Often times as a joke I'd sing the lyrics of "Sleep Now in the Fire" while listening to "Testify" and it was a perfect match. You can hear a Tom Morello riff coming from a mile away, and his solos were all starting to sound the same too. After the first two albums, I really think the band ran out of creative energy. It was all very bland and boring and just more of the same stuff we'd heard before. That being said, I thought "Renegades" was just good fun. But it was an album of covers, and that can only go so far in my book.
As for RATM's message and Zach's lyrics, I think they always had their hearts in the right places.
I think Audioslave could be an incredibly awesome band if not for a few factors:
1.) Like I said before, you can hear a Tom Morello riff coming from a mile away. And his solos . . . Bring Em Back Alive would have made it into my Top 25 songs ever, except for Tom Morello's solo that completely and utterly craps on the entire vibe of the song. Especially starting at the 4:10 mark of the tune. Terrible Terrible Terrible.

2.) Chris Cornell's voice is not what it used to be. And it's sad. Every time I've seen clips of Audioslave live, he sounds horrible. Anybody see that Live 8 concert? Bad. On this point, I will reserve judgement until I actually get to see them live, but from what I've seen and heard, he is inconsistent at best.

3.) Whoever produces and mixes their albums needs to be fired. They sound like crap. Very noisy and muddy and difficult to really hear what's going on. Sounds like a bunch of guys in a garage who all keep turning up the volume on their own amps to drown out the other guys in the band. Which is too bad, because RATM and Soundgarden had some great sounding records. Very clean and you could really hear the instruments.

These are my thoughts on Rage Against the Machine, and the spinoff, Audioslave. I would comment on Zach's solo stuff, but I haven't heard any. Does it even exist yet?

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Listen to the Black Crowes.

I think this is an unfair judgement, how else were they going to spread their message through music? They had to be a relatively big band, and they were never *That* big until Tony Hawk's 2 was released and everyone heard Guerilla Radio.

It's called "playing the system". Would it have been better if they did nothing at all? Back when they were still going, they used to have an "activism" list of all the things they were involved in. They were a band that really did follow up on their message.

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CLOCK

Kitty, I LOVE YOU! I got into Rage about a year ago now, from the first time I listened to the entireity of the first CD (Self titled, burning monk as album art) I was hooked. I agree with you to an extent, there are tons of punk bands that accualy care now-a-days (Bad Religion, NOFX, Pennywise) but they were the forerunners of it all.

And I've got to disagree with you again, I like 'Know Your Enemy' a lot. Tom Morello pwns all wah solos before and after it with that.

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RIP Nathan "Buz" Buzdor

Uh, Evil Empire debuted at number one on the charts when it came out in '96, and won a couple Grammies too. They were definitely well-marketed long before THPS 1 hit the drawing boards.

They didn't play the system, because in the end, Sony wins. They maintain a giant profit off these Maoist clowns, and RATM has very little to gain from it. Bands signed to major labels don't make all that much physical money anyway!

It would be better if they could do more than speak about their ideals. Y'know, actually live them. Regardless of whatever message they broadcasted, through their business actions, they supported globalist corporate culture in the most. There are many independent record labels who receive international distrubution. Fugazi, one of the most popular groups to come out 90s alternative rock, self-produced and directly controlled their record distrobution and did all of their own work. There was no need for Rage Against the Machine to make money for Sony Corporation. None at all. Rage Against the Machine is nothing more than grossly marketed rebellion in my book, and there's little to do that could change my opinion.

And in my opinion, a grossly misguided marketed rebellion. I can't stand RAtM at all--they're Noam Chomsky fanboys, which explains so much about their attitude towards their own people. After what Noam had to say about 9/11, and given his own form of 'holocaust denial' concerning Cambodia, then trying to say what the Khmer Rogue did was battling imperialism (HAHAHAHA!), there's just no way I can take a guy saying "AMERICA IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL ON THIS WORLD" seriously--and that extends to the band that tries to spread his message as "the truth."

On the other hand, RAtM's acceptance by corporate and government America (partially) says a lot about tolerance of free speech (I do believe several U.S. senators have, at one point or another, congratulated Rage Against the Machine for what they do), even if I can't personally stand them. They have the right of free speech here in the United States, just as I have the right to not buy into their crap, and the right to argue against their message.

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Just had to comment.

Most music is not rehashed or commercial pap. Most *mainstream* music is, however.
Great music is still being made. You just have to look harder for it.

Hmm, I know in Europe they weren't huge until Battle of Los Angeles, I guess it was different in the U.S.



I really don't think you understand. RATM could either live with them being attatched to a corporation, or run a high risk of never doing anything at all. I know which one I'd choose. They still said exactly what they wanted to say and amassed a huge following. How, exactly, did they not win out?

Though they were obviously socialists, their message wasn't really anti-capitalist so much as anti-corruption. They weren't exactly the people you'd see on MTV Cribs, so I don't really seem the harm in it. They actually, unlike many acts, did something positive with their power. Most accusations directed towards them are highly anal.



Through their business actions? What business actions exactly? They played and sold music. Again, there is no other way for them to get that kind of stage. I'm sure they didn't like dealing with Sony one bit, but if it's the only way tog et your message to the most people possible, then it's worth it. If Rage didn't get it, some other yuppies would have taken their place as a Sony cash cow. The comics business reeks of this these days, too.



But the majority of people *don't* get popular through indie labels. It's a gamble that you'll ever be sucessful, and another gamble on top of that going indie. The majority of well known acts come from big labels. If Rage managed to luck out getting signed by a big record label, it would be stupid to pass it up.



It was the best way for them to get their music heard by as many people as possible. Most of their fans didn't get hung up on the label.

Trev-mun, I'm not sure where to begin with your view but you're judging them by a severely exagerrated characture of what they were actually like, which is never fair.

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CLOCK

Zach de la Rocha also writes his own lyrics. In my book that's worth a lot in these days. Most rappers/R&B singers now-a-days have somebody else write lyrics for them and they just take the credit.

Even if you guys don't like Rage you've got to admit they were talented.

I'm listening to Bulls on Parade right now

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RIP Nathan "Buz" Buzdor

I think that the lyrics are based on the singers experiences in life, though.

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It can be based on anything, I don't care. It's just the fact that he writes the lyrics himself that counts.

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RIP Nathan "Buz" Buzdor

I remember Celebrity Deathmatch, and how one time they had Rage Against the Machine vs. The Machine, which was this massive, kick-awesome robot, that RAM eventually beat.

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Just listened to "Emotive", a collection of covers(may be one or two originals, not sure) of war protest songs.

My favourite one is "Fiddle and the Drum", you may have heard the Joni Mitchell version.

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CLOCK

As much as I like A Perfect Circle, that CD of covers didn't do much for me. I listened to it a few times, and it never grabbed me. The only songs I really liked were Imagine (because they stuck relatively close to the John Lennon version) and Let's Have A War. Fiddle and the Drum is pretty good too. But for good APC, I am quite happy sticking with Mer de Noms and 13th Step

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Listen to the Black Crowes.

Rage against the Machine is pretty good, but I dont see how you can't like System of a Down's protest songs.



300th Post, yo. w00t.

I never really liked rage against the machine... I'm more partial to softer music.

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I don't like System of a Down's new albums so much. The first two were brilliant, but they kind of lack a musical direction now. B.Y.O.B. is a classic though.

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CLOCK

I think SOAD is just kinda experimenting on where they wanna go with their music right now. But nevertheless, it still is brilliant.

"Y'all Don't Wanna Step to This"

Four sins past sainthood,
It's like I'm dying to forget
All the sleepless nights,
Lying perfectly alone and still.
I can drink 'till victory,
I'll drink to the mighty,
Drink until I die,
Or at least until the sunrise
When honesty,
As popular as a plague,
Comes to remind me
The dead's winning the race
With me going nowhere.
Right down the street,
A prostitute is selling
The closest thing to love
That this country has to offer

And Alachua still sleeps tonight,
And Alachua still sleeps tonight,
And Alachua still sleeps tonight...

So we fought for the republic
While the Catholic sun filled every eye.
From the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean,
We drank to the mighty.
We died for oil,
We died for borders,
Killed for democracy,
Still believed every platform.
Can you handle the death,
Accept what we create together?
I still know every politician
Is a Funk monster.
Culture kills bureaucrats
And all other undesireables.
History said we died for freedom,
But today no justice was served

And America still sleeps tonight,
And America still sleeps tonight,
And America still sleeps tonight,
And I hope it doesn't wake up tomorrow.

So we boasted that we were champions,
Each country singing it's own praise.
Like a rock thrown into the ocean,
Humanity was rising to the top.
Two world wars later,
Countless "military interventions",
We erect monuments to history
And give apologies to the dead.
All that was fought for the living
Is quickly forgotten.
We don't remember the dates,
We don't remember the reasons.
We have no idea what's going on,
Building histories of western corporations.
It doesn't even turn my stomach
To see the pictures of atrocities anymore,
Going numb in the new order
Of the new century.

And Alachua still sleeps tonight,
And America still sleeps tonight,
And the world still sleeps tonight...

And Alachua still sleeps tonight...
And America still sleeps tonight...
And the world still sleeps tonight...

We never said anything about not liking SOAD, I'm acually quite partial to them myself. It's just SOAD's stuff is mostly anti-war and Rage [s]is[/s] was a big supporter of the Zapatist movement.

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RIP Nathan "Buz" Buzdor

But, then again, I probably missinterprited that.
Toastpoint.