Rage Against the Machine have been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame over and over again, but sidelined each time. Finally… finally… these activist rockers who “stand where sound and and solidarity intersect”, are being recognized (grudgingly?) by the industry that has long profited from their art, while distancing itself from their politics.
Here’s how the band reacted to the news:
It is a surprising trajectory for us to be welcomed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1991 four people in Los Angeles formed a musical group to stand where sound and and solidarity intersect. We called ourselves Rage Against the Machine.
A band who is as well known for our albums as we are for our fierce opposition to the US war machine, white supremacy and exploitation
A band whose songs drove alternative radio to new heights while right wing media companies tried to purge every song we ever wrote from the airwaves
A band who shut down the NY Stock Exchange for the first time in its history
A band who was targeted by police organizations who attempted to ban us from sold out arenas for raising our voices to free Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier and other political prisoners
A band who sued the US State Department for their fascist practice of using our music to torture innocent men in Guantanamo Bay
A band who wrote rebel songs in an abandoned, industrial warehouse in the valley that would later dethrone Simon Cowell’s X Factor pop monopoly to occupy the number 1 spot on the UK charts and have the most downloaded song in UK history
A band who funded and organized delegations to stand with Mexican rebel Zapatista communities to expose the Mexican government’s war on indigenous people
A band whose experimentation in fusing punk, rock and hip hop became a genre of its own
Many thanks to the Hall of Fame for recognizing the music and the mission of Rage Against the Machine. We are grateful to all of the passionate fans, the many talented co-conspirators we’ve worked with and all the activists, organizers, rebels and revolutionaries past, present and future who have inspired our art.
-Brad, Tim, Tom, & Zack
Musically, they created their own genre with a fusion of funk, rap, and metal. Guitarist Tom Morello is renowned for eliciting other-worldly sounds from his instrument.
The political heritage of the individual members is worth noting.
Wikipedia on Morello:
His father participated in the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960) and was Kenya's first ambassador to the United Nations.[12] Morello's paternal great-uncle, Jomo Kenyatta, was the first elected president of Kenya.[12] His aunt, Jemimah Gecaga, was the first woman to serve in the legislature of Kenya; and his uncle Njoroge Mungai was a Kenyan Cabinet Minister, Member of Parliament, and was considered one of the founding fathers of modern Kenya. His parents met in August 1963 while attending a pro-democracy protest in Nairobi, Kenya.
And singer/lyricist Zack de la Rocha:
De la Rocha was born in Long Beach, California, on January 12, 1970, to Robert "Beto" de la Rocha, and Olivia Lorryne Carter.[5] His father is a Mexican-American,[6] with some African and Sephardi Jewish heritage,[7][8] while his mother was born to Manuel García Urias, a Mexican-American, and Olive Pearl Fleming, who was of German and Irish heritage.[9][10]Beto was a muralist and a member of Los Four, the first Chicano art collective to be exhibited at a museum (LACMA, 1973). De la Rocha's great grandfather, Jose Isaac de la Rocha Acosta (1882–1920), was a Mexican revolutionary who fought in the Mexican Revolution.
Here’s RATM on the propagandizing media, and the propaganda itself, that Zack calls a “Bullet In The Head”. TV is an “in-house drive-by.” Yep.
[Verse 1]
This time the bullet cold rocked ya
A yellow ribbon instead of a swastika
Nothin' proper about ya propaganda
Fools follow rules when the set commands ya
Said it was blue, when ya blood was red
That's how ya got a bullet blasted through ya head
Blasted through ya head, blasted through ya head
I give a shout out to the living dead
Who stood and watched as the feds cold centralized
So serene on the screen, you was mesmerized
Cellular phones, soundin' a death tone
Corporations cold turn ya to stone before ya realize
They load the clip in, omnicolor
Said they pack the nine, they fire it at prime time
The sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz
And mothafuckas lost their minds
[Chorus]
Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say "how high?" Yeah
Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say "how high?"
Run it
[Verse 2]
Checka, checka, check it out
They load the clip in, omnicolor
Said they pack the nine, they fire it at prime time
The sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz
And mothafuckas lost their minds
No escape from the mass mind rape
Play it again, Jack, and then rewind the tape
And then play it again, and again, and again
Until ya mind is locked in
Believin' all the lies that they're tellin' ya
Buyin' all the products that they're sellin' ya
They say jump and ya say "how high?"
Ya braindead, ya got a fuckin' bullet in ya head
[Bridge]
Ya standin' in line
Believin' the lies
Ya bowin' down to the flag
Ya got a bullet in ya head
Ya standin' in line
Believin' the lies
Ya bowin' down to the flag
Ya got a bullet in ya head
“Killing In The Name”, on police brutality.
The lyrics are intentionally repetitive, but this will give you an idea:
Some of those who work forces are the same who burn crosses…