When I was younger and Rage Against the Machine started assaulting the
MTV airwaves with the video for "Freedom", I caught wind of the song and
liked it, but never paid much attention to it.� I remeber hearing
"Killing in the Name" my freshman year of high school on the car radio
and digging it, but never going out of my way to make a mental note of
the band that penned that new song with badly mangled edit at the end of
it to turn the singer's words into "Do, I won't do what you tell Me"
instead of the "Fuck You" that was obviously there in the first place.
It was not until two years later, when I heard the breakdown from "Know
Your Enemy" (you know, the part after the guitar solo where the bass
draws the band back into the main riff) on a friend's answering machine
that I ran out and bought the album just to hear that one song.� I don't
think it took me that long to listen to the entire thing and memorize
the lyrics.
From there, it was a safe to assume that I would wind up buying every
album that came after that one.� Even at a point where I am long past
the stage of teenage rebellion, I can still feel the songs from that
first CD (as well as the two followups) crank up my intensity level and
challenge my mind to seek new directions.� If I can recall, Rage was one
of the first bands beisdes Pennywise and Bad Religion that make me
think, and more over made me Feel� The Music as a part of me.� They were
expressing the kind of thoughts that I did, but with a level of
education and direction that I could hardly muster.� Instead of making
it personal and general like a lot of conscienscious (sp?) punk rock,
Rage seemed to make their songs personal and SPECIFIC.� They dropped
names I had never heard and made me aware of events I never even knew
happened.� and they were INTENSE.
Like any teenaged musician, Rage obviously had a good deal of influence
on my writing style when I was still learning guitar. Now, years later,
I realize that it's not the way Tom plays the guitar or Tim drops a
bassline that should influence me, it should and will be the SPIRIT of
the music that will affect me forever.� When musicians like Ben Harper
take the same type of attitude towards an acoustic guitar and couple it
with some well-throated lyrics, and when bands like Incubus take the
same idea of personal freedom and turn it into some sort of metaphysical
ponderment over funkdafied bass and tripped out guitar lines, they play
with the same SPIRT as Rage.� And even though I would say very few of
the songs I write come out sounding anywhere remotely close to a Rage
song, I would say that the spirit of rebellions shines as vivrantly in
my words and music.� That is probably the greatest influence Rage
Against the Machine will have on me as a musician.� It is great to have
artists out there that let you know the flame of independence is burning
bright.� At the point where it seems like everyone around seems like a
soulless or heartless clone straight from the pages of the latest J.Crew
catalog, you can spin your little silver Rage Against the Machine disk
and be reminded that being an individual is something to be proud of,
and that being active and informed is the best and only way to live.
Some may say that ignorance is bliss, but if you were about to get a
safe dropped on your head, wouldn't you like to know so you could get
out of the way?
And I think that will be Rage's greatest contribution to the music world
and to the whole world in general.�� They will spawn a generation of
consciensciouss young musicans who span many genres and who will convey
that spirit of freedom in different ways, encouraging more and more
people to become better educated and more involved with the state of the
world around them.� I know that if I only took what I was taught in the
classroom as absolute truth and never took the time to pick up books for
my own enlightenment, I would be a different person.� Or should I say an
INdifferent person.� Yes, I recognize that a lot of things seem to be
going wrong in the world today, but I also realize that there's hope,
that I don't have to play by anyone else's rules but mine.� I realize
that many people that I know will soon graduate and move to office jobs
and live the 9 to 5 for a good number of their most healthy and vivrant
years.� I also realize that I don't have to buy into that, that I don't
have to sit in a box for 8+ hours a day working for a company whose
ulterior motive -- greed -- is a concept that I as a person have serious
issues with.� As well, I realize that when you dare to step from the
beaten path, the risk factor takes a serious hike skywards, but I don't
know how I will be able to live with myself if I just let myself be
carried along by the flow of the masses.
Just CONVEYING that mentality is important...challenging people's
knowledge, reshaping the status quo to get it to closer resemble the
truth...music serves as inspiration for many,� I know Rage and numerous
other bands are out there tearing it up and keeping people's heads' up.
In and issue of Rolling Stone there was a quote from Zach that began
something like "Every revolutionary act is an act of love. . . Every
song we write is a love song".� That's unbelievably true, but I had
never thought to� look at revolution from that angle before.� Think
about it -- why do we fight for causes which serve us no immediate
personal gain?� Chuck D put it simply -- "I'm a rebel so I rebel" -- but
it drives deeper than that.� We are rebels because we love things.� And
not things as in material possesions -- we love personal freedom, we
love justice, equity, we love the earth and the natural world around us.
Really, you can take your choice or choose all of those things.� It
doesn't matter whether you are a freedom fighter in a 3rd world nation
or a college student.� As rebels, all of us, past and present, are some
of the greatest lovers the world has EVER known.�� Amazing, isn't it?