This Time The Bullet Cold Rocked Ya
30 July 2007
Don’t you hate it when someone talks to you condescendingly about how they are superior to you? Or what about those times people tell you one thing, but you know they’re probably lying to you? Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the Rage Against the Machine reunion tour!
For everything RATM stood for before they disbanded, I think they are completely destroying with their comeback. They sang songs about standing up to the system, and not succumbing to information you are “force fed”. Yet here they are making a comeback under the guise of wanting to make a difference, when in reality, the overriding factor is most likely money. They have become the machine, speaking one thing but actually doing another. RATM is coming back just like The Police, and really, are The Police making a difference by singing “Roxanne” 6 nights a week when the tickets are $200 each? Who in their right mind would pass up a massive paycheck when your career is not really going anywhere? What the hell was Audioslave doing after that crappy third album? I am not sure the weekly farmer protests brought in the dough for Zack. Why not bring the band back together?
The climate in thrash metal right now is ripe for a take over by the band that pretty much started that type of rock. RATM could have their say even if there was another viable band in the genre right now. The likelihood of Rage coming back for anything but money and continuing their careers is slim. Audioslave was obviously not going anywhere after a very bad 3rd album and seeing videos of them playing old RATM songs was like watching a train wreck. It was said when the ‘reunion’ was announced that the band was offered $2 million for the ONE show. Even if that figure is not true, they had to be getting paid some serious cash to come back. I think I could forget about my friend’s political nervous breakdown and play an hour and a half of songs I’ve been playing for the past 10+ years.
Tom Morello was quoted before the show that the reunion at Coachella was going to “deliver a knockout blow to the Bush administration.†Is that really necessary? Everywhere you turn these days is about how the president has some of the lowest approval ratings, Congress is fighting him on a daily basis, and people are generally dissatisfied. But wait, we’ll have Rage deliver the knockout blow! I think Tom’s been listening to himself sing those Nightwatchman songs too long. I would advise against listening to them at all, but if you want to check them out, go to his Myspace. Jacob recently attended one of his shows (eventually he may write about it), and left during the 2nd song of the self proclaimed “one man revolution.”
I’m not sure if my problem with the whole “Rage coming back when we need them” concept is about how people just blindly follow rock stars, or for the people who think Rage has come back because they want to make a difference. I love Rage’s music, but I’ve come to my own political views not from their songs, or Pearl Jam’s fan club newsletters, or from Chris Martin saying something at the Grammys. The people that cheered at Coachella when Zack went off on his political rant during “Wake Up”….I’m not sure even a quarter of them had even thought through what he was talking about. Sure, what he says is something to yell about, but what kind of ’system’ is he advocating, and how are we going to implement it? Tom Morello is a Communist, and we know how that has worked out.
I’m glad Rage has reunited, but not because they’re needed right now. There’s a huge nostalgia factor for a lot of people to see them again. Finding out “Bulls on Parade†was not made with anything other than a guitar, bass, and drums blew my mind. I look forward to seeing them play Voodoo Fest in October, and I hope they keep it together long enough to make another album. I also think this reunion is being made out to be more than it actually is, a band bordering on selling out to try to reach down for one last push at being relevant.
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