Rage Against The Machine

The greatest band in the history of punk rock. These guys brought it. The first time I heard them I was hooked. The passion, the energy, the youthful rage, it was amazing. I watched Bulls on Parade on TV and I couldn't believe that people cared about current events and politics in music. At the time music was for the depressed and for shiny suites (refer back to Nirvana and Puffy and Bad Boy). The group is composed of four members. On drums there is Brad Wilk who plays the drums so hard he would go through a bunch of sticks and some bloodied fingers before the end of the set. Then on Bass you got Tim Commerford who is also buddies with the lead singer (or yeller) Zack De La Rocha. On Guitar its the musical genius of Tom Morello. Zack and Tom are the leaders of this group. They produced four great albums together over 10 years. They are by far the least efficient rock group of their time. Their music and message was genius but they had so many intergroup problems that finally led to their breakup. The day they broke up I was incredibly sad, and I put the beginning of "Know your enemy" on my answering machine. (The Vice Dean of Pharmacy called me on it and left me a message saying "she is not sure if she reached my number or whose") So yeah, if you are interested here is a link to a summary of the group. Yahoo-Rage Against the Machine




I don't really have a knack for understanding music nor appreciating it. So when everyone in the music world agreed that Tom Morello (a Harvard graduate by the way) was a guitar god, I didn't care much for it. Anyways, after listening to other rock groups, it was obvious that he was way ahead of everyone in terms of beats and riffs (you should see him freestyle on his crazy ass guitars!!). But truly the one aspect of Rage Against The Machine that hooked me was none other than Zack de la Rocha. This guy is insane. He brings so much energy and assertiveness. He is a musical genius, got a gifted pen, and knows how produce songs. I strongly recommend watching the video of this guy performing. He was great!!!!

Every week, I will take a couple of phrases of his lyrics from his many songs and elaborate on it. You will be impressed. This guy was something else.