The Rage of Popular Music

From its conception in 1992, Rage Against The Machine has put out hard driving rock music with a large splash of hip-hop lyrical flavor. Their lyrics and their opinions are driven by their political views on everything from suppression of the third world to our own government’s wrong doings. In the article “All the Rage”, Michael Crowley writes that Rage (Rage Against the Machine), is trying to convey their leftist views upon many bewildered or unwilling listeners, which are coincidentally mostly teenagers. At the same time he also sustains that Rage’s anti-big business views have been compromised on their way to super stardom. Rage’s music and views are very much wholehearted and have in no way sold out their points of view. Some may argue that Rage are marionettes of their Epic Records label, which happens to be distributed by Sony Music Entertainment Inc. Critics also may argue that their faces are plastered all over the mainstream popular music television station MTV. While some of this may be true, the band also recognizes the sacrifices they had to make to get their politics heard, the biggest one being signed to a major label like Epic Records. Who knows how many youngsters have really been moved by Rage’s viewpoints? Who knows if this would have ever happened if not for Rage making this sacrifice?

The first half of Crowley’s article is chock full of examples of Rage’s image and also their political views. Crowley goes as far as giving them praise for single-handedly getting the attention young people “…in the era of MTV hegemony…” (Crowley, 295). Teens were at a point in time where politics were the last thing they had to think about. Rage made them think about it with music that got your attention, and lyrics your ears could not avoid. Crowley seems to be supporting Rage’s efforts in their many crusading adventures. He recognizes their efforts to condemn “Saturday Night Live” guest host and multi-billionaire, Steve Forbes, while putting their own career on the line.

From day one, Rage’s music has been very ambitious. The heavy metal style is very upfront in most of their songs. They seem to reflect their views within their music. They don’t use any special effects or samples to make their carefully orchestrated noise. On the sleeve of the CD they emphasize this fact with the words; ALL SOUNDS MADE BY GUITAR, BASS, DRUMS, AND VOCALS. This line can almost be a metaphor for their politics. They are saying we don’t need a big million dollar music machine to be heard. It is like a blitzkrieg of guitar distortion and very heavy bass riffs which interlude the powerful lyrical abilities of lead singer Zack de la Rocha. Much like a group of revolutionary’s preparing for battle, their sound is a force to be reckoned with.

Their lyrics, all written by de la Rocha, are politically motivated. Crowley points out the lyrics to the song “Take the Power Back”, off their debut album. De la Rocha frequently writes about historical figures that defied the government. Also off their debut album, the song “Wake Up” is about the assassinations of these people: “The networks at work/ keepin’ people calm/ Ya know they murdered X/ And tried to blame it on Islam.”

Rage gained their popularity during the age of “grunge”, with bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam singing instead about teen angst and being apolitical. Rage was the exception. Their self-titled debut album harbored the famous picture of a Buddhist monk burning himself to death in protest of the war in Vietnam. This could have been seen as some “… sick joke at the time, [but instead]… it showed how dead serious this band was about politics” (Young). Crowley even states the fact that the guitarist Tom Morello is a Harvard educated, former employee of a U.S. Senator, but uses this to deny Rage’s credibility as a band with a revolutionary message. This fact should plainly make the reader feel otherwise. Who better than a young, well educated man who has been on the front lines of American politics to stand up and help convey an important message to the so-called, disenfranchised young people of America?

When Rage did first come out with their first radio played single, many people thought the band to be a one hit wonder. Their second single “Killing in the Name Of,” featured a relatively simple beat to play for any novice musician. When he first heard the song Trevor Avery’s first thought was “...they are no talent hacks, making a living off of the misery of unfortunate people with real problems,” (T.L. Avery). Others were turned off by their “…way too hardcore style,” (R.A. Avery). In any case these two statements are opinions of two very different people. While Trevor states that he is now a fan of their music, Rachel has never been motivated by their message. A point to be made is that Trevor is a registered voter who has recently been actively participating in the greatest freedom allowed in the U.S., Rachel does not take part. This cold hard fact could be directly related to the messages in their choices of music. Rage has won over another oblivious music fan.

Crowley continues to degrade Rage’s purpose in the last half of his article, but he takes it one step further by making teenagers appear to be thoughtless and indifferent to any political movement. People like Crowley are the reasons for the problems that teens face when they want to be taken seriously and want to have their voices heard. Crowley’s only examples of teens in action are of young people with typed thoughts bubbling from their heads, making them out to be bumbling idiots with “shallow” political viewpoints. It’s too bad that Crowley failed to get a real interview from a living person with real thoughts instead of finding an ad that could very well have been created through some unimaginative braincases in the advertisement industry. He failed to interview a fan of Rage’s music to see where he or she might fit on this political spectrum. If anybody is posing, it is Crowley posing as a credible judge of fans of music and teenagers.

How can Rage get their message out to the people who want and need to hear it without succumbing to right wing business men that they so despise; or how can teenagers be taken seriously if they are always so blatantly stereotyped as unimportant by the same businesses that play and distribute Rage’s music. Maybe this vicious cycle is why Rage is no longer a band, but instead an afterthought in the ongoing world of popular music, which by the way is back to where it was in the 80’s. No more politics or poetic justice, but just some candy –coated, million dollar manufactured pop bands and songs about love and parties. Rage has let the right wing win once again.