from the BOLD DECISION to use the CONTROVERSIAL THICH QUANG DUC photograph (of the MONK committing SELF-IMMOLATION on an URBAN SAIGON street in protest of the SOUTH VIETNAMESE government's PERSECUTION of BUDDHISTS during the VIETNAM WAR) as the album cover, to the STRIDENT SONIC EXPERIMENTALISM and CURIOUS re-imagining of the GUITAR as a DJ TOOL, to the SYNCOPATED PRESENTATION of leftwing POLITICAL SCREEDS in RAPS normally the SOLE TERRITORY of HIP HOP, it is without doubt that the SELF-TITLED debut RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE album RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE (EPIC, 1992) is a consciously PROVOCATIVE adn REVOLUTIONARY record for the ages.  it is right up there with anything inspirations like PUBLIC ENEMY, MARVIN GAYE, BOB MARLEY, NINA SIMONE, CRASS, PETE SEEGER, GIL SCOTT-HERON, NEIL YOUNG, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and DEAD KENNEDYS or later peers in SYSTEM OF A DOWN, BIKINI KILL and NOFX ever came up with. 

recorded mostly live off the floor at SOUND CITY in VAN NUYS, the same STUDIO that NIRVANA had then-recently tracked NEVERMIND (DGC, 1991), the dry SOUND of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE is a mostly NO THRILLS AFFAIR PRODUCTION-WISE.  and that was by CONSCIOUS DESIGN as the band wanted this recording (as well as the follow-up that was recorded in their rehearsal space) to SOUND like they did LIVE, which was unbelievably TIGHT and IN-YOUR-FACE.  speaking of being IN SYNC, the RHYTHM SECTION of BASSIST TIM COMMERFORD and DRUMMER BRAD WILK is arguably the SECRET WEAPON of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, as their almost TELEPATHIC ABILITY to GROOVE and stay firmly IN THE POCKET allows the rest of the band to soar and fly off into the stratosphere, both LYRICALLY and SONICALLY.  the SHEER AURAL AGGRESSION and BRUTALITY of this LEGENDARY record derives its FORCE and PRECISION from those two criminally UNDER-APPRECIATED MUSICIANS. 

it is not HYPERBOLE to state that GUITARIST TOM MORELLO in essence reinvented the INSTRUMENT, forgoing his IMMENSE TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE and TRAINING for an INNOVATIVE and highly EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH that saw him wholesale shed and disregard TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUE and MUSIC THEORY to deconstruct and reveal the GUITAR for what it actually is: a piece of wood with some STRINGS and ELECTRONICS.  he saw such as an INSTRUMENT anew as means of generating NOISE and mimicking the SCRATCHES and WARPED SOUNDSCAPES of a DJ.  MORELLO utilized his bare hands to rub against the STRINGS above the PICKUPS to maintain PITCH and TEMPO, as well as played with the AMPLIFIER FEEDBACK, a DIGITECH WHAMMY PEDAL and the EXPOSED GUITAR CABLE to create SQUEALS and PULSATING SIREN NOISES.  the result is that while some POLITICALLY-MINDED bands of the past (namely THE CLASH) TALKED THE TALK but just recycled REHASHED CHUCK BERRY RIFFS, whereas RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE literally WALKED THE WALK sonically by pushing the music forward with an ARTISTIC DISREGARD for AURAL PRECEDENTS.

this all brings me to FRONTMAN ZACK DE LA ROCHA, who is a TRANSFORMATIVE FIGURE in his own right.  previous to him there was no HYRBID to speak of between the ALTERNATIVE ROCK and HIP HOP communities.  you can point to bands like FISHBONE, BEASTIE BOYS, FAITH NO MORE and even early RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS that all somewhat danced around the same SONIC TERRITORY, but DE LA ROCHA made such EXPLICIT.  RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE was a band that was firmly a part of both MUSICAL TRADITIONS, they were as much indebted to CYPRESS HILL, KRS-ONE and the GETO BOYS as they were to FUGAZI, JANE'S ADDICTION and the BAD BRAINS.  all that MUSICAL INNOVATION would have been for not had DE LA ROCHA not been half the CHARISMATIC and INCENDIARY FIGURE that he was.  the DUDE was RIGHTEOUS ANGER PERSONIFIED and his SCREEDS about DOMESTIC and GLOBAL POLITICAL INJUSTICE on RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE still set the STANDARD by which all other POLITICAL bands and later RAP ROCK groups are JUDGED.  naming SPECIFIC tracks is kind of a POINTLESS ENDEAVOR given that this RECORDING is an OBVIOUS CASE of ALL KILLER NO FILLER, but STANDOUTS include CLASSIC tracks like "BULLET IN THE HEAD," "KNOW YOUR ENEMY," "BOMBTRACK" and  "KILLING IN THE NAME."   even writing that im thinking, yeah but "TOWNSHIP REBELLION," "FISTFUL OF STEEL," "WAKE UP," "TAKE THE POWER BACK" and "FREEDOM" are also ABSOLUTE BANGERS, though they are less CELEBRATED than those aforementioned ICONIC songs.  and right there i just listed basically the ENTIRE TRACK-LISTING.

so yeah, its a total fool's errand to isolate SPECIFIC MOMENTS on RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE.  this is an album for POSTERITY and is undoubtedly one of the great ARTISTIC ROCK AND ROLL highlights of the 1990s that is very much the equal of NINE INCH NAILS' THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL (INTERSCOPE, 1994), MASSIVE ATTACK's BLUE LINES (VIRGIN, 1991), PJ HARVEY's RID OF ME (ISLAND, 1993), SLOWDIVE's SOUVLAKI (CREATION, 1993), RADIOHEAD's OK COMPUTER (PARLOPHONE, 1997), NIRVANA's NEVERMIND and IN UTERO (DGC, 1993), PORTISHEAD's DUMMY (LONDON, 1994), BECK's ODELAY (DGC, 1996), U2's ACHTUNG BABY (ISLAND, 1991), MY BLOODY VALENTINE's LOVELESS (CREATION, 1991), THE FLAMING LIPS' THE SOFT BULLETIN (WARNER BROS, 1999), BLUR's PARKLIFE (FOOD, 1994), BJORK's DEBUT (ELEKTRA, 1993), POST (ELEKTRA, 1995) and HOMOGENIC (ELEKTRA, 1997), SMASHING PUMPKINS' SIAMESE DREAM (VIRGIN, 1993) and MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS (VIRGIN, 1995), DEPECHE MODE's VIOLATOR (MUTE, 1990), TRICKY's MAXINQUAYE (4TH & B'WAY, 1995), OASIS' DEFINITELY MAYBE (CREATION, 1994) and (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY? (CREATION, 1995) and SOUNDGARDEN's SUPERUNKNOWN (A&M, 1994) and so on.  definitely worth checking out and repeat listens from now until ETERNITY.  an ESSENTIAL album no doubt, regardless of your opinion on their POLITICS.

i love it when you come across an ARTICLE, VIDEO or PODCAST where one particular component ELEMENT of an ensemble entity gets plucked out and analyzed in detail.  such is the case with the recent SNARE series by LAUTEN AUDIO that touches on the subject of that VENERABLE PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT that is traditionally used to establish PULSE and TEMPO (as well as ACCENTS for added FLAIR) in a band setting. 

each of the three current episodes follows the specific SNARE DRUM DECISIONS (and settings) of a drummer on their CELEBRATED RECORDINGS.  this includes ALTERNATIVE ROCK drummer BRAD WILK of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and AUDIOSLAVE, THRASH METAL drummer PAUL BOSTAPH of SLAYER, EXODUS and TESTAMENT and the LEGENDARY R&B session and touring drummer JAMES GADSON who has played on recordings by everyone from BILL WITHERS, THE TEMPTATIONS, BECK, ALBERT KING and MARVIN GAYE to WILCO, D'ANGELOU, MARTHA REEVES, QUINCY JONES and B.B. KING among many others.

what comes across in this series is the SIGNIFICANT extent to which this GEAR CHOICE impacts the TECHNIQUE and FEEL of the players (from varying genres), which undoubtedly translates on the RECORDINGS.  being that the drums are what instigate the SKELETAL STRUCTURE and MOVEMENT of these tracks, it is not hyperbole to suggest that such an OVERLOOKED ELEMENT as the SNARE DRUM is quite INSTRUMENTAL and IMPACTFUL in determining the SOUND of the final product as all the other ELEMENTS of the ensemble take their sonic cue from such.

inevitably you begin to wonder what these RECORDINGS would sound like sans that particular SNARE SOUND.  which is kind of the point.  SNARE is beyond INTERESTING and i hope LAUTEN AUDIO continue making more episodes out there in NORTHRIDGE at STUDIO 606.

when THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES (EPIC, 1999) record came out i was a sophomore in high school at a boarding school in MASSACHUSETTS.  it was an event i distinctly remember because unlike the first two releases, this was the first RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE album i was anticipating in advance.  their debut was something special my brother had found and bought in ROME on a family trip long after its release and the second album just announced itself on MTV when we were back stateside staying with relatives.  for me this third album was an event since the first two were so REVOLUTIONARY in terms of CONTENT and PRESENTATION.

and i think that is where this album fairly or unfairly doesnt live up to the first two releases.  its similar to my gripe with THE CLASH in general.  they had HEARTFELT, WELL-INTENTIONED LEFT-WING POLITICAL SCREEDS coupled with MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD music.  i know for some that is blasphemous but oh well.  with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE from the get-go, their OUTSPOKEN and UNAPOLOGETIC revolutionary POLITICAL STANCES (courtesy of the their SINGULAR frontman ZACK DE LA ROCHA) were met with the most UNCONVENTIONAL and INNOVATIVE ALTERNATIVE ROCK guitarist of his generation, TOM MORELLO.  never mind the fact that they had one of the premier rhythm sections ever in TIM CUMMERFORD and BRAD WILK.  in other words, their INTENSITY of their politics was more than matched by the IMPACT and POWER of their music.  but by the the time THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES comes out it feels very much like the first time the band is RETREADING past glories.  its a more-than-COMPETENT album with STANDOUT tracks like "CALM LIKE A BOMB," "TESTIFY," "BORN OF A BROKEN MAN," "SLEEP KNOW IN THE FIRE," "WAR WITHIN A BREATH," and "GUERRILLA RADIO", but it comes off more like an ITERATION instead of an INNOVATION.

and DE LA ROCHA picked up on that early in the production of the album apparently and perceived that the band had become COMFORTABLE in its songwriting process.  given that the band was a bit of a high-wire act throughout its existence, this COMPLACENCY seemed antithetical to the ethos of the group in his reported opinion.  it makes sense that THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES is the last studio album by this ICONIC group.  in the intervening years the band has only grown in STATURE and their has been this push-pull dynamic in terms of the band being a touring entity.  despite not wanting to sweat it out to the oldies, the band and especially DE LA ROCHA know full well that they can utilize their clout to promote PROGRESSIVE CAUSES on a level few can in this new digital ecosystem.  their live performances generate eyeballs in our attention marketplace.  so this record marks the end of the band as a CREATIVE entity, but whose to say that wont change.

despite not living up to their first two releases, THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES absolutely slays the competition relative to everything that came out during the turn of the millennium and the twenty or so years since.  definitely recommended but only after taking in the first two albums, which are absolutely DEFINITIVE for the band and their era in music history.

parodies by nacrowe

been a crazy week with DONALD TRUMP getting his tacky FLORIDA pleasure palace raided by the feds on monday.  dont know if anything will come of it but i see no reason not to celebrate it nonetheless.

back in november 2019 i did a show on one of my favorite bands growing up RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE.  not only are they one of the best live bands ive ever seen, but they are one of the few political bands whose sonic onslaught and INNOVATION matches and maybe even exceeds that of their relentlessly strident PROGRESSIVE POLITICS.  my big gripe with bands like the MC5 or THE CLASH was always that they would talk a big game, but then aurally it left more than a little be desired in terms of stepping away from traditional song structures and being EXPERIMENTAL.  guitarist TOM MORELLO is renowned not only for his flawless technique but also his disregard for the instrument itself, often utilizing various IDIOSYNCRATIC, self-directed techniques meant to render his instrument as DJ turntables.  for MORELLO, everything is fair game including tapping, plucking bending, pulling, unplugging and feed-backing sometimes al at the same time.  ironically he has a spartan gear setup which makes his sonic landscapes that much more impressive.  he is very much the embodiment of INTENT TRUMPING TECHNIQUE.

for me personally listening to RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE has always been a godsend, especially in the years since i returned from working and living extensively abroad.  coming back home during the TRUMP years was tough and i felt utterly gutted and isolated by what i saw my country devolving into.  i had spent time in developing countries, military dictatorships and more than one failed/struggling democracy.  to see members of my extended family fall under the spell of TRUMP was demoralizing.  listening to RAGE helped me cope with that aggression and attempt to do my part in fighting the guy.  in that regard i am still immensely proud of the music video DEER GOD did in collaboration with DOLLTITS half a decade ago for their clever anti-TRUMP song "LOCKER ROOM TALK."  definitely check it out.

for me the legacy of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, irregardless of whether they ever decided to record a new album, is their authenticity and ability to fully realize their intention.  they are a singular force of nature and have inspired people to persevere even when your country is turning to shit.  same goes for all their solo and side projects over the years such as PROPHETS OF RAGE, AUDIOSLAVE, ON DAY AS A LION, WAKRAT, STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB and THE NIGHTWATCHMAN. 

​its all good.

oh and by the way, that is not a MAGA hat im wearing in the embedded video below.  my brother got it at a PROPHETS OF RAGE show and it says "MAKE AMERICA RAGE AGAIN."   just wanted to be extra clear on that point.  dont want to be confused for a MAGA loser.