calm like a lol: the RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE singles poll

killing in the name is all-time classic. nothing else they did even came close for me, though the first record is pretty solid all the way through.

it's very leaden. that's ratm!

xp i get that; i think i like leaden rage the best tho

actually damn i maybe could have voted for tom joad speaking of leaden

i like zippy RATM. "Guerrilla Radio" is like the perfect little Rage jingle, verse chorus verse chorus wheeoop wheeop guitar solo whispery part shouty part BOOM over.

re. leaden rage, these guys only had one "heavy" groove but it was a good one

thats why it always cracked me up whenever people praised morello... the guy only has one riff

yeah but riffs weren't his thing, his thing was SQUEEEEEOOOOOLOOOOOOSWEEEEEEEEEEPWEEEEEDEEEOOOODOOOOP

every rage against the machine guitar/bass riff ever: DOO DA DOO DA DOO DA DOOOOOOOOOOO, DOO DA DOO DA DOO DA DOO DUNNNNNNNNNNN

it really wasn't very shocking that the bassist turned out to be dumb enough to call himself "y tim k" and get arrested for climbing an mtv awards set

bulls on parade w/great fondness for freedom, bombtrack & guerilla radio

so disappointed "great fondness for freedom" isn't the title of a ratm deep cut

great fondness for freedom is a north korean ratm cover band

lol i had no idea until right now that sleazy from coil/throbbing gristle directed the "freedom" video

that's the video with neo flying into the sky in the matrix right

yeah but riffs weren't his thing, his thing was SQUEEEEEOOOOOLOOOOOOSWEEEEEEEEEEPWEEEEEDEEEOOOODOOOOP

― some dude, Monday, August 8, 2011 10:58 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the way guitar magazines used to jack off over morello was disgusting.

"this guy can shred like vai but he'd rather make, like, weird sounds!"

man listening to this song for the first time in forever i am with some dude in that i am glad they progressively phased out the jam band "funk" breakdowns all over the first album

though i am uncomfortable with how much the breakdowns sound like the live breakdowns in fugazi songs from the same period where brendan and joe would just ride out for a while

BROTHA DID YOU FORGET YOUR NAME
DID YOU LOSE IT ON THE WALL PLAYIN' TIC TAC TOE
YO
CHECK THE DIAGONAL
THREE MILLION GONE
COME ON
CAUSE YOU KNOW THEY'RE COUNTING BACKWARDS TO ZERO

ENVIRONMENT
THE ENVIRONMENT EXCEEDING ON THE LEVEL
OF OUR CONSCIOUSNESS
FOR EXAMPLE
WHAT DOES THE BILLBOARD SAY?
COME AND PLAY AND PLAY
FORGET ABOUT THE MOVEMENT

THE ENVIRONMENT EXCEEDING ON THE LEVEL
OF OUR CONSCIOUSNESS

lol

the most 90s sentence ever uttered

you could think about that for the rest of your life and never come close to cracking what the hell dude thought he was actually talking about

it makes sense if you think about what the billboard says

isn't it "succeeding on the level of our unconsciousness," ie a line about marxist false consciousness?

are you telling me that metrolyrics.com fucked me over?

ie the billboard aids in the construction of a false "consciousness" that everything is ok and you should come and play and forget abt the movement

i mean i'm not defending ratm lyrics here i'm just sayin lol

of course if anyone could peer into the mind of de la rocha and make out the pattern it would be our hoos

"i read noam chomsky after a few monster bong rips: the complete rage against the machine lyrics"

haha

i love the way he angrily yells FOR EXAMPLE

guy had one of the great collection of ad lib grunts and unghs and YEAHS! for sure

the way guitar magazines used to jack off over morello was disgusting.

"this guy can shred like vai but he'd rather make, like, weird sounds!"

― call all destroyer, Monday, August 8, 2011 11:07 PM Bookmark

I remember an interview or something where he was proudly proclaiming that he practiced guitar 8-10 hours a day, every day. And you just had to go, "...wow, really?"

There are some great singles in this list - all of the Evil Empire ones are just relentless beasts on record (well, not "Year of tha Boomerang," but I have no memory of that even being a single). I'm gonna give it to "No Shelter" actually, which is pretty forgotten but I think does the best job of encapsulating their whole thing in one song, plus, I mean, it was on the fucking Godzilla soundtrack, an act of weird corporate synergy that de la Rocha tries to offset by hating on it in the lyrics. Good times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NEoesmnYU4&ob=av3n

battle of los angeles is a tremendously underrated album.
otm

lol i forgot they had a song called 'vietnow'

bulls

"be yourself"

Please tell me "How I Could Just Kill a Man" isn't a cover

my best friend in high school looooved these guys and so i associate them w/ like smoking in parking lots and high school roadtrips and just that weird aimless driving around you do when you first get a license & they always just rocked so hard cummin outta the ~killer~ stereo my friend put in the used camry his parents bought him, windows rolled down headbanging along like yeah fuck you, im no slave to yr corporate greed machines and i COULD just kill a mannnn

but honestly voting tom joad cuz its so overwrought and heavy and ballsout

Well there is clearly only one choice here. Every other song they ever wrote is a pale reflection of their magnificent first single.

Please tell me "How I Could Just Kill a Man" isn't a cover
― i'm sorry for whatever (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, August 9, 2011 2:34 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark

From their horrendously awful covers album, yes...

battle of los angeles is a tremendously underrated album.
I feel the exact opposite about it.. It's the only one I ever see getting any credit, and to me it's the most derivative out of the three 90s records.. They sounded like the lost something exciting and gained something dreadful on those last 2 albums from 99 and 2000, foreshadowing the Audioslave disaster. Their image around the time of those 2 albums didn't help either.. YTimK .. the VMA's thing .. and those lame Michael Moore-directed videos - all of which charted on TRL .. They seemed to become a caricature.

the guy only has one riff
I disagree, but he sure loves Tony Iommi.

i still fuck with evil empire. they lost the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink song structures of the first record but still had ideas. it's just a great-sounding record too, everything sounds really organic and big.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QU1nvuxaMA

I used to hate these guys. Loved their politics, hated their music. Ham-fisted, comically overwrought, monochromatic. But I love Battle Of Los Angeles. They learned how to swing. Voted "Guerilla Radio."

KOOWITITNAHH

Top Comments

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Everyone has the same hair in the crowd!
chris16durban 1 day ago 24
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the world is in dire need of new material by rage against the machine. the world screams ""revolution now!" & r.a.t.m. are able to give us the most perfect sound & content to support this need.

WHAT BETTER PLACE THAN HERE, WHAT BETTER TIME THAN NOW!

thumb up & repost this under each r.a.t.m. related video!
Feuerlighter 1 day ago 21

As much as I love the first album, "bulls" is totally the perfection of that sound. Best riff too.

I never got into most of the rest of evil empire, though

hardcore-ish riffs with breakdowns was a good look for them, instead of the other way around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRXDoQiirPI

Am I alone in thinking Rage were one of the worst bands of all time?

i gotta say this is hitting the spot tonight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDszr6A8tas

or as i said before:

DUN DA DUN DA DA DUN DAAA DAAAAA

― king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Sunday, August 14, 2011

saw a band dressed as Batman, Superman, Spiderman & Aquaman tear through "Killing In The Name" in the Latin Quarter this June, & it ruled, so I voted that

― Euler, Sunday, August 14, 2011 10:08 PM

Am I the only one who wants to know what Aquaman was playing? He's got a harpoon for an arm.

Am I alone in thinking Rage were one of the worst bands of all time?

aw c'mon mr snrub, have you never attended a "local music" show? nobody has ever heard of the worst band of all time. any band that can manage to have any number of actual fans is well, well ahead of the pack...

what does ilm think about prophets of rage?

Would have voted for 'Sleep Now In The Fire'

Just had to go and watch the video again, because I haven't seen it for years... is that someone holding up a "Trump For President" sign at 1:04 !?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w211KOQ5BMI

Coca-Cola is back in the veins of Saigon
And Rambo too, he's got a dope pair of Nikes on
Godzilla, pure mothafuckin' filler
Keep your eyes off the real killer
Cinema, simulated life, ill drama
Fourth Reich culture, Americana
Chained to the dream they got you searchin' for
The thin line between entertainment and war

i know these guys are kind of easy to clown on but these are some pretty awesome anti-capitalist, Seattle '99 type lyrics that they somehow got onto the platinum-certified soundtrack of a $150 million dollar Godzilla movie. that kind of trojan-horse corporate subversion thing shows its weaknesses a lot more in 2020 than it did in 1998 but it's still p cool they did that imho. i mean if they just wanted the paycheck they could have just rapped about special effects and the terrible chemistry between Matthew Broderick and Maria Pitillo.

i do not find it easy to clown on rage. i listened to all three records yesterday and they undeniably rock

would've voted for "down rodeo"

Yeah, idk why ppl clown on Rage

either drop the hits like De La O
or get the fuck off the commode, son

agree, i love all three albums. and the covers album still rips, maybe my fave

yo it's time for reevaluation

also i am happily imagining that Brad's revive here is in some sense Matrix-related

seems like most the hate i see around ratm revolves around killing in the name

idk why anyone hates on it
it GOES

"Renegades of Funk" totally passed me by. I wasn't a fan of that covers album, but it does seem like the highlight, one of the few that successfully rearranges the song...I have to say it kind of remind me of a meowing cartoon cat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KXdU3cZbNQ

I like Bulls on Parade but how KITN didn't win this easily is anyone's guess

lol "meowing cartoon cat," absolutely

I can tell you guys why I clown on this band… namely, cuz Tom Morello continued to be associated with Sony Music well into the 00s, when, if his band's ideology was to be worth more than a fuckin' plugged nickel, they could quite easily have affiliated with…I dunno… Am Rep or Touch and Go, or probly the best fit would be Alternative Tentacles after making an impact on Sony… if one wishes to speak truth to corporate power, then one should not be involved with a multinational at any level, particularly after one has the ability to extricate oneself legally as such, as surely Morello did… I won't put de la Rocha in the same category, as he doesn't seem to be interested in operating as a big time rock star in the music business, as the inveterate schmoozer Morello does… perhaps dlR is involved in grass roots organizing? he stays out of sight in any case… I also wouldn't put the rhythm section therein either, as those guys seem to be most interested in sustaining a big band lifestyle and thus do not seem to exactly be Chomskyites…

I expressed this concern to Morello once, and he replied with the old "if one kid gets into leftist activism because of my band's advocacy, then it will be worth it" routine. I think that's self-serving bullshit… there may be some committed leftist activists because of this band, but there is also Paul Ryan, surely not a few 1/6/21 revolutionaries who get pumped to that song and vast misappropriation at all levels for 27 years.

that song = fuck you I won't do what you tell me

My biggest problem with the band (besides its inadvertent mook-rock legacy) is that whenever I hear a song of theirs I'm digging, on the right day, in the right mood, and put on an album, I get pretty bored/exhausted after about three songs. I get it, but I don't really want it, and do think Morello is some sort of cornpone poseur, well-intentioned or not.

I do often wonder what ZdlR is doing on a random Tuesday.

xxxp I still enjoy a good bit of their stuff, but veronica moser is so not wrong too.

xxp and this too. They are good in small doses - I eventually sold the three albums I had and made a "best of" for myself.

purity discourse around this band is exhausting.

yet-you-participate-in-society-curious.jpg

morello having an NYT column about being a 'rebel' is pretty funny

That said, I've had "Sleep Now In the Fire" stuck in my head a surprising number of times.

map otm

I do often wonder what ZdlR is doing on a random Tuesday.

yet-you-participate-in-society-curious.jpg

this. and people have been saying it since the first album.