Lyrics - Rage Burns

Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine:
Released late in 1992 on Epic records. (Sony)
Produced by: Rage Against the Machine and GGGarth

Guity Parties: Zack de la Rocha - Vocals, Tom Morello -
Guitars, Timmy C. - Bass, and Brad Wilk - Drums.
Contains tracks: Bombtrack, Killing in the Name, Take the Power Back, Settle for Nothing, Bullet in the Head, Know your Enemy, Wake up, Fistfull of Steel, Township Rebellion and Freedom
Total Running Time: 52:58

Rage got together in 1991, wrote the majority of the songs on this album in a manner of 2 months, made a 12-song demo tape, played a few shows in the L.A. area, and were signed onto Epic among hundreds of record labels requesting contract. This album didn't recieve much play time on either MTV, or the radio, but it's sales still climbed, and made Rage Against the Machine a popular album. This album most effectively demonstrates Rage's "rap meets metal" combination - proving that they were the only band to get the formula right, and make it work. This is the album most resposible for the entire "rock-hop" revolution that took over the mainstream music industry. Rage made their presense known with this album, as a political threat, and as a musical one.

Explanations:

The Name...."Rage Against the Machine":

The actual phrase was the title of an Inside Out song. Inside Out is a hardcore band on Revelation Records that Zack was in before they broke up and he formed RATM with Tom Morello. "Rage Against the Machine" was the working title for Inside Out's second album, but since they broke up, it seemed the most suitable name to sum up the band's sound, politics, and mission. The common question is, then, "what machine are they raging against?". According to Tom Morello, "The machine can be anything from the police in L.A. that can tear motorists from their cars and beat them to a pulp and get away with it, to the state capitalist machine that tried to make you just a mindless cog and sortof 'behave' and never confront the system and just look forward to the weekend and the next six pack of beer." The machine has come to mean any form of illegitimate authority that dehumanizes and degrades.

The Burning Monk on the Cover:

The Monk's name is Thich Quang Duc, an elderly Buddhist monk, immolating himself on a main intersection in Saigon, Vietnam on June 11, 1963 to protest the rule of Ngo Dinh Diem, the American backed leader of Vietnam who was leading an anti-Buddhist campaign in southern Vietnam. This action was witnessed and filmed by many members of the American media and led to the end of the Diem rule in Vietnam. This photo won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize.

Song Evaluations:

Bombtrack:
Inspired by Rage's political viewpoints, this song's main theme is about general authoritive oppression, ranging from landlords and powerwhores, to "democratic" authorities. This song's intro is notorious and is an explosive attribute to the rap-metal fusing.

Killing in the Name:
The title suggests that the legitimacy of murder in the name of a deity - particularly Christ. "Manifest Destiny" was all about this, as the Christians viewed their actions as pure and just - even though they committed mass genocide against the Native Americans in the name of Jesus. This trend continues to this very day, through the form of racist police brutality. Zack associates authority to the KKK: "some of those that were forces, are the same that burn crosses". When a system like this continues to oppress, rob, and rape - it is up to everyone to stand up in a pure rebellion: "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!"

Take the Power Back:
The title to this song says it all. Zack merges all the forces that be (school, government, culture, media) into one massive form of authority that robs culture in the name of uniformity. This song is pretty dynamic, and is possibly the funkiest on this album.

Settle For Nothing:
This song is told through the eyes of an ignorant "gangmember" type figure, confused about his place in the world, and the things that have shaped his life. This is the most haunting song on the record, as it relays the phases of misery to intensity in the lives of the oppressed. A final comment ends the song: "If we don't take action now, we'll settle for nothing later."

Bullet in the Head:
Don't blindly accept your gang, your religion, or even your nation. The people who walk complacently through life accepting all that is put in front of them, might as well have bullets in their heads. Television is a weapon used to pacify those who watch it into the living dead. Until people take control of their lives, they are mindless compontents of the entire machine. This song has an almost jazzy bassline to it, and is the source for the "Rage is Public Enemy meets Black Sabbath" comments rock journalists often make.

Know Your Enemy:
When we can identify those who are out to make us conform and follow blindly, we are more effective in creating change. Schools are notorious for this, and Zack identifies his teachers as his enemies because they told him to fight his own humanity. This is the most upbeat song on the album and carries the most energy as any song I've heard.

Wake up:
This song describes the operations of the FBI's "counter-intelligence" program - which was to suppress any dissident movements in the 60s. Anyone from Malcolm X to Martin Luther King Jr. was silenced for speaking out against the government's injustices and illogic. This song appeared on the Matrix - at the very end of the movie. The opening riff is very reminiscent of Led Zeppelin's "Cashmier", and the song is the most dynamic of Rage songs, showing off all of their sides as a band: Funk, hip-hop, metal, and hardcore.

Fistful of Steel:
This song definately shows that Zack is great as an MC - and is generally dedicated to women in the audience as a sign of respect - not affection.

Township Rebellion:
This song relates human freedom to the situation in South Africa. "Freedom should be fundamental: In Johannesburg, or South Central."

Freedom:
The video for this song is focused on Leonard Peltier, the American Indian Movement leader who was framed by the FBI, and has rotted in a jail cell for the past 20 years. The general theme of this song is the U.S. government/media/corporations are able to convince all Americans of their "freedom", while secretly blinding them to any other reality: Making the freedom seem so much more of a reality.