Wonder and Awe
The way that Rage Against the Machine gets its message across really amazes me. They combine heavy metal with rap with politically charged lyrics and it ends up sounding really great. It really is amazing how things that seem to be opposites come together nice like that. I normally do not listen to rap and used to think most politics to be boring and distant but their music makes it all different. They show that politics do affect the way we live and that rap can be poetic and inspiring when it is done right. I never thought that I could learn anything or be inspired by a rap songs or even heavy metal for that matter, but they turned everything I thought upside-down and amazed me. It really is hard to describe how amazing the music is though, so I have included an example in the song Wake Up from their album Rage Against the Machine:
Another music genre that really amazes me is Skacore. Skacore is a mix of reggae like music and punk rock. Punk rock is usually fast and in your face with counter-culture lyrics, while ska is mellow with horns and drums taking precedence over guitar. The combination of these two opposite styles is cool in almost the same way that the integration of politics, rap, and heavy metal into a genre is cool. An example of a skacore band is The Suicide Machines, who also bring politics into their lyrics. A good example of a Skacore song would be Confused by the Suicide Machines:
It is with these two bands that I started paying attention to the world at large instead of just my local world. They shocked and inspired me to pay attention to the world of today and the world of the past. It all started with my love of opposites. I just like it when contrasting things work so well together and the whole premise of it just amazes me. It is amazing to find out that life can still exist in deadly regions like the bottom of the sea in the same way it is amazing to find out that ska can exist and mingle with punk rock. In nature opposites have been working together forever and now music is evolving to that point and that amazes me.
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I scanned all of the photos from the cd cover booklet
The first one is on the back of the inside cover to the album Rage Against the Machine
The second one is the front of the cover in album Battle Hymns