rockovermars
13 Comments Well, they’re as politically ineffective as President Bush, but maybe not quite as bad as the band Bush. Maybe.
During one of the most tumultuous times in US politics in recent memory, one of the most outspoken bands in recent memory has been dead silent.
Of course, we’re talking about Rage Against the Machine.
When this rap-rock band exploded onto the scene in 1992, the group became known for its fiery politics perhaps more than its music. Speaking out against censorship, racial injustice and political and economic corruption, the band seemed unstoppable.
Until it stopped.
The group folded in 2000 and, aside from guitarist Tom Morello’s lame pop sidetrip with Chris Cornell in AudioSlave (whose melodramatic pop was only slightly less annoying than U2), the members all-but-disappeared. Formerly outspoken frontman Zack de la Rocha seemed to have nothing to say until he reemerged earlier this month with tracks from his new band, One Day as a Lion.
Still, the fact that this band and its members had nothing to say about 9/11 or the Bush administration seems suspicious. Are they afraid to speak up during an actual time of conflict and crisis? Do they only raise hell when they’re preaching to the choir—reassuring wealthy white kids that Democrats rock and Republicans don’t? It all seems too easy.
If cheap shots are the name of the game, count these guys in. The band has announced plans to play a reunion concert coinciding with the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver (no word on a new album, yet). This will give them the chance to complain about Bush (now that he’s on the way out anyway, real brave, fellas), and it will also allow them to attempt to regain some punk cred as they follow in the footsteps of punk pioneers MC5 who infamously played Chicago at the time of the violent protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. (Mc5 guitarist Wayne Kramer is also on the bill.)
Is history repeating itself? Maybe. But this seems like one rerun/reunion we could do without.
Is Rage Against the Machine too political? Not political enough?
Leave a comment and tell us what you think.
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