The name says everything about Rage Against The Machine. The aggressive musical blend of metal guitar and hip-hop rhythms is background to the rap-styled delivery of angry, confrontational, political lyrics. The group addresses concerns over inner city deprivation, racism, censorship, propaganda, the plight of Native Americans and many other issues. In every song on the three albums produced by the band, there is a political message to be heard. The messages are clearly heard in the lyrics of the songs, but they are delivered in a way that is open to interpretation. Examples of lyrics contained in songs would include: “A Yellow Ribbon, Instead of a Swastika”, or “There’s nothing proper about your propaganda”, and even “Assimilation, Ignorance, Bliss, Hypocrisy, Brutality, the Elite, All of which are American dreams.”
The cover of their first and most popular album depicted a Buddhist Monk burning himself to death at a Vietnam War protest. If there was to be any inclination as to what this group and their message was about, this was it. The titles of the songs on the first album include “Know Your Enemy, Freedom, Bullet in the Head, Without a Face, and others that summarize the musical lyrics and message contained in the songs. The song, Know Your Enemy, is a song about America. Rage is trying to verbalize the hypocrisies of the American government in this song. It is an attempt to get its listeners to question the acts of the government and the ideals the county was founded on. For example, America is supposed to be the land of the free, but who is really free to do as they please? The government enslaved and killed off Africans and Native Americans in the pursuit of the freedom of this county. Rage likes to take these obvious yet unspoken contradictions and make them load and public. They emphasize distrust of politicians and government. They emphasize political censorship and have been victims of censorship on several occasions while performing on stage. The band’s official logo is that of a roughly drawn clenched fist raised in the air, while their songs frequently contain the phrase “Power to the People”. The band also makes note about the power of free thought and encourages listeners to rise up against and question that which they do not believe to be right. They preach about defying the norm of our culture and not accepting things or people for face value, but to read between the lines and find the real meaning behind government actions.
In every way, Rage Against The Machine challenges and defies the dominant values and beliefs in our country. They are outspoken against the American government and have little respect or trust for politicians and mass media. They proclaim that the government controls the media in some way as do a handful of the world’s richest men. They openly challenge censorship and our so called freedom. Rage Against The Machine also encourages its audience to speak their mind and broaden their perspectives of that which they do not know about. They encourage people to be educated and to know their rights and to see the hypocrisy in the Actions of the American government. They want their audience to think for themselves and not accept what they are told without question. Rage’s outlook on politics and government will prove to win them a place in the mainstream movement of music and counter culturalism.
Rage Against The Machine is active participants in all that they preach about in their music. Almost all of their concerts are benefit shows, and contributions to charities are made from non-benefit shows as well. The band members also participate in protests for various reasons and causes. In 1993, the entire band stood on stage in Philadelphia for 15 minutes without playing or singing a note. They had duct tape over their mouths and were naked, standing before the audience who was cheering them on. This was a protest to demonstrate censorship. Rage has also organized and headed benefit shows that resulted in a $76,000 contribution to The Leonard Peltier Defense fund, an $80,000 contribution to Mumia Abu-Jamal. Playing almost exclusively at benefit shows for those oppressed by governments, Rage has played for and contributed to over 20 different charities ranging from Women rights to poor Mexican children foundations. All of the members have been individually arrested on trespassing and various other charges that are protest related. This is a main point of their appeal to their audience. Not only does the band aggressively accuse the government of atrocities but they also protest and take personal risk to support what they believe. They are living their music, unlike so many other mainstream artists.
Rage Against The Machine is comprised of four members who are culturally and ethnically diverse from each other. This adds so much diversity to the band’s style and message and is demonstrated by their success. Rage is not a manager produced image like most of the other recent mainstream bands. They write all their own music and lyrics. They live their music and promote alternative thinking outside the box. Rage Against The Machine’s most prominent quality is that they are real and honest. They believe what they are writing about and encourage others to divert from the norm and mainstream. It is very ironic, that a band that is so aggressive and anti-establishment is only successful because of the establishment and mainstreamed practices. From the beginning, they were signed with a major record label, Epic. Epic represents a large number of groups that are mainstreamed and considered norm in pop music. Rage was smart in their decision to sign with this label. They were given full artistic creativity and were able to use the system and establishment to foster and so boldly deliver their messages to their audience. The used the establishment against itself, in true renegade fashion. It is also ironic that their music has certified double platinum, they have won several awards from the music establishment, they have had hours of video playtime on MTV, and have been number one on the Billboard charts. It is also ironic that in using the mainstream music establishment as a delivery system for their message, they have managed to generate revenue to support those that they feel have been oppressed by the government and establishment. They have also delivered their message hundreds of thousands of people through the mainstream music establishment. Even more ironic is that the establishment has allowed them, without intervening, to have complete control of their artistic direction. They have not been censored or held down by their label and this is the reason they have remained signed with Epic.