RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

Date: 13/08/13 Volume: #1 Issue #1

Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine’s debut album cover de-picting a Vietnamese Buddhist monk burning himself to death in Saigon in the year 1963 in protest of the murder of Buddhists by the US-backed Prime Minis-ter Ngo Dinh Diem’s regime.

Biographical Details RATM is an American rap metal band from

LA, California

Formed in 1991

Members include vocalist/rapper Zack de la

Rocha, bass guitarist and backing vocalist

Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and

drummer Brad Wilk

As of 2010 they have sold over 16 million rec-

ords worldwide

October 18 2000 the band disbanded due to

various reasons mainly dude to Zack de la

Rocha feelings towards the functionality and

purpose of the band

In 2007 however the band reunited to start

producing music and performing as they for-

merly did

Rage Against the Machine and

Protest Poetry Some Interesting Points:

Almost all of RATM songs protest against some global issue and they are hence re-nowned for it

The band has very critical viewpoints of foreign and domestic policies from current and previ-ous US governments

The band makes a conceded effort to get in-volved in protests and riots if not start them. e.g. when they performed on Wall-Street at the commencement of the GFC and started a riot/protest which they used as their music video

The band views its music as a vehicle for social activism

Volume: #1 Issue #1

Rage Against the Machine at a protest against the War on Terror Historical Context

In 1991 guitarist Tom Morrello left his band 'lock up' in

order to start a new band. He was in a club where Zach

de la Rocha was freestyle rapping and was very im-

pressed and asked de la Rocha to be the lead singer/

rapper in a band, De La Rocha happily agreed. From

there Morrello draphted drummer brad Wilk from the

band 'Greta' who had previously audition for 'Lock Up'

Whilst De la Rocha convinced his childhood friend Tim

Commerford to join as the bassist. Hence Rage Against

the Machine was born. The Band band's debut album

'Rage Against the Machine' reached triple platinum status

It was heavily played on the radio especially the song

"Killing in the name

Achievements and Awards The Band Has won many awards including:

Grammy Awards 1997 'Best metal performance' - For

the song 'Tire me'

Grammy Awards 2001 'Best Hard Rock Performance'

- For the song 'Guerrilla radio'

NME Awards 2010 'Hero's of the Year' - Presented to

the entire band RATM

Kerrang! Awards 'Hall of Fame' - Presented to entire

band RATM

They also abolished the murdering of Vietnamese Bud-

dhist monks.

DID YOU KNOW?

3 of the 4 mem-bers have de-grees in politics from Harvard uni-versity as they are passionate about what they do

They actively participate in protests and live what they sing

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

Poetic Style Classification

Modern Contemporary/ Modern Corruption/Class Difference

Rage Against the Machine at the Grammy Awards 

Date: 13/08/13 Volume: #1 Issue #1

Poems Analyzed

Killing in the Name

Know your Enemy

Guitarist Tom Morello performing live

5 Things You Didn’t Know

about Rage Against the

Machine

They stopped the mur-dering of Buddhist monks in Vietnam

They actively partici-pate in protests and riots and live what they sing

They performed on Wall Street at the com-mencement of the GFC

They disbanded but reunited

They are currently not producing music

Killing in the Name Analysis “Killing in the Name” is

written about revolution

against police brutality and

institutional racism and is

globally recognized as the

signature song for the

band. It has established

itself from other songs for

its use of heavy, explicit

language and guitar riffs.

"Killing in the Name” has

been described by critics

as "a howling, expletive-

driven tirade against the

ills of American socie-

ty.” The song contains six

lines of lyrics which are

repeated that associate

racism with police brutality, and then changes to the refrain,

"Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn

crosses," a reference to the burning of crosses by the Ku

Klux Klan. The uncut version/raw edit of the song contains

the “F word” on 17 occasions. The song crescendos

(builds both musically and with intensity) to a climax at

which point Zack De La Rocha repeats the phrase "F@$#k

you, I won't do what you tell me", muttering the phrase the

first four times, building in volume and intensity (crescendo)

the next four occasions and screaming with full intensity,

the phrase, the final eight times coming to a conclusion with

De La Rocha screaming "MotherF$#@*er!" The song's lyri-

cal allusion to the allegation that a small handful of mem-

bers of the United States police forces are associated with

and or members/figure heads of the Ku Klux Klan gang/

organization, who as the song states relate themselves with

the burning of crosses. BBC News describes to it as railing

against "the military–industrial complex, justifying killing for

the benefit of, as the song puts it, the chosen whites." The

song explores and reflects on the racial tensions that cur-

rently exist in US; It is important to note that the song was

released six months after the ‘Los Angeles Riots’ which

was triggered by the combined offense of four white police

officers beating black motorist, Rodney King.

Killing in the Name

Poem 1 Analysis

Date: 13/08/13 Volume: #1 Issue #1

To Learn More

Visit the Rage against the Ma-chine official website and learn about the bands views and opin-ions of contro-versial issues such class differ-ence http://www.ratm.com/rage20/

RATM performing live

Know Your Ene-my Analysis

“Know your enemy” is an-

other one of many songs

that contain anti-

authoritarian and anti-war

lyrics off Rage Against the

Machine’s debut album

“Rage Against the Ma-

chine.” The song’s central

idea and underlying mes-

sage is that the US gov-

ernment contradicts itself

by alluding to be the land

of the free and yet being

run by an elitist enterprise.

The song challenges the

audience to question au-

thority figureheads who

apparently determine what

you are able to believe.

This message becomes

evident in phrases which

Zack sings such as,

"What? The land of the

free? Whoever told you

that is your enemy!", "As

we move into '92, still in

a room without a view!"

and "Yes I know my ene-

mies! They're the teachers

that taught me to fight me!"

Throughout the song the

band challenges the audi-

ence not to conform to the

ways of an apparent ‘free’

society but to question and

take charge for themselves

a little more than is perhaps comfortable. Rage Against

the Machine make it evident that they do not believe in

the statement or idea rather that America is the land of

the free but that it is quite the opposite and is masked

with this so called term we refer to as ‘freedom’. They

present the idea that society and its citizens are miss-led

and manipulated to make certain decisions under the

illusion that it is their choice and that they had freedom

to do so. This becomes apparent in the conclusion of the

song which ends with the following lines:

“Compromise

Conformity

Assimilation

Submission

Ignorance

Hypocrisy

Brutality

The Elite

All of which are American dreams!”

Know your enemy

Poem 2 Analysis