On the day Rage Against the Machine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, only one member of the renegades showed up.
“My name is Tom Morello, and I am one-quarter of Rage Against the Machine,” Morello said. “I am deeply grateful for the musical chemistry I’ve had the good fortune to share with Brad Wilk, Tom Commerford and Zach de la Rocha. Like most bands, we have differing perspectives on a lot of things, including being inducted into the Rock Hall.”
Nothing has changed since Rage Against the Machine disbanded. The last released album was in 2000, yet Rage Against the Machine’s music and fight remain relevant.
The same struggles lead singer De La Rocha gave a voice to in the early 90s, continue to prevail in 2023. The underrepresented persist in the resistance against the oppressors. The band continues to stand by their values as they give the machine the finger as they roar back, “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me,” on the day they were recognized.
Their self-titled album came out in 1992 and tracks on it shared a revolutionary thematic thread that gave the name of the band context. Songs like “Township Rebellion,” “Killing in the Name” and “Know Your Enemy” captured the animosity that minority groups felt against the government and police.
In “Take the Power Back,” De La Rocha raps about the Eurocentric-driven educational curriculums whitewashing the history books taught in the U.S.
“One-sided stories for years and years and years/I’m inferior?/Who’s inferior?/Yeah, we need to check the interior/Of the system that cares about only one culture.”
Everything remains static since Rage confronted the educational system in 1992. According to data released by the American Library Association, 700 attempts to ban books have occurred in the first eight months of 2023. The majority of the books are about or written by a person of color or a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
During an interview with NPR, the director of the American Library Association, Debora Caldwell-Stone said, “These attacks on our freedom to read should trouble every person who values liberty and our constitutional rights.”
Her words capture the spirit of “Take the Power Back” and conceptualize it to modern struggles. There’s been no change in the norm.
In “Bullet in the Head,” Rage Against the Machine raps about how the coverage of the Gulf War was exploited by the U.S. media to brainwash the masses into supporting the war and the military-industrial complex.
“Nothing proper about your propaganda/Fools follow rules when the set command ya/Said it was blue when your blood was red/That’s how you got a bullet blasted through your head.”
The situation remains the same, except in 2023, instead of media channels televising the war live on air, it is happening live on apps as governments use social media corporations to spread misinformation as a tactical move to disrupt the status quo.
According to a study by the Oxford Internet Institution, 81 countries around the world utilize “cyber troops” to spread false information. Oxford defines cyber troops as government or political party actors tasked with manipulating public opinion online.
The media outlets have changed, but the masses continue to get a bullet in their heads. Things have not gotten better. The same struggles Rage Against the Machine experienced throughout their four albums still govern the masses but this time, it is up to society to face them on their own.
Rage Against the Machine lives through the combat that is seen anytime the oppression gets out of hand.
“So tomorrow, crank up some Rage and head out and confront injustice,” Morello said. “Wherever it rears its ugly head, it’s time to change the world, brothers and sisters, or at a bare minimum to stir up a shit load of trouble.”
