Does anyone else think that their music is trite, repetitive, and boring?
I mean, come on. How many oppressed peoples are you going to write songs about, and how many of those songs are going to sound exactly the same?
And the fans: 99% of these pop-teen twinkies know fuck-all about the ‘machine’ being ‘raged’ against.
Take Noam Chomsky with a saltine and RATM with a crate of them. They suck.
And while I’m in the mood, doesn’t anyone realize that a billion hippies won’t make a difference in Tibet as long as China has veto power on the UN security council?
I wish half the people fighting ‘the machine’ at least knew what was going on. I’m sure that even I, the intolerable cynic, have made an undue statement, generalization, downright mistake somewhere in this post, but you get the idea.
WIth one, you have a bunch of 30 somethings making crap rock rock for 12 year olds. Then, OTOH, you have a bunch of self important 30 somethings making pseudo-political crap rock for kids, and 99% of them not know or care what the message is, because, DOOD, they can mosh to it!
I think RATM takes that one hands down - unlike Korn, they are a juvenile metal band trying to drum up intellectual acclaim for their political views. If they took their riotous rebellion closer to home, say, to the forum of American politics, I doubt that they would be seen as admiringly as they are now. The allure of their agenda is the fact that the basis of their complaints is so little known that it can be romanticized and nobody will ever raise a peep.
Korn, on the other hand, is an equally, if not more, horrible band. The only agenda I’ve ever seen them stick is the defense of teen malaise, which is much better known to their fans (though you would have thought that the musicians themselves would have long since grown out of it). They go for something more realistic, even posting the Kids’ Help Phone number, which you can’t argue against. At least the attempted thought provoking sticks with misery and displacement for the most part, which goes better in a mosh pit than do unfamiliar thoughts of foreign political unrest.
Politics & music do not mix. Proof: Clinton & Gore “dancing” to Fleetwood Mac.
I like RATM a hell of a lot more than that Ghost in the Machine crap. Why are the Japanese such pervs, anyway? They’re worse than the Germans and THAT’S no small achievement!
I think they’re pretty good. No, they don’t have the songwriting skills of someone like Bob Dylan, buy hey at least they’re fucking trying! How many other bands have videos featuring little factoids supporting their causes? How many bands HAVE a cause other than filling their wallets?! No, not every angst-ridden teen is going to care, but some do. In any case, it beats the hell out of Korn and illiterate Limp Bizshit.
I have a hard time with the political outrage of a group of kids who have never held a job, never studied politics, never had to support a family or balance a checkbook and can’t remember Carter.
I remember being an outraged teen. Man, was I an idiot.
Mouthbreather, Karma brings up several points. I support some, I don’t support others, and the rest I stand neutral on.
To elaborate, RATM is just making music. That was their style of music from album one. I mean, can they help it if a bunch of angst filled teens like it? No. Do the teens understand the message in their music? Probably not. But does RATM care? I doubt it.
Why should a band change their lyrics simply because some teens cannot understand them? That’s ludicrous. A band changing their tune to appeal to a broader market? They would be labeled as sellouts.
RATM was around long before this “rap-metal” genre of music became popular. Bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit simply jumped on the bandwagon.
I love listening to Rage and I hope that they never change.
In the latest RATM video “Sleep Now in the Fire” (or something like that) they held an unathorized concert on wall street. The results involved a small riot that ended up shutting down the NY stock exchange. The first time they’ve ever had to close early for security reasons. If nothing else, you have to admire RATM’s balls
One point to pick, Mr. Z–If I’m not wrong, One of the RATM-ers has a degree from Harvard in Political Science. I’m sure someone will correct me if that’s wrong.
Well just because they’re not the worst, doesn’t mean they’re any good. Limp Bizkit is pretty close to indefensible. Any points against them would be pretty obvious to most anybody. However, RATM have a lot of clear thinking fans (well, compared to LB). I notice that even you use the word ‘factoids’ instead of ‘facts’. That’s exactly what they offer. Soundbites that don’t give any real sense of the conflicts at hand.
To vandal: RATM are on Epic, a subsidiary of Sony music. Their demographic is male adolescents. It’s not like… “Whoops! Look at all these 12-18 year old males buying our record! Never saw that one coming! Did you, Mr. Ad Exec?”
Emustrangler: RATM have nothing to lose by playing Wall Street. Celebrities get fines for this kind of stuff, not jail time.
Another point that nobody’s really refuted: All of their songs sound more or less the same (and I’m not just blurting this out without thinking). It’s all Zack yelling with a bunch of heavy guitar riffs, with a meager display of Tom Morello’s wasted talent in the middle. There’s no musical variation at all.
OK, now I am beginningto feel like a fogey. I am sitting around with a bunch of folks saying “can you believe the music kids are listening to today?” Sounds like my grandpa.
Yeah, but Mr. Z, I’m one of the kids. I’m only 19 - it’s people my age listening to this crap.
Oh and to whoever mentioned it, Tom Morello does have a degree in poli sci from Harvard, but that has nothing to do with his fans, and just because he knows a thing or two about politics, doesn’t mean that he’s right. And correct me if I’m wrong, but isnt ZDLR the main songwriter?
Isn’t this indicative of all bands? Isn’t that what classifies a band? Their style of music?
What if Foreigner all of a sudden released a heavy metal album? What the hell would that be? What if Whitney Houston went country?
Artists are classified by their style of music. Foreigner and Whitney do soft love song kinda stuff. RATM does rap-metal. It sounds the same because… yup, you guessed it, it’s rap-metal.