# Why haven't there been any Rage Against the Machine copycats of note?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 6, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598 "2012-01-06T04:36:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/1 "2012-01-06T04:36:17Z")
I’ve thought this for quite a while. During the grunge era the music world filled with copycats. During the numetal era the world filled with numetal acts etc…
RATM had a very unique sound mainly due to Morellos creative guitar antics thats for sure but I always thought that Zack De Larochas lyrical content really made them stand out amount the artists of the time, even thru today for that matter. Whether you agreed with the hardcore antigovernment stance and Viva La Revolution! positions of ZDL you can’t deny that, compared to just about any other popular musical act of the time (and even now) the lyrics were intelligent and were very politically charged. Besides Renegades I don’t think they had any songs that could be interpreted as “fun”
I’ve wondered for quite some time why, even at their peak, there were ZERO copycats in popular music (defined as Mtv, radio etc…). These guys were HUGE and sold massive numbers of albums and I have no doubt that once they formally get back together and put out another album proper it will be huge as well since there is nothing quite like it on the radio anywhere.
It seems that typically when a sound gains traction record companies grind out as many style copy cats as they can to capitalize on the success of the sound. That didn’t happen with RATM. Why is that?
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### Author:  [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/2 "2012-01-06T05:04:55Z")
Dunno. But, man, was it ever a bad decision for RATM to be broken up for the majority of the Bush years.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/3 "2012-01-06T05:14:11Z")
Because Rage isn’t very good?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/4 "2012-01-06T05:17:41Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Because Rage isn’t very good?
Oh, hush, you!
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/5 "2012-01-06T05:25:57Z")
A lot of nu-metal owes a huge debt to RATM’s sound, although most if it that I’ve ever heard is apolitical.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/6 "2012-01-06T05:38:59Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Because Rage isn’t very good?
Ditto. I’d have to guess that it’s their lyrics/politics that made them grow in fame a bit.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/7 "2012-01-06T13:30:06Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Because Rage isn’t very good?
Wow - way to threadshit. Let’s just say I disagree. RAtM is one of the few bands that cast a long shadow coming out of those crap nu metal years. I have to get to a meeting and can’t type long, but their talent, songs and innovative guitar sounds even better today.
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### Author:  [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/8 "2012-01-06T13:38:47Z")
Clawfinger would be the one that come to mind, although they’re not exactly RATM copyists - they formed earlier, although their debut album came out later.
I think the main reason there aren’t more bands like this is that rap-metal doesn’t really work at the best of times, and that there are better genres of music for political commentary than metal.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/9 "2012-01-06T13:43:31Z")
I would say Linkin Park is the closest band the OP is looking for. They started out in the late 90s (along with Korn, Limp Bizkit, Incubus, Godsmack, Alien Ant Farm, P.O.D., System of a Down) as just another nu-metal decendent of RATM/Faith No More/RHCP/Tool. But unlike most of those other bands, they are still around. And their last CDs, Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns have a bit more political overtones.
They are a pale comparison though.
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### Author:  [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/10 "2012-01-06T17:34:12Z")
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> Wow - way to threadshit. Let’s just say I disagree. RAtM is one of the few bands that cast a long shadow coming out of those crap nu metal years. I have to get to a meeting and can’t type long, but their talent, songs and innovative guitar sounds even better today.
Looking forward to this. Personally I think that their debut album is a phenomal collection songs, that grips you from the moment the drums kick in in Bombtrack and doesn’t let go until his last scream in Freedom. But the other albums only intermittently reached the same level of greatness.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/11 "2012-01-06T17:42:43Z")
I think it takes too much work to be like RATM. Not only do you have to have an amazing guitar player but also a frontman who can rap and scream, and at the same time does a lot of studying about world politics. I’m already exhausted!
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### Author:  [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/12 "2012-01-06T23:48:51Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Because Rage isn’t very good?
?
Whether you like them or not their talent as a band is indisputable.
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### Author:  [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/13 "2012-01-07T02:11:50Z")
I always liked Rage. The mix of musical styles, lyrics etc. always worked for me. Linkin Park isn’t a fraction of RATM. Linkin Park’s songs all sound the same to me.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/14 "2012-01-07T03:11:33Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> I think it takes too much work to be like RATM. Not only do you have to have an amazing guitar player but also a frontman who can rap and scream, and at the same time does a lot of studying about world politics. I’m already exhausted!
This comes closest to what I was thinking. Take Zach De La Rocha out and you’ve got one of the most quirkiest and most unusual three piece bands out there, put him and his political screamings in and you’ve got someting nearly inimitable. When I was playing in a band we sometimes made a semi-conscious effort at ripping of…ah, _being inspired_ by Rage Against the Machine, which resulted in some good songs but nothing that really sounds like them at all. Love 'em or hate 'em, they’ve got an original sound.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/15 "2012-01-07T03:11:50Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#):
>
> I always liked Rage. The mix of musical styles, lyrics etc. always worked for me. Linkin Park isn’t a fraction of RATM. Linkin Park’s songs all sound the same to me.
Well, there’s that, and RATM had one of the most innovative and interest guitarists of the last 20 years in Tom Morello.
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### Author:  [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/16 "2012-01-07T03:26:40Z")
> [@pravnik](#):
>
> Take Zach De La Rocha out and you’ve got one of the most quirkiest and most unusual three piece bands out there,
What we actually got when he left was a dull Led Zep ripoff band.
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/17 "2012-01-07T03:34:03Z")
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> Wow - way to threadshit…
We all might be getting a tad crazy with throwing around the term “threadshit”.
OP asked a question, elfkin answered it with his own opinion.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/18 "2012-01-07T03:45:54Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> We all might be getting a tad crazy with throwing around the term “threadshit”.
>
> OP asked a question, elfkin answered it with his own opinion.
Nah, it was a bit of a threadshit, but YMMV.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/19 "2012-01-07T03:48:26Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> We all might be getting a tad crazy with throwing around the term “threadshit”.
>
> OP asked a question, elfkin answered it with his own opinion.
I have to agree. The OP wasn’t posted as an obvious appreciation thread like the _Talking Heads_ thread elsewhere on the front page. Rather he asked why such a popular band did not have more imitators. **elfkin** ’s reply was a bit dismissive, but weakly on point.
Not that I agree at all. RATM was never really my cuppa, but they were undeniably talented from where I sat. But there is a difference between a weak response or a wrong one ( IMHO 😉 ) and a threadshit.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-there-been-any-rage-against-the-machine-copycats-of-note/608598/20 "2012-01-07T03:52:26Z")
> [@Steophan](#):
>
> What we actually got when he left was a dull Led Zep ripoff band.
Have to respectfully disagree there. I expected less than nothing when De La Rocha left, but Audioslave put out some surprisingly damn good albums with some surprisingly damn good songs. Cornell, Morello, and the whole gang have done all right by themselves.
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