"When the police shut down the PA on Rage Against the Machine at an anti-RNC concert, the band took to the turf with a megaphone and performed a capella, delivering inspiring commentary between songs."Now Rage is, has been, and always will be one of my favorite bands of all time. But the fact of the matter is that they're a semi-broken-up band that hasn't put out an album in going on a decade. I'm not saying that they've nothing relevant to offer, but when a band is doing reunion shows, I think it's safe to say that the heyday is past.* And yet here you have this little side-story of censorship wherein whichever powers-that-be decided that this music was somehow too dangerous, too incendiary to allow it to take voice. Censorship is nothing new in our country, but it never ceases to amaze me. What is so fucking frightening about words, ideas, thoughts given expression, that they have to be shut down before they get out into the open? Any institution, be it a political party or a religion or an ideology or whatever, if it is so weak as to be damaged by an idea, then it needs to get damaged.
And yes, I know, there may well have been some violence at an RATM protest concert, but fuck it. We've had eight years of this Republican bullshit. I'm embarrassed we haven't had more riots.
*Which is not to say that I wouldn't totally go see them if they came to Austin. Hey guys, come to Austin! We'll fuck shit up! It'll be great!
2 comments:
A little rioting is good for the soul.
I always thought that RATM would write THE album that defined the Bush Era. Turns out that was done by the guys whose first hit song was about jerking off. It is a shame that Morello and De La Rocha couldn't put their egos aside and put out some new music.
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