When I was in high school I got really into Rage Against the Machine (or RATM as they shall be known for the remainder of this post). There's a good chance that they were the start of the love affair I have with politically charged music but I really can't back that up. The heavy nature of the music, the rap/rock feel to it, the things that Tom Morello was able to do with that guitar. Initially that was my favorite thing about RATM, that guitar playing was sick! I loved how they would list on the album jacket that there were no synthesisers or similar equipment used on the record. Everything you heard was actually made by the band. *Gasp* Musicians!
My friend Mike and I would talk in seventh grade math about how awesome they were and how we hoped they would play the next Woodstock. Then we would map out a dream band for the next Woodstock and try and figure out how we were going to get there. Little did we know that years later there would be a Woodstock that consisted of many of the bands we had mentioned, and it would be an epic shit show. Know this fellow Shufflers, when Mike and I planned the festival there was less fires and much less rape. For shame Woodstock and Limp Bizkit. Talking about missing the message of the festival. Makes me sad inside.
As I got into high school I sort of stopped listening to RATM as much and started expanding my musical horizon. It didn't mean I didn't like the band any more or didn't occasionally listen to them, I just strayed I supposed. It wasn't until my junior year of college where I rediscovered the awesomeness of the band about the same time my roommate and P.I.C. Jason did the same. After that they were pretty much a main stay in our suite.
Actually we played Renegades (their cover album which also happens to be their last) a lot. There is some really, really good things on this album. I love the interpretation of some of these songs, especially Kick Out the Jams, How Could I Just Kill A Man, Renegades of Funk, and Ghost of Tom Joad. Especially here with Maggie's Farm. The original (Bob Dylan) comes off completely different (I currently turned off the Zac Brown Band in order to listen to it). Here Dylan comes across a little more whiny. The lyrics are great and the message is still there but it just seems like he's complaining. He just keeps talking about how the situation sucks in a sing-song type way. It's a great song but here me out... I dig the RATM version more (insert second *gasp* of the post here).
Listen RATM convey the anger here so perfectly. From the way Zack De La Rocha delivers the lyrics to the brutalness of the sound. This version of the song is surrounded by anger, and I think that's the proper way to go with this. Listen to the lyrics. These people are assholes. Putting cigars out in people's faces, crappy pay, crappy treatment, yeah I'd be pretty pissed to. This is the one quality I think Dylan's version is lacking. A job with people like this deserves more anger in the tone. Dylan is more or less telling a story about how sucky his job is. Rage is telling you a story where you almost think they are plotting the deaths of these people for how poorly they treat the employees. Now check this out...same lyrics.
I also love the way they slow down the verses. Each line of the song is delivered slowly and builds and builds on the anger until it explodes through the speakers. Tom Morello's guitar keeps on pace with De La Rocha's delivery and the two of them pack a solid punch. Rage Against the Machine were always excellent at delivering emotion in their lyrics. That's the cool thing about the Renegades album. They were able to take all these songs but different artists and find their emotion in other people's lyrics. Almost like they took these songs and helped mold them to fit their agenda. The true beauty of a cover is making it your own, and there is no doubt that RATM is able to do that on this record.
I got to see Rage Against the Machine during their reunion tour at Rock the Bells. It was like a dream come true for my junior high self. The night before we went partying the night before and the hangover I had for this festival was awful. It started to rain early on in the show and at first it felt great, but as the day went on it soaked into my bones and was ruining my enjoyment of some of the other acts. It actually got to the point where I wondered if I was going to make it to RATM's set. I did and it was awesome. I totally geeked out for it. Although they didn't play a lot off of Renegades it was like being in seventh grade math with Mike talking about how kick ass the band was. It's funny how relationships with bands go. It's like I hadn't spoken to the band in ten years or so and then boom they're right back in my life. Do I listen to them all the time? No. But I do listen to them more often then I did. Sometimes you're just in that kind of mood. It's good to have them back.
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