Kurai Tsuki
17th March 2004, 01:45
This album is considered by many to be the best Rage against the Machine album ever produced. While it may lack the level of knowledge that was put into the songs that came in the Evil Empire album it is still one of the most rebellious ones ever made. The lyrics openly call for a sudden rebellion, and if anything seems similar to Che Guevara saying the necessary conditions for revolution can be created by the revolution itself.
The album opens with a sort of modern dissident's theme song, Bombtrack, which summarizes exactly what it is like to be a minority leftist. Then comes killing in the name, which is a song that tells people why they should think freely and not take orders from others. It goes into the song Take the Power Back, a critique of the American educational system. Settle for Nothing is a song that tells what it is like to come form a dysfunctional family, and how that it connected with the rest of society. Bullet in the Head was actually the first song that Rage against the Machine played in public; they played it at a party of a friend of one of the band members and the crowd loved it, who wouldn't? Know your enemy is my favourite song on the album, it summarizes the emotions and facts that make us dissidents hate America, and calls for us to rise up against it with the lyrics, "Now action must be taken, we don't need the key we'll break in!" Wake Up had about the same theme as Know your Enemy, but focuses more on how the government has, "neutralized," dissidents. Fistful of Steel seems to focus on the actual organization part or a rebellion, while following song, Township Rebellion, focuses on the active aspect of it. Freedom acts a conclusion to the rest of the album, it reminds listeners that their, "anger is a gift," and warns them of the many distractions that America tempts potential activists with to keep them from focusing on the real issues.
Many think that because Rage against the Machine signed with a big name label they betrayed their cause in some way. First of all, Epic is a division of Sony which is a Japanese company, so much of the money spent on their CD's will actually be leaving the 'states and helping a country which is trying to come out of a recession. And second, Sony was a company which gave them complete artistic freedom and a good budget to make this album (see the Star Profile for RATM) while the other big labels that propositioned them were trying to tone down their musical style so that they would fit into some other more common musical genre. I have listened to the music from some of the more independent bands and while it sounded nice, the intelligence and music quality did not nearly match that of Rage against the Machine, more people should judge them based on that.
The album opens with a sort of modern dissident's theme song, Bombtrack, which summarizes exactly what it is like to be a minority leftist. Then comes killing in the name, which is a song that tells people why they should think freely and not take orders from others. It goes into the song Take the Power Back, a critique of the American educational system. Settle for Nothing is a song that tells what it is like to come form a dysfunctional family, and how that it connected with the rest of society. Bullet in the Head was actually the first song that Rage against the Machine played in public; they played it at a party of a friend of one of the band members and the crowd loved it, who wouldn't? Know your enemy is my favourite song on the album, it summarizes the emotions and facts that make us dissidents hate America, and calls for us to rise up against it with the lyrics, "Now action must be taken, we don't need the key we'll break in!" Wake Up had about the same theme as Know your Enemy, but focuses more on how the government has, "neutralized," dissidents. Fistful of Steel seems to focus on the actual organization part or a rebellion, while following song, Township Rebellion, focuses on the active aspect of it. Freedom acts a conclusion to the rest of the album, it reminds listeners that their, "anger is a gift," and warns them of the many distractions that America tempts potential activists with to keep them from focusing on the real issues.
Many think that because Rage against the Machine signed with a big name label they betrayed their cause in some way. First of all, Epic is a division of Sony which is a Japanese company, so much of the money spent on their CD's will actually be leaving the 'states and helping a country which is trying to come out of a recession. And second, Sony was a company which gave them complete artistic freedom and a good budget to make this album (see the Star Profile for RATM) while the other big labels that propositioned them were trying to tone down their musical style so that they would fit into some other more common musical genre. I have listened to the music from some of the more independent bands and while it sounded nice, the intelligence and music quality did not nearly match that of Rage against the Machine, more people should judge them based on that.