RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
On February 21st Tom Morello made his way to Madison, Wisconsin to protest a bill that would, essentially, “end the right of state employees to collectively bargain.”
The popular activist, and well-known guitarist of Rage Against the Machine, has been an important musical figure when it comes to defending people’s basic rights. Rage’s rise to popularity was mainly due to the bands straight-forward, hard-hitting, and higly confrontational lyrics that exposed corruption in governments, and the need for people to stand up and speak their minds.
This is going to be a name dropping article. We have in this "Carry It" song a team of famous guys : Travis Barker from Blink 182, Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine, Raekwon and RZA who are in the Wu-Tang. Travis Barker who originally is a punk music drummer worked with a lot of hiphop stars this year : Lil Wayne, A-Trak (DJ), T.I, and Waka Flocka.
He also called Rick Ross, B.o.B, Swizz Beatz, Ludacris, and members of Linkin Park and Slipknot to work on his collaborative solo album called "Give the Drummer Some".
This album sould be released in february. Raekwon said about "Carry It" : "This is beautiful, man. This is going to be a f**king hit record." Well I do love Raekwon and Wu-Tang's music in general. However, I found this song pretty boring. Tom Morello's guitar solo is pretty cool, but that's it.
If a revolution was ever to take place in America, I can only hope that Rage Against The Machine will be playing in the background somewhere. Can you think of any other band that has been more connected to protesting or rising up for a cause in the past 15 years than Rage Against The Machine? I can't, so it only makes sense that Rage has done it again.
Tom Morello announced on the band website that if their single "Killing In The Name" is number one on the Christmas Week UK pop charts over the single from Simon Cowell's X-Factor," Rage would play a huge free concert in the UK to celebrate the victory of this historic people's campaign".
Although we were sad to see Charles Hamilton leave the music scene, his return and release of his latest creation Normalcy more then made up for it. And now, alongside with Josh Madden spinning the records, the tag team will tear up the opening night at our Fashion Week Gala event at Capitale. Renowned DJ Josh Madden is the perfect complimentary sidekick to match the energy of Sonic The Hamilton. Not only is DJ Josh Madden touring the U.S., he is also a stylist and co-founder of the clothing label DCMA Collective. Talk about the interwining of music and fashion! We were able to get some answers as to what make these two tick.
In an epic band regrouping comparable to that of the post-Joliet Blues Brothers' “mission from Gawd,” grunge-rock fans are furiously typo-tweeting and updating their dismally life-affirming Facebook profiles with the news that genre-defining angst-therapy band Soundgarden will be officially reuniting in 2010. Word came as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve via lead singer Chris Cornell’s Twitter feed that, “The 12 year break is over & school is back in session. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!” He then provided a link to the new official band website where fans can keep updated on all upcoming news and sign up for email updates.
When I first brought the news that a subversive, independent facebook campaign was gaining headway in their effort to overthrow a single by Joe McElderry, winner of Britain’s The X Factor, as number one Christmas single in the U.K. pop charts with a Rage Against the Machine song from 1992, I had strong reservations as to whether they would actually succeed in their mission. As the U.K. pop charts closed on Sunday and I heavy-heartedly checked the NME website, who had been covering the battle extensively, my reaction was the same as that of “Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No 1” creator/moderator Jon Morter, as well as many others who had been following the campaign, “F--- me, I can’t believe it’s Number One!”
The U.K. pop charts typically maintain only a slightly noticeable influence on the U.S. charts, but the latest developments in a war for “Number One Christmas single” have top chart watchers highly interested, if not sufficiently entertained. A recent facebook campaign to put Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing in the Name” single above Britain’s The X-Factor reality show winner Joe McElderry’s “The Climb” has seen unprecedented success thus far. As of the December 15 chart statistics, the RATM song from 1992 was downloaded over 65,000 times more than McElderry’s Miley Cyrus cover, although “the Climb” is scheduled for official sale release as of today. British bookies, Ladbrokes, have officially given favor to the RATM song giving odds of 8:11 that it will be Number One when the Christmas singles charts closes on Sunday, December 20.
The National Campaign to Close Guantanamo has received its share of criticism, but the support from popular musicians and members of the music industry have further encouraged the Obama administration to follow through on their efforts to close the controversial prison. Both REM and Pearl Jam have joined with the likes of Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Roseanne Cash, and Rage Against the Machine in protest against the interrogation practices applied at the institution.
Most recently, the coalition has spoken up against CIA interrogators using music to “encourage” the detainees to reveal information relative to their involvement in terrorist plots and/or organizations. It has been reported that music from Britney Spears, AC/DC the Bee Gees, and Marilyn Manson has been used in prisoner control procedures, as well as songs from Sesame Street, Barney, and the Meow-Mix theme song. The songs were pumped into prisoners’ cells at near-deafening levels in what the CIA describes as an attempt to maintain prison security rather than “punitive purposes.” The National Security Archive is filing a request through the Freedom of Information Act to create a list of the exact songs that have been used at the prison. Thomas Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive, said, “At Guantanamo, the U.S. turned a jukebox into an instrument of torture.”
I am constantly being reminded that the 90’s are alive and well. At least as far as music is concerned. Rage Against the Machine’s guitarist, Tom Morello, has announced his new project, Street Sweeper. Morello has said that their recently completed album contains “huge steamroller riffs combined with depth, charge and funk,” and a revolutionary message. Way to be general. The band has landed the opening slot of a summer tour with Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction. Ah, the 90’s.
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