Word: rage
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Zack De la Rocha, lead singer for the rock-hop band Rage Against the Machine, walks into Ca'Brea, a small Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, with revolution on his mind. Dressed in a hooded red sweat top, his dreads tucked into a knit cap, he takes a seat at a corner table and exchanges what, for him, passes as small talk--how money is corrupting politics, the effect of advertising on the editorial content of magazines--before getting down to important issues. He thinks Subcomandante Marcos, leader of Mexico's Zapatista rebels, should be TIME...
...Rage Against the Machine is doing much the same thing in music. Rock is going through a period of heaviness. Bands are getting louder, lyrics more aggressive; voices are growling. Rock-hop acts helped open the door for a more in-your-face sound; now straight-ahead rock acts are pouring through. The hard-rock band Creed recently scored a No. 1 album; Bush and Live, after hiatuses, have new (mediocre) CDs out. There's also Woodstock 99, a mostly dull double CD with live songs by rock-hoppers (Limp Bizkit, Korn) and straight-ahead rockers (Godsmack, Buckcherry) drawn from...
...Rage Against the Machine's new album, The Battle of Los Angeles (Epic), is a landmark not only because it's an exhilarating mix of hip-hop and hard rock, but also because it's a winning fusion of loud music and intelligence. This is music that bounces like a gangsta rapper's lowrider, snarls like Nine Inch Nails, and yet speaks out on issues with insurgent eloquence. In the early '90s, bands like Nirvana played loud, punkish music that thoughtfully expressed their alienation. Today, novelty acts like Blink 182 play loud, dumb music proudly, and the gap between...
Unlike many other hard-rock bands, Rage, as guitarist Tom Morello puts it, has "social and political" concerns. Indeed, in an interview, De la Rocha sounds off on a wide range of topics. He ridicules New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani: "There's nothing more dangerous than a fascist with aspiration for higher office." He's also critical of Sean ("Puffy") Combs: "If Reagan were a rapper, he'd be in Puff Daddy's crew. It's the same set of politics. Get yours. F___ everyone else. Just get paid. Don't think about community...
...roots of De la Rocha's rage are in his hometown of Irvine, Calif. He went to a mostly white high school where, as a Chicano, he seethed at racist comments about "wetbacks" made by students and teachers alike. At age 17, he saw a show by the black punk group Bad Brains, and it was "a personal revolution." De la Rocha, Morello, drummer Brad Wilk and bassist Tim Commerford formed Rage...