(Paris) Carried by the song Killing In The NameRage Against The Machine’s first album released 30 years ago, still burns with a flame rekindled by current protest movements.
Posted at 11:46 a.m.
When the first disc of the group of Los Angeles appears on November 3, 1992, it is a shock, with several titles. First visual, since the cover takes the famous photo of the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc who set himself on fire in 1963 to protest against the South Vietnamese regime.
“There is a desire to get out of the standards of the somewhat smooth covers usually favored by record companies so as not to offend the customer”, dissects for AFP Christophe Levaux, researcher in musicology at the University of Rome and author of Rage Against The Machine (Density editions).
The quartet also leaves the frame with its fusion between metal – forged by Tom Morello’s guitar – and scansion rap with Zack de la Rocha on the microphone. A style that will generate many avatars such as the group Limp Bizkit.
The big radios quickly seize the piece Killing In The Name. Especially in Europe, because in the United States censorship falls: the verse “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!” (“Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!”) is repeated sixteen times.
It’s not a teenage rebellion like other bands. RATM’s texts are highly political, calling for respect for civil rights and those of minorities, for example.
Resonance with “Black Lives Matter”
Killing In The Nameinspired by the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, which has gone down in history, is by extension a denunciation of police violence against a backdrop of racism.
“This text dates from 30 years ago, but has a very strong current resonance, it’s not as if the fight had been won since,” notes Christophe Levaux. Viral videos have shown demonstrators from the “Black Lives Matter” movement chanting the words of Killing In The Name in Portland, USA.
While RATM could have fallen into oblivion with two dissolutions since the year 2000, the group has recently reformed and festivals are snapping it up. Even though RATM is currently on hiatus due to an injury to the singer’s Achilles tendon.
“Today, 30 years after its beginnings, the group has become almost central in the representation of the 1990s and has regained recognition, legitimacy, linked to the growth of protest movements”, further analyzes Christophe Levaux.
The musicology researcher also points out that RATM is also today “much more associated with the rap scene” than in its early days when it was ranked in guitar groups. RATM also runs in tandem with the rappers of Run The Jewels.
Precariousness of a forgotten America
You should perhaps see in the band’s regenerated aura the activism of guitarist Tom Morello. During RATM’s last hiatus, he formed the supergroup Prophets Of Rage, with Chuck D, lead singer of legendary rap collective Public Enemy. A formation presented as “anti-Trump” during the latter’s presidency.
Born in Harlem to a Kenyan father and a mother with Irish and Italian roots, Morello grew up in Illinois, studied political science at Harvard and thus invented a guitar game between electric fury and lightning from the turntables of hip hop DJs.
This musician, sometimes sporting a cap adorned with “Madiba” (Nelson Mandela’s clan name), skillfully conveys his messages on his social networks (1.6 million followers on Instagram, almost as many on Twitter), highlighting, for example, the precariousness of a forgotten America.
“In the small town where I grew up in Illinois […] the options for people are: join the army, work at Walmart, sell meth,” he recently developed in the NMEa leading British music media.