Rage Against the Machine

IMO one of the best bands ever, and my personal favorite (hence the avatar )

Not only for their musical talent, but they had a great message. Anyone else here a fan? Heard their music at all? If you haven't, read some of the lyrics here

Really a shame that they had to break up . Audioslave is still good but will never be like rage was (Audioslave is the remaining members of Rage + Chris Cornell from soundgarden)

Indeed. Rage Against the Machine is one of my all time favorite bands. Tom Morello is my favorite guitarist, he's just so unique and experimental in his technique. I like Audioslave alot, just not quite up to Rage's level.

I liked Rage just cant stan Zack he annoys the hell out of me.

See now Soundgarden were a far superior band, especialy Black hole sun, fouth of July, Smells Like Suicide.

Did you know that in a Audioslave song Cris talks about Zack:
Cochesse
'Im not a myrter, Im not a profet,
And i won't preach to you, but here's a caution' - Criss Cornell, he admitted that this was directed to zack on MTV and also stated that RATM never broke up, Zack was sacked by the other members.

Pitty...Zack was the only think I liked about the band. I'ma hiphop fan...the music was okay but I really loved the lyrics and that all came from Zack...without him the other's are just same ole same ole rock...I wanna cry about something and show my angst in a vauge none explosive way. I miss that in ya face style Zack came with. Truly sad they couldn't settle their differences.

picklewalsh, did you ever get to meet Zack to form your opinion?

I've met him, [Pre-RATM break up] and actually think he was one of the better people that I have met, over the years. He has a clue about what he is saying and one of very few people who can keep up in a debate with some of the greatest minds there are - which is evidence in his interview with Noam Chomsky and his written work.

As for what Criss Cornell says, I would take it as a lie. RATM released a statement with Zack saying he was leaving and the rest of the band, through interviews all said the same thing. Also for the fact Zack was the driving force and it was sucide to remove him. Audioslave are the "Pop-Political" side of RATM. They have no basis and the lyrics are tripe compaired to the earlier RATM work. The fact Audioslave's record company paid to keep them high in the charts, is a reflection of this. [Work in a large music chain so get to see this info.]

As for Zack? He seems to be doing fantastically, the work he has done with DJ Shadow, Reprazent and so on and so fourth is some of the best of his career and getting it across to a whole new audiance.

Agreed Odium, good post. Thats awesome that you got to meet him.

Also one of the events that spurred the break up was when the guitar player climbed on the one tall structure on the set of the MTV music awards. Zack said it was an embarassment.

That was Tim that climbed that thing, the bass player. He is/was a bit of a violent live-wire according to what I have read. Zack has a mind that is seldom rivaled by scholars, let alone rock stars. I hated to see the breakup, but I do like the new direction they are all taking.
I think Zack would be better suited in a rock band, but, I guess he is definately capable of hip-hop. I just hope he doesnt sacrifice too much of the emotion.
Also, a lot of the political awareness came from Tom. He went to Harvard. That makes him a bit overqualified as a rock guitarist. RATM should be an inspiration to all bands that want to spread a message, rather than bs. They werent a bunch of angst-ridden teenagers bitching about mom and dad grounding them. They played a huge part in my independent reading during high school. They have, and continue to, open eyes to injustice that is otherwise censored from school curriculum.

Long Live RATM!!!

Originally posted by DaFunk13
That was Tim that climbed that thing, the bass player. He is/was a bit of a violent live-wire according to what I have read. Zack has a mind that is seldom rivaled by scholars, let alone rock stars. I hated to see the breakup, but I do like the new direction they are all taking.
I think Zack would be better suited in a rock band, but, I guess he is definately capable of hip-hop. I just hope he doesnt sacrifice too much of the emotion.
Also, a lot of the political awareness came from Tom. He went to Harvard. That makes him a bit overqualified as a rock guitarist. RATM should be an inspiration to all bands that want to spread a message, rather than bs. They werent a bunch of angst-ridden teenagers bitching about mom and dad grounding them. They played a huge part in my independent reading during high school. They have, and continue to, open eyes to injustice that is otherwise censored from school curriculum.

Long Live RATM!!!

do you know if zack has been working on any new stuff?

I know that he has, but I havent heard any. Its been disapointing. I consider myself "in the know" of underground hip-hop and I have yet to hear much other than whispers about him. There is some, but I doubt much.

I hope he is taking a break to spend some money. He has spent his entire career opening eyes and motivating various causes. They guy probably just needs a break.

Originally posted by DaFunk13
I know that he has, but I havent heard any. Its been disapointing. I consider myself "in the know" of underground hip-hop and I have yet to hear much other than whispers about him. There is some, but I doubt much.

I hope he is taking a break to spend some money. He has spent his entire career opening eyes and motivating various causes. They guy probably just needs a break.

yea this is true... I heard a few rough tracks from him but nothin big. I used to listen to him when he was with "inside out"

You are into underground? Do you listen to papoose? He is probably my favorite out right now.

Yeah, you ever hear the alphabet spit Papoose does?
friggin great

Check out:
Jedi Mind Tricks
Immortal Technique
Non Phixion
Atmosphere
Brother Ali
P.O.S.
and if you are interested I can swing you some local Midwest Underground

Just heard a track from Blackalicious feat Zach and a couple other kats I never heard of. Its called Release. Zack spits a long poem right in the middle. Its more of a poetry reading than a hip-hop flow. Its still brilliant as far as lyricism.

Chek it out

Originally posted by DaFunk13
Just heard a track from Blackalicious feat Zach and a couple other kats I never heard of. Its called Release. Zack spits a long poem right in the middle. Its more of a poetry reading than a hip-hop flow. Its still brilliant as far as lyricism.

Chek it out

nice thanks.. ill have to check it out when i get home

Never liked them, unnecessary offensive and bland. And I am not into politics. Who listen to music about politics, thats just silly.

Well, I sincerely doubt that Rage is bland. Since it has something to say, it's automatically put in as bland. Strange that.
Anyway, folk say that Nirvana were the definative band of the 90's. I say that Rage was, because of the folk that were encouraged to pick up guitars. Nirvana was good, but after Kurt commited suicide (or got murdered) that was and still is the end of grunge.
Rage created rap/metal. Some of it good, most of it bad.
Rage was and still is important.

Rage Against The Machine, who listens to them, they really really suck....oh wait no, the other thing, they rock...yea thats it.

Heh heh, nah seriously. RATM are the very first band of "Real" musicians that I ever listed too. IMO they are the single best band of the 90's. It is a true shame that they broke up.
Audioslave are good, I like them but because they are different not because of RATM.
I have some of his other stuff that he did, the track he did with DJ Shadow (that's a kickn track), the poem he did for Blackalicious (also a great band), the song that is on the "Songs That Inspired Fahrenheit 911" album, We Want It All. And recently I got my hands on a unreleased track of RATM Feat Tool (Or at least Maynard). It's shotty quality but it is an interesting track, it would have been be nice to see some further colaboration between the two great groups.

I am also into some underground stuff. Such as:

Atmosphere
Mr Lif
Akrobatic
Blackalicious
Aesop Rock

Rage has turned into a bunch of fear mongers with their release of "Things you should be afraid of"(paraphrased title). They lost my respect when they released that pile of bilge water.

[edit on 2-2-2006 by sardion2000]

I haven't listened to RATM for a while....I'll have to put on Evil Empire and find out wether or not I still like them as much as I did. But they were definately one of the best bands of the 90's, wether they started a dismal trend for "Nu-Rap-Metal" baloney or not. The first album will always be a classic.

As for Audioslave....what I found with both of their albums was they had quite a few good tracks, and it all sounded decent....but it got boring fast. I enjoyed hearing them the first 5 or 6 times, and then they just got tiring quikly, unlike the old Rage albums.

Sard, what album/track are you talking about? I consider myself a pretty big rage fan and I havent heard it.

The tool/RATM colab is an oldie. They are old friends. Remember Know Your Enemy from the first album? Thats Maynard on the backup vox.

Audioslave is great RocknRoll. As crappy as rock music has gotten, Audioslave is one of the few bands that still rocks without sounding like they belong played in the background of the Real World. They also try really really hard to not sound like Rage-meets-Soundgarden. With the tremendous tallent both those bands exhibited, sounding new is a skill in its own right.

I'm a big Rage fan as well, and I've also no idea of that track sardion2000 mentions. My favourite Rage tune? Darkness, which is of the Crow soundtrack.