Rage Against The Machine

Music With A Point?

As a few know due to an issue with my car I have been forced to listen to the radio the past few weeks. Now nothing against our esteemed college station at NESCom, but pop punk and teen angst rock just doesn't do it for me.

Why? The songs are all about them, their problems, their petty lives and they offer no solutions. They are filled with pathetic rhymes and boring riffs. I heard one the other evening that actually used the phrase: "I've cut my wrist, why did it come to this." Why indeed! We live in a time when our country is at war, a critical election is unfolding, our environment is at a breaking point, people can't receive basic medical treatment, and race and class are dividing us in ways we are too uncomfortable to admit, and what does popular music offer us? Not much.

This is why I thank the music gods that Chris Cornell "left" Audioslave last year and Rage Against The Machine is back together and back on tour. Rage Against The Machine, a band formed in 1992, has taken on everyone from oil companies to Wall Street. But now that they are back in action they ask that you to take action as well. On their official site they highlight "Freedom Fighters" and offer ways for their fans to help out in their communities.

Good music does not age. Good music does not need a point. It does not always need a message. Good music inspires something in you. Rage Against the Machine inspires you to think. Hopefully beyond a new album it will inspire people to make music with a point.

Rage Against the Machine - Renegades of Funk

Rage Against The Machine - Sleep Now In The Fire

*Pictures and information from the band's official site: www.ratm.com/

~Seth