Paul Ryan says that Rage Against the Machine is one of his favorite bands. It’s one of mine too. Tom Morello, the brilliant guitarist for the band, wrote an op-ed in Rolling Stone that pretty much eviscerates Ryan for being exactly what the band opposes:
Paul Ryan’s love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades. Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn’t understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn’t understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.
Ryan claims that he likes Rage’s sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don’t care for Paul Ryan’s sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage…
Don’t mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta “rage” in him: A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he’s not raging against is the privileged elite he’s groveling in front of for campaign contributions.
I understand liking the music without agreeing with the lyrics. I don’t agree with Morello’s socialism either (I favor regulated capitalism), though at least he recognizes both the causes and effects of massive inequality that Ryan only wants to make worse. But he’s got Ryan pretty well nailed here.
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jamessweet
August 21, 2012 at 12:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yeah, normally I’m of the mindset that I don’t really care too much whether an artist’s politics align with mine or whatever, but this is just kinda a bridge too far. RATM’s music is explicitly political, and it’s the polar opposite of everything Ryan stands for. That’s just too funny.
DaveL
August 21, 2012 at 12:08 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That’s hilarious. I never knew Ryan was a fan of Rage Against The Machine.
Damn it, now I’ve got a mental image stuck in my head of Dick Cheney singing the chorus to “Peace Train”.
Aliasalpha
August 21, 2012 at 12:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wonder if he changes the lyrics when he sings along
“Fuck you, you’re gonna do what I tell ya”
coragyps
August 21, 2012 at 12:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Damn, DaveL!! I wish you’d kept your image to yourself!
Abby Normal
August 21, 2012 at 12:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I think we need an asterisk here to note that RATM is only a favorite until such time as a Bishop condemns them. At that point they will be and terrible influence and reports he ever liked them are part of an urban legend spread by left-wing activists to discredit him.
loreo
August 21, 2012 at 12:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I wonder if Ryan applauds when he hears lines like:
“You know they went after King/When he spoke out on Vietnam/He turned the power to the have-nots, And then came the shot!”
You know, just blithely congratulating the shooter, no idea whatsoever that there’s any irony present.
joeina2
August 21, 2012 at 12:28 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I also feel like Morello is a more results oriented guy. He supports socialism but if you showed him a clear plan to improve the lives of workers and reduce environmental impacts, he’d be all for it. He wouldn’t oppose it because it wasn’t socialist enough.
Michael Heath
August 21, 2012 at 12:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What’s best about this article is the beauty of Morello’s argument; it’s extremely well-crafted. He certainly broke some skin.
Aliasalpha writes:
That needs to become the memorable meme for this narrative. Bravo!
Modusoperandi
August 21, 2012 at 12:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The Bible’s also one of his favorite books, but he ignores the lyrics there, too.
Doug Little
August 21, 2012 at 1:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Shouldn’t the lyrics for most Rage songs make the man physically ill? That’s some serious compartmentalization right there.
I’m sure that he would fit right in at a Rage concert, I wonder if he would be brave enough to have a go in the moshpit. I would like to be there when that happened, he would really feel some rage then.
snafu
August 21, 2012 at 1:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I have always been bothered by people who listen to music and ignore the lyrics. You don’t have to agree or like the lyrics, but you should at least pay attention.
Off topic, but tangentially related to ‘ignoring lyrics’…
Did anyone else find it odd that during the Olympics when an American won a gold they played Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’?
d cwilson
August 21, 2012 at 2:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Not as odd as the fact that NJ state legislature once considered making “Born to Run” the state anthem.
Area Man
August 21, 2012 at 2:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I think it’s time that Republicans finally realized that most musicians and other creative types don’t like them very much, and that when they make ill-considered attempts at appearing hip and culturally aware by name-dropping popular musical acts, they’re just setting themselves up for embarrassment. Just give it up already.
I’m only trying to help.
imrryr
August 21, 2012 at 3:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh, uh, did I say Rage Against the Machine? I meant Hank Williams Junior. I always get those two confused.
Doug Little
August 21, 2012 at 3:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
To back up Area Man @13
Silversun Pickups object to Romney’s use of song
Reginald Selkirk
August 21, 2012 at 4:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hank Williams Jr is trying to compete with Dave Mustaine and Ted Nugent, but he just isn’t very creative. All he can manage is the same “Obama is a secret Muslim who hates America” BS that’s been floating around for years.
frog
August 21, 2012 at 4:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I can’t understand the lyrics to any RATM songs. Fortunately, I’m not running for office while talking out my ass.
Doug Little, I think Ryan might do alright in a mosh pit. The dude works out a lot. Too bad he doesn’t exercise his brain as much as his biceps.
bmiller
August 21, 2012 at 4:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Area Man: There is always STRYPER.
Or William Tappley, Third Eagle of the Apocalypse and Co- Prophet of the End Times. Now that’s some GOP-Proud lyricism!
Doug Little
August 21, 2012 at 4:49 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A lot of the time it comes down to how committed you are to the mosh and how well you can use your body weight against your opponents, I’ve seen seasoned moshers that are not at all in shape absolutely destroy people with more athletic builds. Of course you do get some massively muscled guys that mosh like their very life depended on it. I can’t quite see Ryan having the aggressiveness and pent up anger required to mosh effectively even though he is apparently in shape.
Michael Heath
August 21, 2012 at 5:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Doug Little writes:
I hardly ever consider the lyrics of any songs with the exception of a handful of artists. I’m a RATM fan as well where I only occasionally consider their message.
My first [shallow] study of lyrics in rock music was Black Sabbath in the early-70s when I was around 12. I was very disappointed how pro-Christian their lyrics actually were, the opposite of what I was led to believe.
Doug Little
August 21, 2012 at 7:28 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yeah I guess that’s fair, it’s the same for me to, but I would consider a very important part of Rage’s music is their message so for me at lest their lyrics are important.
A lot of death metal I listen to I don’t specifically listen for the lyrics, not that you can understand them anyway.
Freeman
August 21, 2012 at 9:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I think Ryan might do alright in a mosh pit. The dude works out
As Doug Little points out, experience matters.
I went to a local metal band show at a VFW one time, back in the day. Apparently they hadn’t told the regulars about the event before-hand, and they were quite astonished to see a large crowd of long-haired metal-heads invade their bar. One particular big ole boy probably around 350 lbs and drunk on Budweiser was giving everyone a hard time, trying to pick fights as we downed a beer waiting for the band to start.
Once the band started, all the head-bangers went upstairs where the stage was. About half-hour later Big Ole Boy shows up. I seriously doubt he had ever seen a mosh pit before. He looked a little puzzled at first, then beamed a big grin and jumped in, body-slamming kids a fraction of his size, sending them flying across the floor. He seemed to be targeting the smaller moshers. Seeing that, the two friends I came there with and I gave each other a knowing look (with a similar grin), and went at him, hitting him simultaneously and taking him down hard. We then offered him big grins and a hand up. After that he went back downstairs to the bar.
During the break we went down to the bar for another beer and whaddayaknow — Big Ole Boy was everyone’s best friend!
iangould
August 22, 2012 at 2:57 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“I also feel like Morello is a more results oriented guy. He supports socialism but if you showed him a clear plan to improve the lives of workers and reduce environmental impacts, he’d be all for it. He wouldn’t oppose it because it wasn’t socialist enough.”
Eduard Bernstein the founder of social democracy had a great line – which naturally I can’t find at the moment- to the effect that “Socialism consists of supporting those measures which improve the living conditions and political power of the working class”.
dingojack
August 22, 2012 at 4:05 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Doug Little (#15) – The Rmoney/Ryan campaign stealing the money out of other people’s pockets, how surprising (not).
Seems this Intellectual Property theft problem is more common on the Right (those bastions of laws to protect companies) than those ‘radical lefties’ (who allegedly ‘hate companies’ and seek to get rid of such laws)*.
Dingo
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* To be fair, as noted the Obama campaign in 2008 was asked to stop using ‘Soul Man’ (and they did).
democommie
August 22, 2012 at 7:50 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thrash has lyrics?
Hey, I been missin’ out an opportunity to exploit a whole new genre of song stylin. With apologies to Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, Ol’ democommie’s gonna have to saddle up the cayuse, mosey on down to Nashville’s rive gulch, strap on the gitfiddle and become the “Father” of Commie Western Music.
I can’t (or maybe I just don’t want to) imagine bein’ the poor Karaoke jock down in Tampa who has to run a night of drunk rethuglicanz singin’ “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Dixie” and “God Bless the U.S.A.”.
dingojack
August 22, 2012 at 8:14 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Demo – ever consider a career as the founding member and lead singer of a C&W/Thrash fusion band? Any ideas for a name?*
:) Dingo
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* How ’bout “Dingo Usurped My Baby” (‘DUMB’ for short)
democommie
August 22, 2012 at 10:26 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
dingojack:
I must think on that. When I have formulated a plan of action I will announce it here and elaborate on it at my own blog.