Rage's first album was one of the all time great debut albums ever. They truly charted new musical ground.
My gripe with them, and why I'd NEVER buy another thing from those whiney little bitches is this. They do nothing but rip on the U.S. or the "Evil Empire" is they call it. They seem to think this is THE land of injustice. They write song after song after song about how the U.S. is the most evil nation on the planet.
At the same time profiting like mad under our system, by selling albums right and left. Wouldn't that be considered blood money to such "heros" of the downtrodden? Well I guess they can make an exception when their own profits are on the line. Yeah, the U.S. is SO evil.......BUT we'll look the other way when it comes time to profit under the American system.
In addition to that, you'ld think Rage, if they get upset at the American system, would CLEARLY see other systems around the world that are MUCH worse, and sing about them. No, they really don't. Why bother pointing the finger at say, Rwanda for genocide that occured within the last couple of years, when you can STILL bitch about our slave owning past 200 years ago?
If they're SO concerned about injustice, my I suggest a list of subjects for Rage to write about in the future. A list that's FAR more important than 90% of their lyrics to date.
Rwanda(and continued mass murder ALL over the African continent), Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Hitler, Yugoslavian war crimes, the murder and rape rate in Columbia and South Africa, human rights abuses in China, Indonesia and North Korea, Joseph Stalin & his 10,000,000 "purged citizens"......on and on and on.
No, it's just more profitable to whine about the U.S., despite that glaring and much more noteworthy examples of suffering and injustice all over the rest of the planet. Plus, if they were actually to write about some of these other nations, it wouldn't be politically correct since many of them are inhabited by blacks, latinos and that wouldn't be right to criticize them, the downtrodden. Give me a break. Hey Rage, can you say "hypocracy"?
If you want to listen to music the is entirely devoted to pointing out exactly how corrupt, racist and evil America is, while turning a blind eye to REAL examples of the same thing currently happening ALL over the rest of the world, Rage is for you.
If you actually think for yourself, pay attention to current international affairs, have a basic background in history, I think you'll find Rage Against The Machine to be unlistenable.
With Rage, it's like standing on the edge of an already roaring forest fire, that's consuming everything in it's path and listening to someone repeatedly bitch and whine to you about the fire hazard your lit cigarette poses. Rage's short-sightedness and tunnel vision FULLY discredits them.
Rage SUCKS.