Wednesday Morning Bike Riding Tunes

Today’s Wednesday’s morning bike ride tunes features one of my favorite all time bands: Rage Against the Machine. I had the wonderful pleasure to listen to the first five tracks to their first album. I don’t need to tell any of you how amazing they are.

“Bombtrack”- First song off their first record and Rage slams the hell out of you. This was the first time that I recognized (though I’m quite certain it was done way before this) the use of the lead singer singing his own backups. It sounds so huge when you can hear three, four, or more of Zack scream and chanting.

“Killing in the Name Of”- First off, what great use of cowbells. Secondly, when the music cuts out at the end of the verse and Zack forcefully speaks the words, “Killing in the Name Of” I can’t help but get goose bumps. Lastly, how sick is the free time chaos part towards the end. I love the juxtaposition of the music (chaos, no beat, non-repetitive) with the vocals (same intonation, in time, repetitive). Absolutely beautiful.

“Take the Power Back”- Here Morello begins to truly shine. His ability to take metal riffs (quick chord changes) and mix them with Zeppelin like anthems is truly uncanny. Add in the mix of Timmy C’s ability to accent this riffs by following the progressions of the guitar make this songs song so huge. I love the instrumental section before the bridge where the guitar, bass, and drums all follow as certain rhythm while the notes are going up in scale; then Zack screams, “Bring it back the other way” and they do a reverse scale back down. So awesome.

“Settle for Nothing”- After three straight songs of heavy aggression and relatively up-tempo beats, Rage brings it back here with the intro to “Settle…” The driving force of the song here is Timmy C’s ability to take the melodic lead in the verses. The tempo is much slower than the rest of the songs, which sets the mood for the eerily honest lyrics that Zack spits out. I love the end where the tempo unexpectedly jumps to double time for like four bars, and drops back to half time just as unexpectedly. It creates such a huge and powerful ending.

“Bullet in Your Head”- Hear we get to see some of the funkiness that Brad Wilk brings to the table. Its obvious that he is a major study in old school funk and hip-hop artists and it especially comes through on the verses of this song. Morello’s uses of whinnying guitar effects and rhythms throughout the verse completes the hip-hop and DJ effect. The chorus is so effective in that is allows the verses to be that much more funkier. And just when you think that the song may be all hip-hop and funk, they blast the snot out of you at the end. From the fast shot gunning snare hits, to the quick bass line, to the crunch of the guitar tone, to the absolute phenomenal vocal rhythm, this song ends with passion.

Its amazing too, that with these fives songs, the lyrics in each of them are beyond moving. Zack is so smart and inspirational with each word he chooses.

There is something more I’d love to discuss with you guys. Why is Rage still considered such a great band even after all the backlash against rap-core bands? What set them apart (specifically) from other rap-core bands?

Three things immediately come to my mind when processing this question. First, they understood real hip-hop. They were influenced by hip-hop that was honest and made a difference, rather than mainstream crap that other rap-core groups imitated. Artists like Public Enemy, Run DMC, and KRS-One is where the hip-hop influence comes from. Secondly, they all had chops. When comparing Rage to any other rap-core group, my guess would be that all the members of Rage could play circles around any other band. Their musicality comes out in their songs (i.e. instead of play one chord with a thick bass line and heavy sounding drums and rapping [see Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff”] Rage actually played songs with melody, cared about arrangements, and understood music theory). Lastly, and I think most importantly, is the fact that Rage doesn’t have blind aggression; they actually have something to say and care a lot about it. Unlike almost every other rap-core band that ever existed, Rage actually had something worthwhile to be angry about rather than just frat-boy, making up for something your lacking anger (again, see Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff).

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

PS: Have you guys heard the rumors that Rage is getting back together for good? Any info on this?