Getting Angsty With Rage Against The Machine

Tonight I am very fucking angry, for a number of reasons will be extrapolated upon further as this post develops. But the one thing I realised driving home and listening to my Acoustic Love CD, is that sometimes you really need a tune that acts as the perfect outlet to vent your frustration at society. I’m not talking about being emo, and I’m not talking about being a goth. I’m just referring to the pure, unadulterated hate that flows through every person’s veins on average once a year. If you’re lucky, you can be a Seidler, in which case you want to kill someone pretty much every day. But today is a special day, because I would need more handguns than Australia possesses to take out everyone who’s giving me the shits. And when you get in that state of mind, there’s three things you can do: take drugs, smoke a lot of cigarettes, write in a journal which will implicate you further down the track as a homicidal maniac OR (ok, that’s four) rock out to Rage Against The Machine.

Simply put, Zach De La Rocha, frontman/recluse/psycho/activist of Rage is officially the angriest man on the planet. He hates America, he hates capitalism, he hates corporate greed, he hates fascism, he hates racism, he hates self-indulgent wankers and most importantly, he abhors the law. De La Rocha and his band of merry, somewhat Hispanic men, caused some serious trouble in the early 90s. They played shows in Mexico that turned into riots, they staged a protest outside a government conference and they got put on the FBi watch list numerous times. Killing In The Name , easily their most popular track and a hot contender for angry song of the decade, galvanised millions of disaffected youths with the cry FUCK YOU I WON’T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME.

The more I think about it, the more I realise that Zach was right. The law, no, the government, really is a load of fucking bullshit. Like when they up rates on parking meters, and then fine me for parking outside my own house. When they preach awesomeness and then steer us right down the oesophagus of a giant motherfucking recession, which means that D and I can’t find a job. I’m sorry I don’t have barista skills. I’m kind of doing a really difficult, intense course at University. But I guess that counts for shit when dollars turn into cents. What makes it worse is when your own family starts heaping crap on you, like you’re not looking for a job and you’re a lazy parasite. I know lots of lazy parasites. they live in expensive suburbs and will never earn a dollar as long as they live. Please spare me.

This song, however, is about enemies. Zach’s got a few hundred, and I’m starting to accept that I’m pretty much up there too. For some reason, I can’t keep my mouth shut (or couldn’t), and people don’t like to hear the truth. And when people piggyback on ideas which are not theirs, you’re damn right I’m going to call you out for it. In my world, scratching someone’s back because you’re related, censoring people’s work because you’re worried about how it will be viewed and acting like an awkward retard in social situations will get you a verbal beatdown. Because I didn’t work this hard, and come this far, to be brought down by assholes like you. “Ignorance, hypocrisy, the elite,” screams De La Rocha as he lists the character traits of his selfish nemeses. I like making friends, but God help you if you’re the next idiot to screw with me.

You Have Been Warned.

Rage Against The Machine – ‘Know Your Enemy’