It’s been at least fifteen years, right? You know what I’m talking about?
Fifteen years since Rage Against the Machine first became a household name. And in the time since, I haven’t really heard anyone who writes biting social commentary the way Zach de La Rocha did.
Ok, so Rage (and Zach) kind of disappeared during the time when their opinion seemed most desired (the Bush years, parts two and three). But Still, this guy’s lyrics are part of the musical lexicon.
This is where it crosses over: I used to use that music to straight HATE on shit. Now older, I see that people’s lifestyles are not hateworthy. If someone has a nice apartment / house, a pretty wife and a good job, that doesn’t mean that the person sold out, or has compromised some universal tenet of humanity. It just doesn’t. I don’t know what it DOES mean, but I know it doesn’t act as ammunition for a blind social rage.
This also ties into my migration through the ages – away from the material to the experiential. Maybe this is the result of age, or my physiology, but as I get older, I give a shit about material things. But all those things that I expressed some rage at when I was younger – maybe they just weren’t for me. Maybe I was always born and wired to be into experiences instead of possessions. So when Zach says something like “Chained to the dream you’re searching for”, I see that as a deep comment. Because for years, I was chained to that bullshit dream (see? still kinda angry) when it just wasn’t made for me. And that’s further proof that those people that are into that type of thing don’t deserve to be raged at. Maybe that lifestyle is made for them. See ya.
