Hell has indeed frozen over. The hairs on my body stand erect in fear.
Rage Against the Machine just announced a handful of shows in March and April 2020. No, this is a big deal. I need to convince you its a big deal.
Rewind, back to 2004.
Second year of engineering. I had neither phone nor computer that I could call my own. Youtube did not exist as it does today. Internet connection was not a given. What the fuck even was 4G LTE?
Its hot, sweltering. Sitting in a friends apartment, I have hijacked his desktop. I was looking for porn to be honest. And I did find a folder "Videos". I see a bunch of blurry thumbnails. And my horny fingers click on this one.
Woodstock 99. Rage Against The Machine. Bulls on Parade.
Blurry as fuck. I see an immense crowd, a blow up doll (nice) and a mass of sweat and bodies.
And then the riff hits me.
Its very difficult to explain this - there are moments in your life that change you fundamentally. Tom Morello, that marxist magician of a guitar player, conjured this combination of notes and played them with such ferocity, he made them sound erotic. Very very erotic. An instant injection of testosterone. Everything went hot. I had to move. A lot. Maniacally.
"... Rally round the family, with a pocket full of shells....."
9 years in the US have made amply clear what those lyrics mean. What greed and inequality and racism is, has become clearer. From near and afar. What RATM is and means, is made amply clear.
And yet, that riff retains it vitriolic, mercurial, erotic appeal. It changed me that day. And it changes me still.
All of music is that perfect time when that perfect set of notes hits you. Like a haze being lifted from in front of your eyes, things gain piercing clarity. The rest as they say, is nostalgia.
Freedom.
Rage Against the Machine just announced a handful of shows in March and April 2020. No, this is a big deal. I need to convince you its a big deal.
Rewind, back to 2004.
Second year of engineering. I had neither phone nor computer that I could call my own. Youtube did not exist as it does today. Internet connection was not a given. What the fuck even was 4G LTE?
Its hot, sweltering. Sitting in a friends apartment, I have hijacked his desktop. I was looking for porn to be honest. And I did find a folder "Videos". I see a bunch of blurry thumbnails. And my horny fingers click on this one.
Woodstock 99. Rage Against The Machine. Bulls on Parade.
Blurry as fuck. I see an immense crowd, a blow up doll (nice) and a mass of sweat and bodies.
And then the riff hits me.
Its very difficult to explain this - there are moments in your life that change you fundamentally. Tom Morello, that marxist magician of a guitar player, conjured this combination of notes and played them with such ferocity, he made them sound erotic. Very very erotic. An instant injection of testosterone. Everything went hot. I had to move. A lot. Maniacally.
"... Rally round the family, with a pocket full of shells....."
9 years in the US have made amply clear what those lyrics mean. What greed and inequality and racism is, has become clearer. From near and afar. What RATM is and means, is made amply clear.
And yet, that riff retains it vitriolic, mercurial, erotic appeal. It changed me that day. And it changes me still.
All of music is that perfect time when that perfect set of notes hits you. Like a haze being lifted from in front of your eyes, things gain piercing clarity. The rest as they say, is nostalgia.
Freedom.
