Song Of The Week: 7/18/10

Song: "Snakecharmer"

Artist: Rage Against The Machine

Album: "Evil Empire"

Year: 1996



With the song "Snakecharmer", Rage Against The Machine seem to be asking someone if they will continue chasing the American Dream even if it means sacrificing their ideals in the pursuit of that dream. The message seems to be don't become a slave to corporate greed and the American economy if it means selling your soul to get it. Back in 1996, "Evil Empire" was a big deal. The grunge movement that was so critical to music in the early 90's began to fade a little bit and songs of internal strife and darkness quickly turned to songs of aggression with focus on political and social issues. Rage Against The Machine was at the forefront of this shift in style. Their fusion of aggressive metal and political hip hop definitely sparked a trend that would flood the music market thoughout the rest of the 90's and early 2000's. Frontman Zack de la Rocha reminded me of Public Enemy's Chuck D. with the content of his lyrics and Tom Morello would prove to be one of the most innovative guitarists to come out in a long time. In 2000, R.A.T.M. would go on a hiatus which would last about 7 years. While de la Rocha kept somewhat of a low profile during this time, Tom Morello and the rest of the band would hook up with Chris Cornell to form supergroup Audioslave. Eventually, Cornell would opt to go solo again and in 2007, Rage would reform to perform live at select festivals. Currently, Rage continues to play some live dates but the band has not committed to return to the studio to record any new material. Morello has said his main focus is his solo project The Nightwatchman but he did not rule out creating new Rage material in the future.