I saw Rage Against the Machine in concert at a packed Capitol One arena in Washington, DC, in 2022. Lead singer Zack de la Rocha performed the show in a wheelchair, because he’d shattered his ankle on stage during their last stop. He was incredible, hitting every note from the seated position. Tom Morello was inventing new sounds on his guitar, and on a dark stage under a spotlight, bassist Tim Commerford had a mind-boggling solo.
There was also a middle-aged muscle-head with a red MAGA hat sitting two rows in front of us. I was transfixed. He would jump up and down shouting along with lyrics like, “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!” But when 20,000 people chanted, “Some of those that work forces / are the same that burn crosses,” he got sullen and searched for people to fight. Meanwhile, the woman he was with took out her phone, apparently trying to capture a viral video of him being MAGA-tough. I wondered if he wanted to knock one of us out for the camera like the black-bloc kid did a few years earlier to the neo-Nazi Richard Spencer.
I could see how livid MAGA-man was when Zack shouted out the names, accompanied by a slideshow photo tribute, of the Black people who had been killed by the local police over the last year. This was something Rage had been doing in every city where they had played a show. Then this ball of aggro stuffed into a too-tight T-shirt got really mad when the band took a short medical intermission, so Zack could attend to his leg. (I’m still not sure how Zack managed this show.) During the break, Rage showed a slow-motion film of a police van burning while some young Black kids just slowly rode their bikes around it.
In his own kind of rage, the MAGA guy kept looking for people to fight, but we either ignored him or shouted lyrics in his direction and pointed. This made him angrier, and his face soon matched his stupid red hat.
They… are not punk.
But that excerpt is hilarious… die mad, asshole!
Maybe that depends on one’s perspective?
Is Rage Against the Machine a punk band? Ask bass player Tim Commerford that question, and he’ll tell you the rap-rockers totally fit the punk band criteria.
“When I see people talk about the history: What are the 10 best punk bands of all time? I never see Rage on that list…” Commerford told “Rolling Stone,” adding that he thinks they should be a part of that list. “Because Rage is a punk band. We were a punk band and our ethics were punk.”
“We didn’t do anything that anyone wanted us to do,” the bass player added. “We only did what we wanted to do and that is the essence of punk rock.”
To me Rage is foremost a rock band, but looking at the subject matters they make music about in that sense they are punk as hell.
Noice! I’ve just ordered the last one at Amazon. 
I was talking about MAGA dipshits, not Rage… technically, an argument can be made that Rage isn’t a punk band because of genre conventions, sure, but I don’t think that’s the best definition of punk… there is also the argument that they’re on a major subsidary (epic), so that’s a problem there too… but the whole purity test BS has never been helpful in understand what is or isn’t punk.
MM is a great disc. 
Enjoy!
Currently re-listening to The Strokes discography. Its one of those bands that i really liked but after a certain point in time i stopped actively listening to them, no reason i just moved onto other bands and never came back. But boy i really love their first two albums, looking forward to seeing how their newer stuff sounds like.
it’s cool going back and revisiting music we listened to at a time, but may have moved on to newer sounds. it can remind us of why we were enthralled in the first place, or be taken aback, as if we wonder, “what was the attraction?”.
similarly, i’ve been replaying Thievery Corporation while working in the shop. Marching the Hate Machine into the Sun and Richest Man in Babylon, seem to really punch a little harder in this time, while also the vibe and beat are conducive to my work flow.
i am reminded now of why i listened in the first place.
I stumbled onto this newer artist (for me at least) somewhat recently, she doesn’t have a lot of music out and most of her songs sound just ok to me although this one song has been stuck in my head. Part of it is the quality of her voice in this performance. It comes across a little bit deeper and androgynous sounding than in some of her other songs. The other thing that has made this into an earworm for me is that she strangely mispronounces “Inconveniences” and it boggles my mind so much i can’t stop listening to it 
Was driving around town to meet a customer, on my way there i put on my Pandora station. Almost all the time it plays me music i’ve rated but every now and then it’ll surprise me with new stuff. Here’s some fun ones i enjoyed, i wasn’t familiar with either artist
Natalia Lafourcade has really piqued my interest, it really scratches an itch i didn’t know i needed scratched. Love the old Latin music vibe, I will need to check out more of her stuff
I also enjoyed the all too brief exchange between Mr Morello and a pointlessly angry conservative “fan.” The “fan” said summat along the lines of, “I loved your stuff, but now I find out you’re just another librul who doesn’t know what he’s talking about! I mean, its not like you have a political science degree!”
Morello replied, “I actually do have a PoliSci degree.”
First hip hop/rap musician I’ve ever really liked.
“So what kind of music do you listen to?”
“All of it, at once.”
Dolly Parton with Ludacris. I never thought I’d see the day.
ETA: Kate Bush with System of a Down?
No with Big Boi…
They actually have done a song together, but it’s not out yet… 
Ah, it’s been a while since I heard a great mash up like this. Thank you for sharing.
The ultimate for me still remains Girl Talk and these two albums though (warning: lots of NSFW rap lyrics in both):
Obscure Indie American bands.
