right-track

^ The reverse is also true.

Personally I'd rather listen to a song about someone's 'life struggles' (providing they were genuine) as opposed to a Bono style lyrical rant that promotes and panders to their own political agenda.
Unless of course the subject matter drew unselfish support for a worthy cause (for want of a better phrase).

TheBig3

Comments like this make me want to meet you, but I know you can't possibly be as cool as your battle bot avatar, even if you do say the most hysterical **** on MB.

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Moon Pix

If I was working a 12 hour day the last thing Id be thinking about wouyld be politics. Id be more concerned with enjoying the 4 hours before bed time.

Im working an 8 hour day as it is and thats enough to make me value my leisure time enough to not worry about politics.

Id just like to make it clear that Im not 100% against politics in entertainment. I think that Public Enemy in particular were coming from a real place were there were real problems and talked about them very effectively. Im just against spoilt kids moaning about having to work for a living when everybody else has to do it.

Thats exactly what I said. He and they arent seriously opressed. Theyre complaining about nothing because they have nothing to complain about. When Jello Biafra sang "You'll work hard with a gun in your back for a bowl of rice a day" in the song "Holiday In Cambodia" he was taking the p*ss out of people who think like Tom Morello. I personally don't want to hear somebody complaining about having to go to work as if its the same thing as being f*cking coshed by the rozzers just for being black.

Maybe for some people but I think if you read some of the things that Cobain said about homophobia and sexism in society its plain to see that he did have a social conscience, maybe not to the point of worrying about the arms budget and wether buying a McDonald's meal was going to contribute to it but he was certainly concerned about things on an everyday human level.

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There’s a dream that I see, I pray it can be
Look 'cross the land, shake this land - "Maybe Not", C. Marshall

cardboard adolescent

Jello Biafra also sang:

"Im working at my job
Im so happy
More boring by the day
But they pay me
All that time spent going to school
Just to end up following rules"

Moon Pix

Yes but he was only stating a fact. He wasnt comparing it to Death, Pestilence, Famine and War riding in on steeds of fire and hacking down peasants with their mighty scythes.

Rage's over the top moaning is what p*sses me off about them along with their sloganeering approach. As I say, just saying "f*ck you I won't do what you tell me" 30 times doesnt make you Tony Benn.

Thats the sort of sh*t a snotty 7 year old would say to their teacher if they werent allowed to make plasticine models in class like the well behaved children.

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There’s a dream that I see, I pray it can be
Look 'cross the land, shake this land - "Maybe Not", C. Marshall

cardboard adolescent

It's cool though, cuz he's got dreads.

boo boo

RATM have nothing to complain about?

They cover a hell of a lot more issues than having to work for a living, I mean seriously, your logic baffles me, you're pretty much saying that people who aren't holding 3 jobs at a time shouldn't make political commentary.

Thats like a whole new level of stupid.

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http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

sleepy jack

Their lyrics inspire me to grow dreads, put on torn clothing and SLAY SOME POLITICIANZ!

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TheBig3

Exactly. And its violently evident that you're operating with your own agenda since Tom wasn't making a comment on how working sucks, just that its a severely unbalanced system in which a corporate oligarchy gets created.

He wouldn't mind working if people were rightly compensated and I think you can look at a simple issue like inflation increasing (in our country anyway) steadily since the 1970's but the federal minimum wage remaining the same creating a working poor with people working three jobs and still not making the bills.

You're also taking one line out of a RATM song and beating it to death, like the idiot who kept saying the Rolling Stones sold out because they wrote "Miss you." We get the point, and it may at some minor level have a valid point, but those lyrics could be fine in the context of the song. Even if their not, how about:

The sun ablaze as Maria's foot
Touches the surface of sand
On northern land
As human contraband
Some rico from Jalisco
Passed her name to the boss
She stuffed ten to a truck bed
She clutches her cross

No pissing and moaning. Their not pretending to be forced into drug smuggling to get into the country. Its an accurate portrayal of a situation that is all to common and created because of a lack of the free movement of people. its an issue and its a much better set of lyrics than:

I'm so ugly, but that's okay, 'cause so are you...
We've broken our mirrors
Sunday morning is everyday for all I care...
And I'm not scared
Light my candles in a daze...
'Cause I've found god - yeah, yeah, yeah

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Seltzer

Why is this turning into an argument about politics and lyrics? RATM had far more than simply lyrics. They also had a more than capable rhythm section and Tom Morello.

And even if their lyrics can be simple, so what? Do some of you honestly think they would be able to preserve their sound while trying to spout off a 2 page political essay in the space of a song? Leave that to pure rap where the focus is on lyrics. Political lyrics don't have to be complicated.

Fair enough if you don't agree with the politics - but remember they're only lyrics! If you ignore any band which has contentious lyrics (i.e. racist or you simply don't agree with them), you're missing out on a lot.

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