Tom Morello Wants So-Called Rage Against the Machine Fans to Wake Up to Their Politics

While it certainly seems like they won't be playing live again, RATM's legacy remains what it is. However, given the politically charged everything (happy election day to our US friends), guitarist Tom Morello is still finding himself frustrated by how many so-called fans of the band seem to misconstrue the progressive politics they've always stood for.

Taking to Twitter/X on Sunday (November 3), Morello wrote, "Never ceases to amaze me how many folks who've heard RATM are in Paul Ryan mode, having literally ZERO understanding of anything that band was about and even less understanding where any of us might stand on contemporary issues."

It's worth noting that, yeah, it's maybe a bad sign that he referred to the band in the past tense — but, as the story he goes on to tell about a recent restaurant encounter revealed, he had some of RATM's best-known older material at front of mind.

"Recently was talking to a couple at a restaurant who were big fans of 'Killing in the Name,'" the guitarist explained. "The nice lady said, 'I love that song. It helped me rage against my parents and later against the jab!'"

With Tom Morello being Tom Morello, he obviously took the opportunity to set this woman straight. "I said, 'Ma'am that song is about racist cops who often behave like the Ku Klux Klan in service of historical white supremacy and are boot licking lackeys and thugs of the racist capitalist ruling class,'" he recalled. "She sat there chewing and blinking, chewing and blinking."

This is far from the first time the outspoken Morello, a champion of causes ranging from Macklemore's pro-Palestinian anthem to unionizing strip clubs, has said something like this. As NME's Anagricel Duran pointed out, he tweeted something similar in 2022, writing, "People who are offended by my politics on Twitter or Instagram, please know it's because you weren't intelligent enough to know what the music that you were listening to all these years was about. For the music, you're welcome, but if you're a white supremacist or a proto-fascist, that music isn't written for you — it's written against you."

The guitarist was named this year's recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, recognizing his "outstanding contributions to music and activism." In 2023, Morello addressed rumours about COVID-19 vaccination policies being in place at the band's reunion tour shows, for which tickets were sold at a time when many states and provinces — and thus, venues — had vaccine requirements.