I knew it was coming, the band couldn’t let this unnoticed! Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello has responded to Paul Ryan’s declaration of love for his band’s music, in an editorial published by Rolling Stone.
It was half-bizarre half-amusing that Mitt Romney’s running mate, the guy who wants to cut welfare and healthcare, would pick this band out of tons of others as his favorite, and Morello makes excellent points, declaring:
‘Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades. Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.’
It is so true, a disturbing person liking some music should not be reflected on the band’s ethics, just like the fact that Hitler was vegetarian and liked animals like me doesn’t make me a nazi!
Morello continues:
‘I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is? Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of "Fuck the Police"? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production? So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings!’
I thought it was clear, Ryan doesn’t listen to the lyrics! … but I am with Morello on that one, how can you not be listening to the lyrics when they are screamed in your face that way?
‘Don't mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta "rage" in him: A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he's not raging against is the privileged elite he's groveling in front of for campaign contributions, ‘ wrote Morello.
And this is where it can become tricky as the powerful sound of RATM, once you erase the lyrics, can basically embody any rage, I bet Ryan is rewriting his own lyrics taken from an Ayn Rand’s novel on the treadmill.
I would not blame Morello to feel totally embarrassed by Ryan citing his band as a favorite, it sounds like a total failure regarding the message delivered over and over by RATM. But bands will always have undesirable fans, that’s unavoidable. Two years ago, Johnny Marr and Morrissey told they were forbidding David Cameron to like the Smiths because the prime minister was a fanatic hunter! That was kind of ridiculous, and Morello didn’t go there, as obviously people will always listen to whatever music they want, regardless of the band's philosophy.