[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL "The Videography of Rage Against The Machine"
04.13.11
BY MIKEY MIGO
Being a teenager during the years Rage Against the Machine were active was a pleasure and a blessing. I think back and shudder at the thought of going more towards the Limp Bizkit route than the Rage route. Thankfully I could shake the Limp Bizkit trend, but I did all I could to latch on to the Rage train. The rebellion, the protest, the strong voice, the insane guitar, the melodies of anger, and just the whole thing was amazing. Needlessly to say, I’m a fan of Rage Against The Machine. They were a staple of my teenage years and are pretty much one of the few bands out there that I really never get tired of.
One aspect I never put much thought into was their music videos. I remember them, but I never really sat back and judged their music videography on a whole. That’s what we’re doing today….
”Killing In The Name”
Album: ”Rage Against The Machine“
Director: Peter Gideon
Year: 1992
This is still probably their best track. It’s the first official single and despite the dozens of tracks that helped shape my youth, I always go back to this one. That riff, the attitude, the breakdown that just completely erupts. It’s the band at its grittiest of roots. In the early 90’s this was considered groundbreaking. Well, it’s close to TWENTY YEARS later and no one has touched this. Yeah, this song is amazing. The video is a live performance shoot. The story goes that the video was shot by a guitar student of Tom Morello. I’m a big fan of the chaotic energy that’s captured here. The production isn’t top notch, but it’s a great glimpse at the first steps of Rage becoming the band they’d become. Rating: 7.0
”Bullet in the Head”
Album: ”Rage Against The Machine“
Director: BBC
Year: 1993
This is an actual live performance. The band basically showed up at a BBC studio in New York, performed the song once and left for their gig that night. It’s nothing too special, but I do appreciate the production. It’s how I think most of us would have imagined their band practice going. Zack delivers his vocals to the camera like a rapper. In “Killing In The Name” we got to hear and see Tom do his guitar magic, but here we get to see more behind the curtain and watch his do his stuff. I just appreciate the production. It’s stripped down and intimate without having to get too dramatic with black and whites and slow pans. Rating: 7.5
”Bombtrack”
Album: ”Rage Against The Machine“
Director: Peter Christopherson
Year: 1993
The band performs in a cage with armed guards on top keeping an eye on them. It’s pretty much the first “set” for them to perform a video in. The others were live or in studio. When the chorus hits there is stock news footage of riots. The video was in support of a revolutionary group, but the band would later change their opinion about the leader. After that the band kind of shunned the video. Maybe they just didn’t like it or were embarrassed by their support of the dude. They would later put it out as a bonus on a DVD in 2003. I do like how the case stuff looks and all, but something about the flow and edit of this one is off putting. And not in an unsettling way, but in a more “I don’t think it works” kind of way. Rating: 6.0
”Freedom”
Album: ”Rage Against The Machine“
Director: Peter Christopherson
Year: 1993
This one tells the story of a small poverty ridden town in the 70’s. There is a plethora of stock footage and then eventually we cut into a live performance of the band. It’s a small concert performance, but you can see the energy pretty easily. Visually there’s nothing too crazy about this video. Stock footage cut with live footage had been done a million times to this point and about two million more times since. I don’t think that’s the point here though. I think the energy and the message they’re trying to put across with the edited narrative of the stock footage is this video’s bread and butter. It’s still not all that great though. Rating: 5.5
”Bulls on Parade”
Album: ”Evil Empire”
Director: Peter Christopherson
Year: 1996
Is this their biggest hit? I’m not sure, but I know I’ve heard this song at least a thousand times in my life. Be it friends, radio, MTV, or myself… this song has had its time. It’s footage of a few performances from early 96 mixed in with young folk protesting. It’s nothing too different than the others, but it’s still better. The editing, action, and stylized anarchy is art. It just feels way more cohesive and I’m not sure if it’s just because I think I’ve seen this video and heard this song so much. Am I being paranoid to my own biasness? Whatever. Enjoy. Rating: 8.0
”People of the Sun”
Album: ”Evil Empire“
Director: Peter Christopherson
Year: 1996
In this video the band angrily plays in a small space as we’re treated to shots of dead kids, the military and foreign hardships. It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s a message the band was really pushing at the time. I like the color, the shots, the flashes of the words, and the composition of the video but it’s nothing too special. I mean I do enjoy it, but just like I forgot about this video before watching it today I’ll forget by this time tomorrow. Rating: 7.0
”No Shelter”
Album: ”Godzilla Soundtrack“
Director: Gavin Bowden
Year: 1998
I’m on the fence about this one. The song was put on the Godzilla soundtrack, but at the same time there are lyrics that pretty much bash the movie by calling it filler. While I’m not a fan of the movie at all, I am a fan of musicians not selling out. They can throw all the third world causes at the screen, but at the end of the day money was exchanged. I love RAGE, but I’m just say… a little hypocritical. That aside, the video is their best thus far. It has more direction, more of an artistic take, and way more to absorb and take in than just concert footage with sickening news reel. Here we get a roaring 20’s industrial revolution type of setting. We see factory workers and board rooms. The weird mask/helmet thing is pretty awesome. The song isn’t their best and the choice of doing a soundtrack tune for a project they didn’t support is one thing, but the video has the best production of any of their clips thus far to this point. Rating: 8.0
”Guerrilla Radio”
Album: ”The Battle of Los Angeles“
Director: Honey
Year: 1999
I remember this video pretty vividly. It was smack in the middle of my high school experience and this album was a must have. The band performs in a white room setting. For those too young, too stoned, or too out of touch to remember, this is pretty much a parody of the GAP commercials going on at the time. This is intertwined with a narrative about commercialism, greed, and rich folk. It covers the factory workers and then the rich people who buy the products. It gets darker and mean. There is a mean villain type who steals money from the workers, kidnaps little kids, and does all kinds of evil. Meanwhile the band perform in a dark setting that strobes. It’s one of the better done videos of the band’s videography. Rating: 8.5
”Sleep Now in the Fire”
Album: ”The Battle of Los Angeles“
Director: Michael Moore
Year: 2000
You can have any opinion you want about Michael Moore, but this video is ballsy. The band performs right at the door step of the New York Stock Exchange. Things got so riled up that they had to lock the doors of the exchange during the shoot. Moore was detained for an hour while shooting this by police and the whole thing just reeks of chaos. I think that’s what makes this video so intense. The performance footage isn’t at a concert in a studio somewhere. It’s there playing out in the open much like that old U2 video. The crowd and people are going ape shit. I think this stuff would have been enough. It was strong and interesting. I really could have lived without the overkill of them cutting into parody footage of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”. That’s my only gripe. Other than that, good stuff. Rating: 8.0
”Testify”
Album: ”The Battle of Los Angeles“
Director: Michael Moore
Year: 2000
We start with old school space age stuff and then it goes into clips of George W. Bush and Al Gore on their political campaign. Then we get some protest stuff thrown in. And there it is… the band performs in a quiet studio. It has a normal theme of corporate and political greed. It’s well cut and done nicely, but I think after watching all of these videos in a row that I’ve become a bit desensitized to it. At the end, we get a quote from Ralph Nader. I appreciate what is being attempted here, but the addition of Nader really feels forced at the end. It’s like “government is bad!.. but this guy is cool!” Eh. Rating: 7.0
”Renegades of Funk”
Album: ”Renegades“
Director: Steve Murashige
Year: 2000
It’s a Afrika Bambaataa cover! I remember this album too. Sadly, it would be the band’s last. The band would be broken up before the release of this video. So the video is just full of quick cuts of stock footage. We get protest stuff, old history stuff, and shots of a lot of people who I suppose the band or director considered to be “renegades of funk”. The video does not do the awesomeness of the song justice at all. Rating: 6.5
”How I Could Just Kill A Man”
Album: ”Renegades“
Director: Harri Kristin
Year: 2003
The band was broken up for a few years when an old live concert was released via CD and DVD. To promote it they put out an “official video” of this Cypress Hill cover. It’s easily the band’s best produced live concert video. It seems to cover footage from their entire run as a band. It’s really enjoyable on a pure music sense because it’s JUST them. No crazy war or third world stock footage. No project stuff. It’s just the band performing over the years and random clips of the band. Good stuff. Rating: 8.0
VERDICT
I love Rage Against The Machine. I respect what they represent musically and politically. Once they broke up, bands like System of a Down came in and tried to fill that void but never really did. Being such a big fan for so long I think I was looking back with rose colored glasses. I’m not saying the videos of Rage Against the Machine sucked or anything, but they were on the lack luster side. There are spots of brilliance and the raw energy of the band makes the videos definitely worth your time. I just imagined something more grand and awesome in my mind. There is A LOT of stock footage in these videos. I get it. That’s their thing. They want people to think outside of the box, but I think at a certain point the band’s popularity overshadowed the causes and made the band seem a little artificial. I don’t know if that’s true or if that’s two hours of music videos talking. Basically, what I’m saying is that it just didn’t sit right with me. Musically these dudes were amazing together, but when it came to videos it was a lather, rinse, and repeat process. Besides the upping of production quality and those glimpses of awesome the videos are forgettable. This is a situation where the band’s music is MUCH better than their video projects. So be it. I had fun looking back, even if it hurt a little.
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