Tom Morello has hit out at Rage Against The Machine fans who he claimed “weren’t intelligent enough” to understand the group’s politics.
READ MORE: The Big Read – Tom Morello: “If we can’t punch Nazis, who can we punch really?”
The legendary guitarist is known for using his social media channels to express his political views and occasionally address how some fans may be missing the point to misinterpreting the messages behind the band’s music.
Back in 2022, Morello took to his official X/Twitter account and shared: “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.”
Tom Morello, guitarist of the rap metal group, Rage Against the Machine and former member of Audioslave, greets the press during his arrival at an official event with international dignitaries to commemorate the 50th anniversary of military coup of 1973 on September 11, 2023 in Santiago, Chile. (Photo by Sebastián Vivallo Oñate/Agencia Makro/Getty Images)
Now, this past Sunday (November 3), the ‘Bulls On Parade’ guitarist took to X/Twitter to share an encounter he had with a fan who expressed their admiration of Rage Against The Machine’s 1991 track ‘Killing In The Name Of’ but completely missed the point of the song.
“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,” began his tweet.
Morello continued: “Recently was talking to a couple at a restaurant who were big fans of ‘Killing In The Name.’ The nice lady said, ‘I love that song. It helped me rage against my parents and later against the jab!’ 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.’ She sat there chewing and blinking, chewing and blinking.”
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. Recently was talking to a couple at a restaurant…
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) November 3, 2024
Fans immediately took to the reply section, with many agreeing with Morello and highlighting how other fans have a lack of awareness while others went against his view claiming that he has “sold out”.
“Yeah it cracks me up when I hear mfs say I don’t like RATM bc they’re political now. Now? ,” wrote one user while another shared: “Those cops would’ve ultimately enforced vaccine mandates which were pushed by the party you now support. The profits from those mandates would go to the corporations you claim to rage against. That lady understood your music better than you do.”
In a now-deleted tweet, a person took the time to tell Morello what ‘Killing In The Name Of’ was actually about, to which the guitarist replied: “My brother. She can do anything she damn well pleases. She can cough covid into her MAGA grandpa’s mouth for all I care. But if she presumes to tell a fella who was actually in the room when the song was written what the song is “really” about then I reserve the right to raise my hand and say, “no, ma’am”.
My brother. She can do anything she damn well pleases. She can cough covid into her MAGA grandpa’s mouth for all I care. But if she presumes to tell a fella who was actually in the room when the song was written what the song is “really” about then I reserve the right to raise my… https://t.co/T76F0sCHS1
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) November 4, 2024
His response led fans to begin critiquing his political views sparking arguments within is Twitter replies. Check out some of the arguments made below.
My stance on the “war machine” has been unwavering since I was a teenager: Every US President in my lifetime has been a war criminal by the standards of the post WWII Geneva Conventions and if there was any justice in this world they would be treated as such and answer for those… https://t.co/Aq4m1gJVZc
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) November 3, 2024
Perfect example right here. No sir, no one was required to be vaccinated to attend or buy a ticket to any RATM show ever. Feel free to check with any of the tens of thousands who attended. Blinded by presumptive bias and misinformation what other sacred tenets of your world view… https://t.co/Hm3kjV6IUt
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) November 3, 2024
Respectfully that is 100% false, except the part about my mom being cool. https://t.co/FN4l7KRRXG
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) November 4, 2024
Back in 2020, Morello shared an amusing exchange he once had with a troll who questioned his political knowledge.
He shared a screenshot from 2018 of someone accusing him of being “another successful musician instantly [becoming] a political expert,” Morello deftly pointed out in defending his right to have a political opinion that he happened to be an honours grad in political science from Harvard University.
Speaking to NME about the exchange as part of The Big Read, Morello said: “First of all, anyone who suggests that you should ‘just play guitar’ or ‘stay out of politics’, the reason they’re doing it is because they disagree with your politics. When the actors Ronald Reagan or Arnold Schwarzenegger – who are conservative politicians – ran for office, they were touted by the same people for their charisma and how they use their artistic skills to woo the people.”
He continued: “In the United States we have a thing called the First Amendment,” and cited that ‘free speech!’ doctrine so beloved of right wingers. “You don’t give your right of free speech away when you pick up a guitar. When you have some sort of platform, you have a microphone that they don’t have, and so on social media they try to even the odds by telling you to shut up,” he added. “One thing I will not be doing is shutting up any time soon.”
That same year, the guitarist and other X/Twitter users made light of fans who had just discovered that Rage Against The Machine are a political band.
In other news, earlier this summer, Morello called on “metalheads” to “get their shit together” and save the planet.
Speaking at a press conference [via Blabbermouth] in France, the guitarist urged people to seize their potential as “agents of history” and shared: “There’s really one message that is a thread through all of my music, and that is: the world is not going to change itself. That is up to you. And by ‘you,’ I literally mean you.”
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