Rage Against the Machine, arguably once the most powerful and culturally-relevant societal activist group, used the
popular contemporary 'thrash rock' genre of
music as a vehicle to attempt to create a broader consciousness of issues pertaining to the mass-media, the power of corporate coercion and the conditioning of Westernised society to create complacency; ultimately allowing for the centralisation of power amongst the
fascist State and multi-conglomerate corporations such as the WTO and partisan mass-media organisations such as
CBS; the collective Machine. RATM was genuinely unique to the Western media current through their strongly rhetoric lyrics and the formidability of their
music.
Perhaps what could be seen as
tragic; RATM disbanded at the beginning of the new Century, commonly cited as being due to political differences. Zach de
la Rocha, who was evidently the bands most politically aware and zealous member, was often said to have despised the path the
band was taking into commercialism; a Western symbol of control which they had always struggled to fight.
Regardless of RATM's downfall, it is generally agreed that the effectual footprint of the
band has led to a general intellectual and conscious awakening for a generation born into Twenty-First Century; who are seemingly predestined to a bondage to the
will of today's powerful media giant and the
fascist State. Zach de la Rocha's political mind-set in the
time of the band's apex, and indeed in general, is comparable to that of intellectual Noam Chomsky; who (although marginalised by mainstream media outlets and by the federal state and who is predominantly left unrecognised) is today's most important figure of political dissidence and intellectual disillusionment.
