The A to Z list continues to find the top ten bands/artists in the alphabet. R is upon us and needs help to complete the list. As usual your suggestions are wanted in completing this list. These are in no particular order as well.
01) Lou Reed
02) Radiohead
03) Rage Against The Machine
04) Ramones
05) Replacements, The
06) Red Hot Chili Peppers
07) Rolling Stones
08) Refused
09) Henry Rollins
10)
This new feature is another fun one. I get to show you all things that just were really bad ideas. There are so many bad ideas in music, and I feel compelled to share them with you all and get your opinions.
For the first bad idea let us start with Audioslave deciding to play Rage Against The Machine songs as well as Soundgarden songs (but those aren’t as bad as the RAGE part). This was a bad idea. The idea of Audioslave is a good idea, but this was atrocious. First off different vocalist with a completely different range and personality. Chris Cornell for all the great vocal performances, really doesn’t do this song or any of the Rage songs they played justice. It seems forced and uninspired. Audioslave played “Killin In The Name Of,” “Sleep Now In The Fire,” and “Bulls on Parade.” each one was worse than the other. I sadly witnessed this live when Audioslave started touring on their second album, the very underwhelming Out Of Exile. Note that when they first came out the didn’t play any of their previous bands songs. The Soundgarden songs fall short as well. You could tell that Chris, was over those songs and wanted to move on from that part of his life. Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk are great at their instruments but the way they played the Soundgarden songs, it just didn’t feel right. Their unique styles just don’t convey the songs the way the original players did.
I really want to know who suggested the band play their old bands songs. Was this a management or record label decision? Who ever thought of this is an idiot. The only ever time an idea like this worked, and I mean the ONLY TIME, is when Joe Walsh became a member of the Eagles, and they would perform Rocky Mountain Way.
Anyways, here are Audioslave’s performances of them performing Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden songs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Killin In The Name:
Bulls On Parade & Sleep Now In The Fire:
Spoonman:
Outshined:
I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Zach De La Rocha, get back in front of the microphone with Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, and Tim Commerford. Knock off this Prophets of Rage junk, and do the right thing.
The world really needs Rage Against The Machine now more than ever.
Rage Against The Machine- Live at Woodstock 99:
Rage Against The Machine- Live at Grand Olympic Auditorium:
Today is election day. Probably one of the most important elections in the history of the United States. I thought that today I should put together a list of the greatest political songs. This is open to all who would like to contribute a suggestion to the list. I will be updating this a lot!
Neil Young- Rockin In The Free World:
Creedence Clearwater Revival- Fortunate Son:
The Beatles- Revolution:
Rolling Stones- Street Fighting Man:
Bob Dylan- The Times They Are A Changing:
Bob Dylan- Only A Pawn In Their Game:
Bob Dylan- Masters Of War:
Rage Against The Machine- Sleep Now In The Fire:
Rage Against The Machine- Killin In The Name:
Buffalo Springfield- For What It’s Worth:
U2- Sunday Bloody Sunday:
The Clash- Clampdown:
The Clash- Know Your Rights:
John Lennon- Imagine:
Marvin Gaye- What’s Going On:
Bruce Springsteen- Born In The USA:
Gil Scott Heron- The Revolution Will Not Be Televised:
The Doors- Five To One:
Green Day- American Idiot:
Rise Against- State Of The Union:
Black Flag- Rise Above:
Bad Religion- American Jesus:
Since last week I’ve been on a pretty big Rage Against The Machine kick. While going back and listening to the albums, it got me thinking about all their videos. So here is a ranking of their videos for you to enjoy.
Bombtrack:
Bullet In The Head:
Killing In The Name:
No Shelter:
Renegades Of Funk:
Bulls On Parade:
Freedom:
Testify:
Guerrilla Radio:
Sleep Now In The Fire:
Oh jeez here we go again. What and Why? Not to mention they have a fiddle. I was laughing pretty hard when I found this version. The one positive thing I can say is, actually nothing. This is pretty bad.
Zac Brown Band- Killing In The Name Of:
The year is 1999, people are starting to get hysterical over Y2K and Rage Against The Machine are about to release their final album, the very underrated unsung masterpiece, The Battle Of Los Angeles. Debuting at number one on the billboard charts, the twelve songs on the album are armed with heavy influence from George Orwell’s 1984, making for some very eerie foreshadowing statements on what the future will bring us. Songs like “Testify,” Guerrilla Radio,” “Sleep Now In The Fire,” “Voice of the Voiceless,” and a few others have direct quotes from the book, and go on to mention more Orwellian terms. The album kicks off with 3 songs of explosive rage (pun intended haha) with “Testify,” “Guerrilla Radio,” and “Calm Like A Bomb.” Then the album shifts for a song with “Mic Check.” “Sleep Now In The Fire” takes the album back up a few notches with anger and fury, leading us into one of the best songs on the album “Born Of A Broken Man.” The next couple songs musically, tend to lean towards showing off Tom Morello’s talents with a whammy bar and a fuzz pedal. Lyrically though “Born As Ghosts” and “Maria” are strong and angry, showing off Zach De La Rocha’s venomous lyrics. “Voice Of The Voiceless” has strong connections to a favorite of the band in Mumia Abu Jamal, as well as 1984, as I mentioned above and has a bit of a funk vibe to the music. “New Millennium Homes” is a solid song, with a cool groove, that perfectly sets up my favorite Rage Against The Machine song appears on The Battle Of L.A., “Ashes In The Fall.” Lyrically and musically, Ashes brings something different to the table. This is along the same lines as how epic some songs on the first album were. The song also brings a brilliance to how tight and good Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford are together. Tom Morello’s guitar work especially in the bridge section and the ending highlight his talents even more. Closing out the album is “War Within A Breath” which picks up where Ashes leaves off, then finishes with a fury of signature Rage.
The Battle of Los Angeles to me is the second best album the band put out. In terms of songwriting and passion, this album soars above Evil Empire. Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford and Zach De La Rocha were magical together. They were able to create awareness and invoke the youth to open their eyes and stand up. Something that is missing from music today. Battle is an album that upped the game a bit more for the band. Their albums stand the test of time. Keeping in mind that the band hasn’t released anything new since 1999, not much has changed in the world, making their albums more relatable than ever.
Rage Against The Machine- The Battle Of Los Angeles:
My brain works in strange ways at times. I think of silly lists in my mind then start to really analyze them. Earlier in the week I had an idea while gazing through my music collection at home about how many self titled albums there are. Which then made me think how many of those are really that good. Well here is a list of the best self titled albums. This list is in NO PARTICULAR ORDER.
Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath
Metallica- Metallica
Alice In Chains- Alice In Chains (Tripod)
Year Of The Rabbit- Year Of The Rabbit
Vision Of Disorder- Vision Of Disorder
The Velvet Underground & Nico- The Velvet Underground & Nico
Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin
The Doors- The Doors
System Of A Down- System Of A Down
Them Crooked Vultures- Them Crooked Vultures
Foo Fighters- Foo Fighters
Slipknot- Slipknot
Royal Blood- Royal Blood
Rage Against The Machine- Rage Against The Machine
Rancid- Rancid
Pearl Jam- Pearl Jam (Avocado)
Korn- Korn
Garbage- Garbage
Deftones- Deftones
The Cult- The Cult
311- 311
We all know what Maynard is capable of vocally with all the projects he has. I’m sure most of you have heard him on some of the below songs he has guested on. There are a couple out there that are surprising though.
Rage Against The Machine: Know Your Enemy
Tori Amos- Muhammed My Friend
Deftones: Passenger
Replicants: Silly Love Songs
30 Seconds To Mars: Fallen
Jubilee: I Don’t Have An Excuse, I Just Need A Little Help
David Bowie: Bring Me The Disco King
1994 was quite a year not just for music, but also for movies. Brandon Lee’s final film The Crow was released and accompanying the film, was a tremendous soundtrack, featuring bands like Nine Inch Nails, The Cure, Stone Temple Pilots, Pantera, Rage Against The Machine and Helmet. One of the intriguing things about the album was the songs from Nine Inch Nails, Pantera, and Rollins Band were all covers. Nine Inch Nails did Joy Division’s “Dead Souls,” Pantera did Poison Idea’s “The Badge,” and Rollins Band did Suicide’s “Ghost Rider.” Also notable was the inclusion of Rage Against The Machine’s Darkness, which was actually a re-recorded b-side from their debut album. Stone Temple Pilots song “Big Empty” first appeared on the soundtrack and then was later added to their masterpiece Purple. The Cure’s song “Burn” is a wonderful song too, that radiates how great The Cure are.
The Crow is my all time favorite movie. I’ve seen it well over 100 times. There is something so perfectly dark about it and the music that is a part of it blends so well.
By: Brian Lacy
AUDIOECLECTICA 