Expert: Anthony Senn Date: 2/15/2006 Subject: Help for school project
Question For my senior research paper I am doing the topic of the political influences on the band as a whole in addition to on each individual member of the group. RATM has been my favorite band ever since I first heard their original album during my 8th grade year, I feel that this is the perfect topic to do for my project. I am requesting any political background information you can tell me about this topic, as well as any personal insight to their radical views. Any help that you can provide me with would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Tom Malooly
Answer Well, the specific views of Tim Commerfold and Brad Wilk are kind of murky, I'm unsure. It's safe to say that they are anti-capitalist but beyond that I cannot say in any confidence what or what they do not believe. However, I can say much on the other two.
First, Tom Morello, his views are less radical than Zack's so I'd assume the other band members would have similar views as him. He isn't an anarchist or communist, but he does promote anti-capitalist views and promotes socialism, specifically on the democratic-state level.
He is also anti-corporate, anti-racism, anti-globalization, you name it. He doesn't profess anarchist or communist beliefs but he does support them, such as when he referenced "Imagine" by John Lennon was being the "most anarchist song of all time"
As for Zack de la Rocha it's come forth that he is an anarchist, he is straight edge (that is he doesn't drink alcohol or do drugs), he is fiercely anti-capitalist, and supports even very radical groups such as Sendero Luminoso and Zapatistas, as laid out in songs such as "War within a breath" and also an early video for "Know Your Enemy" (I think that's the one).
Zack also wants "revolution now", and in order to promote this he does give talks in support of such people as Sherman Austin. After the release of the "Battle of Los Angeles" album, it was reported that he was saddened that it did not wake more people up and motivate more people into aciton.
I know that's not completely in depth but you can find further information by reading their individual articles on places like Wikipedia and other places on the web. You should also look up the groups and people I mentioned that Zack supports.
