Tom Morello, guitarist of influential political firebrands Rage Against The Machine, has revealed which artists he feels are currently carrying the torch for the legacy of his aforementioned Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame-inducted band.
Following a short-lived reunion run that was hamstrung by the pandemic and ultimately came to an abrupt end in 2024, Rage Against The Machine have once again been laid to rest. However, Morello himself continues to embody much of the spirit of the band, remaining the most publicly active, taking part in various protests and frequently speaking out for various causes.
During a newly conducted interview with ‘The Strombo Show‘, Morello was asked if he still hears ‘young artists’ who ‘connect’ with him in a manner similar to that of his legendary outfit. While at face value, a politically active band like outgoing rap metalcore outfit Stray From The Path, who closely followed the RATM blueprint, may come to mind, Morello instead had some other choices.
His most prominent choice was Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap, whom he proclaimed to be “the Rage Against The Machine of now.” Morello told ‘The Strombo Show‘ host George Stroumboulopoulos of the bands that currently have his attention in that manner [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“I just invited, like, the one most recently is a San Diego hip-hop duo called The Neighborhood Kids, [they] certainly [have] one bit of Rage Against The Machine in them. But they rap lived experience and they really mean it in a way that you kind of go like, ‘thank goodness somebody has the guts to say it,’ you know. And in the UK, Nova Twins are a group that I really like. They’re a young, young band.”
It was then that Stroumboulopoulos suggested Kneecap, to which Morello replied:
“[They’re at] at the top of the list, at the top of the list. I mean, they’re clearly the Rage Against The Machine of now, like there’s them, and there’s a gap to the next one.”
When Stroumboulopoulos brought up Kneecap facing a terrorism charge in the UK for a ‘human rights thing’, Morello responded:
“What they’re doing in their art is what people could probably stand to do more in their lives: to really speak truth to power. And, you know, Kneecap are not terrorists. What is terroristic is, you know, 20,000 dead Palestinian children. That’s the story. Not, I mean, some Irish rappers who don’t like that that’s happening. [That] should not be the story.”
Kneecap‘s vocal criticism of Israel and more amid the ongoing war in Gaza has seen their member Mo Chara hit with a terror-related offense in the UK. That charge stems from the trio being accused of brandishing a Hezbollah flag during a November 2024 live performance.
Kneecap‘s controversies haven’t stopped there though, as their accusations that Israel has been committing genocide in the ongoing war Gaza that were displayed during their performances at this past April’s ‘Coachella‘ festival also set off a firestorm, leading to the band losing their US agent Independent Artist Group.
After discussing the above-mentioned artists, Morello‘s conversation with Stroumboulopoulos shifted towards the enduring legacy of Rage Against The Machine. Echoing his his speech at Rage Against The Machine‘s Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction, Morello offered:
“The way I look at is like, yes, the music of Rage Against The Machine still does serve the purpose. I hear it in the streets, and I see it on the signs and whatnot. But sitting around and waiting for Rage Against The Machine, you should form your own band. You should do your own thing, in your line of work you should be raging against the machine.”
When Stroumboulopoulos then asked if it was The Clash or Sex Pistols that opened the door for him to meld music and politics, he replied:
“I mean, the Pistols made me pick up a guitar, but The Clash was the one that made me realize that there was a lane — a heretofore unseen lane — where the things that I believed and the music I loved could overlap.”
Later in the discussion, Morello once again touched on a story he’s shared in the past about how the message of Rage Against The Machine has been misinterpreted over the years, as well as some past fans having turned their back on the group.
Much criticism was lobbed toward Rage Against The Machine during the pandemic era for their paused reunion tour allegedly requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for entry. It’s become a common talking point among opponents of the band, and according to Morello himself, those claims aren’t truthful. Morello‘s continued criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump also continues to ruffle feathers, though the guitarist has remained critical of both Republicans and Democrats.
Speaking of some listeners missing the actual point of the songs and others turning away, Morello offered:
“I was out at dinner with my crew guys and and there was a very nice couple, they’re fans. They come up. They’re like, ‘We love Rage Against The Machine. And this lady, she couldn’t have been sweeter. She just was like, ‘I love that song, ‘Killing In The Name‘. I mean, it really helped me rage against my parents when I was a teenager, and it helped me rage against the jab during the pandemic.” I was like, ‘Oh, cool. Thanks very much. That song is about white supremacy and how cops employ violence against communities of color to bolster the racist capitalist ruling class, and that’s what that song’s about.’
And then she just like, blinked at me and ate, and that was the end of the talk. So the thing is, like, first of all, I don’t ever want any music that I’m in to exclude anybody. And you can like it for whatever reason you like it. You can like it and disagree with it. But to think the reason why some Rage Against The Machine fans like the band less now, is because some of us have been vocally against the their cult leader.”
Moving away from politics, later in the chat Morello revealed that the riff featured in the Audioslave hit “Cochise” was originally intended for Rage Against The Machine‘s 3x platinum sophomore album “Evil Empire“. That outfit united Morello and his Rage Against The Machine bandmates, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk, with late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. That song also launched that supergroup back in October of 2002. Morello said of that riff’s origins:
“The ‘Cochise‘ riff — [this is] breaking news for you — was written for the second Rage Against The Machine record. So we were in Atlanta trying to make a record, very unsuccessfully, musically not seeing eye to eye, and I had a bunch of riffs, and that one didn’t land in fertile soil right then.
So when we eventually did write the ‘Evil Empire‘ record, it was sort of from scratch. We sort of started and those [riffs] kind of all went [to the side.] Some of those, one of those riffs was in [Audioslave‘s] ‘Show Me How To Live‘. One of those riffs was ‘Cochise‘. A couple of them have found there [place.] One of them was ‘Sleep Now In The Fire‘. Like, they found their way, they later found fertile, fertile soil.
But the way I’ve always looked at it is like is a great riff, is a great riff, is a great riff. The first music on the first Rage Against The Machine record, you put the needle down on side one, that little ‘doo doo doo doo’ before ‘Bombtrack‘ — I wrote when I was 19-years-old; a freshman at Harvard University in the freshman union rehearsal rooms down there. I recorded that on a cassette and just thought, one day I’m gonna put that in the song. And that’s the song that it ended up with.”
