Rage Against The Machine - Killin In The Name Of
If there’s one song that has spanned 16 years of metal fans and somehow, always pulls a crowd to the dance floor in your local rock club with it’s timeless lyrics and riffs.
Released back in 1992, Killing In The Name Of was the first single released by Rage Against The Machine and has since solidified their reputation as one of the finest metal bands of all time.
Taken from their self titled album, this track has become the band’s signature song despite the rather shocking cover art, which features Thích Quang Đuc - a Vietnamese Buddhist monk - burning himself to death in Saigon in 1963 in protest of the murder of Buddhists by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diem's regime.
The song really came to the attention of the public in the UK when BBC Radio 1 DJ, Bruno Brookes, too it upon himself to play the uncensored version of the song in his Top 40 countdown, unsurprisingly leading to 138 complaints from the station‘s more conservative listeners.
However, the most exciting news would have to be when the song caused chaos again, this time in Preston, Lancashire (when I was at university) after it was played over the speakers in an Asda supermarket, prompting numerous complaints from customers.
The song is well known for it’s political and thought provoking lyrics, which, personally I admire as a music fan, it’s nice when people sing, what we’re all thinking! With this in mine, Zack de la Rocha sometimes changes the lyrics in the second verse from "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses" to "Some of those that burn crosses are the same that hold office" when playing live.
So, can it live on for another 16 years?
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
Tagged in Rage Against The Machine