my opinion of rage against the machine is in the public record, but i'll repeat it here.

i really didn't have much experience with them, besides the fact that the only serious issue i ever had with a bully had to do with a guy that often wore rage against the machine shirts - along with slayer and metallica shirts. that guy did massive negative advertising for the band, in my mind. i associated them with him for years, and in large part still do.

the internet was still developing in the period that rage were relevant, and i didn't have any friends that liked them. the actual reality is that i don't have any recollection of ever even listening to a rage record at all. ever. i may have heard a single a handful of times on the radio around '97 or so.

during the period that rage were at the height of popularity, i was listening to more introverted types of music, like radiohead and sunny day real estate and autechre. i was also at the height of my industrial kick. while i was technically a teenage boy, the truth is that angry music for teenage boys really wasn't on my radar or something i was at all interested in. my cd collection was more what you would have expected from a bookish teenage girl. in hindsight, that's what you should actually expect.

nobody was really sure how old this bully with the rage shirt was. rumour had it that he was on his third try at grade 10. the difference in physical strength between a bookish 16 year-old and a jockish 19 year-old is usually going to be large, and that held in this circumstance. he liked to throw me into lockers. i had no real means of defense.

even at the presumed age of 19, he would sit in grade 10 science class and just listen to his walkman at full blast. the teacher was visibly afraid of him.

he was raging against the machine, alright. and, it's safe to assume that he ended up in jail.

i ended up pushing him down the stairs and breaking his leg, then escaped reprimand because he wouldn't admit he got beat up by a fag.

my understanding is that the band realizes that what they were trying to do had unintended consequences, and that all they really did was provide a soundtrack for bullies and delinquents that didn't understand their messaging at all.

soundgarden came from a very different space, culturally. so, i was never impressed by cornell's decision to join audioslave and never really listened to them much. i found myself more interested in the wellwater conspiracy, and in looking for rare kim thayil sightings.