WANNA SEE RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE’S FIRST PUBLIC SHOW EVER?

I somehow missed this when The PRP posted it earlier this month, but caught it yesterday on Metal Injection: a video of the first time Rage Against the Machine ever played in front of a public audience. (According to Tom Morello, the band “had done one show previously but that was a living room party,” so I guess it doesn’t count.) It’s not just a clip, either — it’s the whole damned show.

And I think it’s worth watching, not just because it’s a fun look at the earliest days of a now-legendary band — but because the band was okay but not great, and because most of the crowd, clearly, does not give a hoot about them. People routinely just walk on by the stage, with no idea that they’re missing out on a seminal moment in rock history. (Not that it’s their fault; how could they possibly have known?) And I think that’s a valuable thing for young bands to see: EVERYBODY HAS TO START SOMEWHERE. Once upon a time, Rage Against the Machine were just some local band, playing to an audience of three people, just like every other group in the history of ever. Don’t you find that, I dunno, encouraging?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAN0HHVGAp4&feature=player_embedded

-AR