Tom Morello Wants Metalheads to “Get Their Sh*t Together” to Change the World
Activism is hard, especially when it feels like everything is going against the cause you believe in. It takes time, effort, energy… all things normal Americans just don’t have much of while they’re living paycheck to paycheck. Unfortunately that’s all stuff people have to deal with if they want change, which is something Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello effectively said while calling on metalheads to rise up and make a difference in the world.
His comments came during a press conference at this past weekend (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), in which he suggested metalheads should “get their shit together” during the more troubling times facing the U.S. and the rest of the world.
“At any given historical moment, you stand in the place where you live and you stand in the place where you were. That’s it. So some people are, like, ‘You guys made Rage records 30 years ago, and now look at the horrible state of the world.’ Imagine what it would be like if we didn’t make Rage records 30 years ago. At every moment, you do what you can, when you can, where you can. That’s the way that I look at it. And the arc of history is a long one, and there are very, very challenging times now certainly in my country, and I know here as well. And in part, literally the fate of the planet is at stake over the course of the next few decades. So it’s time for metalheads to get their shit together.”
Speaking about his band’s impact over the last couple decades, Morello said Rage Against the Machine has been a force that was always calling for change. And while that band’s music, as well as Morello’s involvement in other projects, isn’t going to do the work, the tunes were always there to push people to stand up.
In his comments, Morello said people aren’t so much bystanders of history, but active participants.
“Across 21 records, there’s really one message that is a thread through all of my music, and that is that the world is not going to change itself. That is up to you. And by you, I literally mean you — the people watching on your thing and your thing; that’s how the world changes. And sometimes it seems like this sort of monolithic problem that we’ll never be able to get past and the world cannot be changed or the worst people are the ones in charge, and they often are. But you are not witnesses to history; you are agents of history. History is not something that happened; it’s something you make. Whenever there has been a progressive radical, even revolutionary positive change for the better, it’s come from people who are no different than anyone in this room or any of the audiences that you’re writing for or that your videos are for. Once you have that realization that you do have your hands on the wheel of history and of this planet, and if you wanna make it a more peaceful, a more just, a more equitable, a more anti-racist, a more environmentally sound place, there’s no one to blame if it doesn’t happen but you for not standing up.”
So what do you think? Is he right and people need to start stepping up? Or do you think that’s easy to say from his privileged position?
