Tom Morello Makes Rage Against the Machine’s Hall of Fame Case
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello argued that the band’s concerts provide all the evidence required to justify being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
This year marks the group’s fifth nomination, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, the guitarist said the Rock Hall “would be a great place” for the group to be.
“I’m a big proponent of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Morello noted. “I like the idea there’s somewhere on the planet that celebrates music. ... The thing I share with many fans of many bands is that if the Rock Hall is going to be inducting artists of so many diverse genres, there are a lot of artists from multiple genres that deserve to get in.”
He refused to speculate on his band’s chances but added, “I do know there’s a funny mix of people that do the voting. It’s people that are already in. There’s an age component. There’s a leaning mainstream component as well. ... If you saw any of the Rage Against the Machine shows last summer, you’d be hard-pressed to make an argument against us. … Put up the link in your story to ‘Killing in the Name’ from Finsbury Park. Put up ‘Testify’ from the Battle of Santiago. You can feel it. You can see through a scratchy fan video that there’s never been anything like that in the history of music. There’s nothing like it, man.”
Watch RATM’s ‘Testify’ LIve in Chile 2010
Morello also said that if the shows that came before the tour was canceled as a result of singer Zack de la Rocha’s leg injury proved to be their final appearances, the ones they did play “made the case.” "It’s not about how much you tour," he said. "It’s about what it’s like during those moments when you do. Rage Against the Machine has played 19 shows in the past 12 years. And the resonance of those 19 shows feel, in talking to fans, [is that] those were historical events.”
He asserted that “an argument for Rage Against the Machine to get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is that there has never been a band with politics that radical on the top of the charts. It’s not close. It’s not close. That is rarified air.”