#22

It was The Late Show on BBC2 in 1993. I videotaped that performance when The Late Show aired a compilation of the best of American contemporary rock.

Bullet in the Head blew my mind and I bought the EPIC label album from HMV the next day. Ironic really, looking back.

I found the BBC2 show online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOrd1jNyXwY , but Pearl Jam and RATM have been removed for copyright reasons. Middle-aged RATM, in cahoots with the man.

#23

OK, I was being unfair and you’re right.

1 Like
#24

You are right in the sense that themes address things that should be addressed. I’m definitely hearing them now as a 36 year old in 2017 with a degree and a job rather than a teenager in 1996 with no life.

They were and are an excellent band, although in different ways to how they were when I was younger.

2 Likes
#25

Still a big fan- powerful tunes with great musicianship. And I still air guitar to it.

I’ve heard some say that Zach makes them embarrassing, and I can see why, but it’s not cringingly political like latter day Muse. Yeah, he does have the odd dud line, but is anger is specific and crafted. Also, his delivery is great.

I’ve often heard the argument about many heavy bands (Deafheaven, Converge, Isis, most black metal), mostly from those who don’t listen to it regularly that they can appreciate the music but the vocals should be different. For me though, for those bands, as for RATM, the vocals and lyrics are absolutely pivotal to the essence of the music. Take those away, and you have impressive musicianship, but very little soul or conscience to connect you to it.

Liking RATM might be a generational thing though. Two of my old mates are record collectors who just dismiss them out of hand, like they would a hair metal band.

4 Likes
#26

I NEVER tidy my bedroom sir

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#27

Still really like them. New Millenium Homes is a banger, that fuckin’ chorus.

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#28

Been listening to them and I used to dislike them (as a massive leftist) cause they attracted the worst most conspiratorial, less nuanced, leftists to the movement. But then I realised its not about the lyrics but its a call to arms with some cracking baselines and funk jams.

I also think they were doing something fresh taking the more energetic hip-hop styles and applying them to a metal grunge context with some funk mixed in. Unfortunately this was the birth of the anomaly that is Nu Metal.

They are very dancable and some of their lines really hit the spot. E.g… ‘yes I know my enemy they’re the ones that taught me to hate me’. Overall great band.

What I find sad is that its hard for overtly blunt political music to get critical acclaim (anohni was the last and I doubt if she was not an already acclaimed artist she would have got it) and even when it does some people will give it a lot of shit.

People find bluntness hooky and cringy. But there is a place for it. Subtle political work may artistically have more merit but is pretty much useless as a political action.

4 Likes
#29

love the live album

the live footage i’ve seen since they reformed is crap tho, the finsbury park show all the songs are a lot slower than they should be so it’s real stodgy

overall tho, fucking great band

#30

Sound issues and standard zach moralizing aside, the finsbury park show was great fun

#31

an amazing band and one of the best bands i’ve ever seen live, i like them a lot :smile:

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#32

Alright @Monkeys1983, how’s your evening going?

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#33

great band, glad i grew up with them. and it was awesome when they became christmas number one in england 2009 they came and played a free concert

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#34

First public performance. Ridiculously tight.

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#35

Fucking incredible band, and thanks to some prescient production choices (particularly on the first 2 albums) they’ve stood the test of time a lot better than most of their peers.

I also love how clearly Morello, Wilks and Commerford love playing together. I can take or leave Prophets of Rage (the album has some bangers, mind) but there’s a rare musical chemistry there.

#36

They’re OK if you like that sort of music I suppose. I don’t. To me it’s just noise.

#37

love this footage - the cameraman who’s pretty much on stage, so powerful and so funky

#38

Great band, also the video for Sleep Now In the Fire was amazingly prescient in retrospect.

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#39

Saw them at Barrowlands in Glasgow when they toured the second album.
It was utter carnage…people crowd surfing on top of people who were crowd surfing! Pure this-is-what-music-can-do mayhem!

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#40

Fair enough if that’s your experience but they’re not even that heavy, to the extent that a lot of people wouldn’t even consider them ‘metal’. I think the aggressive vocal delivery makes them ‘feel’ heavier than they are but really, Morello’s MO is a lot of zep/maiden worship with some wikky-wikky-wah noises thrown in. It’s pretty melodic really.

3 Likes
#41

just put the debut on. about halfway though. very nostalgic. bought this when i was… fuck… must have been about 12? 2003ish. Loved it then but not really listened to them much since that Reading 08 gig. It’s still great.

Did flirt with Evil Empire a few years back, that’s class.

2 Likes