"Freedom" - Rage Against The Machine

"ANGER IS A GIFT"

Okay, here's my take on this song's first 1:40: it's an average Rage song. The beginning is probably the best part. It grabs you--the classic Tom Morello hook with ZDR's angry fills. But beyond that, the lyrics aren't super insightful.

If the song continued like the first 1:40 does, I would absolutely have chosen to review 311's "Jacks Rule the Realm" --which I love (honestly, someone needs to review that song).

But one of the last times I listened to this song before I dismissed it for review and went with the 311 song, I had the volume up in my headphones and 1:42 came and I heard the quiet phrase: "Anger is a gift..." (repeated at 3:40, followed by a truly angry growl and his seeminly favorite phrase: "bring that s*** in!"). That phrase stuck with me, and it rang in my mind for a days.

That song tells so much about the genius of RATM. Let's be honest, if they didn't have that directed anger and instead were sing/rapping similar to Linkin Park or (heaven forbid) Limp Biskit, they'd just be an average band. Fading into the oblivion that was the turn of the 21st century.

As I parenthetically mentioned above, "anger is a gift" is repeated at 3:40. This is followed by a quintissential example of how they effectively harness their anger. With his growl-screams of "FREEDOM!!! YEAH, RIGHT!" with the guitar and bass repeatedly climbing that blues/rock scale--at the very least, one can't deny the emotion. But with me, I can't help but get angry as well.

"Anger is a gift." I can't really explain it, but that speaks so much to me. Like many, when I was a teenager I gained a certain degree of apathetic angst. It then turned to spiritual angst, then to societal angst, and on to nihilistic angst. All the while, I've had the Christian teaching of contention being of the devil and of not turning wrath upon one's fellow man in the back of my mind. This obvious conflict only produced more angst.

When I listen to RATM, I sort of set my angst free. This, to me, is why RATM is so genius. I love the anger while experiencing it. Even afterward, somehow if the anger is channeled, it almost seems productive--which, at least facially (if not in fact), helps remedy the conflict I have with my anger. It's cathartic, in a way that's entirely different than most angst-laden songs by other artists.

For years now I've wondered why it seems that I have anger sewn into the essential fabric of who I am. But I guess that anger is a gift.