Tom Morello, Serj Tankian Address Disillusioned Fans Who’ve Just Learned Their Music Is Political
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Right-wing bros will always love Rage Against The Machine, despite the fact that they are a very, very left-wing band. For example, as The Detroit Metro Times reports, a Michigan man just went viral on Twitter for getting dunked on repeatedly after telling Rage guitarist Tom Morello to stay out of politics.
“I use to be a fan until your political opinions come out,” Scott Castaneda wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “Music is my sanctuary and the last thing I want to hear is political bs when i’m listening to music. As far as i’m concerned you and Pink are completely done. Keep running your mouth and ruining your fan base.”
“Scott!! What music of mine were you a fan of that DIDN’T contain ‘political BS’? I need to know so I can delete it from the catalog,” Morello jokingly responded. Maybe Scott, like #1 Rage Against The Machine fan Paul Ryan, just isn’t a lyrics guy? Or maybe he was thinking of, uh, Florence + The Machine?
Scott!! What music of mine were you a fan of that DIDN’T contain “political BS”? I need to know so I can delete it from the catalog. https://t.co/AMpmjx6540
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) June 9, 2020
But this goes beyond RATM and Tom Morello. Although System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan is a big Trump guy, frontman Serj Tankian is very much the opposite of a Trump guy. And in a recent appearance on the Side Jams With Bryan Reesman podcast, Tankian talked about his confusion at fans who somehow missed all of the political elements in his music.
“When I get people on my socials that are, ‘I love your music, but I don’t wanna hear your political ideas,’ that’s fair enough. If they’re nice enough, it’s fair enough, but sometimes they’re really mean,” Tankian began.
“But what I don’t understand,” he continued, “and a lot of other people that follow the music say the same thing. They’re, like, ‘Have you not listened to the fucking words in 20 years? He’s been saying all this stuff through his music all this time. What are you, just dancing to it because it’s groovy? You’re not really getting the message?'”
Sorry to break it to you, guys — Rage Against The Machine and System Of A Down are political bands!
Country-adjacent artists Kacey Musgraves and Jason Isbell, who make slightly less political music but have always been very open about their politics, also recently talked about potentially losing or gaining fans due to speaking out about things likes police brutality.
