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Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine

Date: Aug 06 2007

Themes: Music

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

“The riot be the rhyme of the unheard!” Zach de la Rocha shouted these words at thousands of fans through the 1990s. His band, Rage Against the Machine, became extremely well-known not only for their fusion of rap, funk, and punk, but also for their leftist politics. De la Rocha often encouraged violent resistance against what he saw as misguided government…and since then the US has only gotten more conservative!

Now, seven years later, Rage Against the Machine has started playing together again. Listen to Jason and Mason talk about the reunion.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Mason

Jason

Jason

Mason:  So what was this that I…I was listening to the radio on the way here and I heard Rage is back on.

Jason:  Yeah, Rage Against the Machine just headlined the Coachella Festival, big festival in LA.

Mason:  Oh yeah yeah yeah, that’s a huge, out in the desert right?

Jason:  Yeah it’s out in the desert, but I guess that Zach de la Rocha, the singer of Rage Against the Machine, he hadn’t really been doing much with his solo career that he tried to have.

Mason:  Which is so funny because I’d heard that he was the one who kind of dissolved Rage in the first place. He was like, “I need to go off and do my own thing, man. You guys are holding me back.”

Jason:  But now I guess he decided to get it back together…

Mason:  Because he failed!

Jason:  Well that, and he said that the political climate right now was so bad that Rage was needed, so they had to get the group together.

Mason:  That’s so awesome. It sounds like a superhero. When the world needs the Rage, they will emerge!

Jason:  I hope so, I hope they can be as effective as a superhero.

Mason:  They’re like Batman in CD form. I don’t know…

 

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Discussion

On the way to meet Jason, Mason heard on the radio that Rage Against the Machine has reunited. He calls the band Rage for short.

Jason already knew the band was playing again and tells Mason about a festival they played in Los Angeles. Mason suggests that de la Rocha reformed the band because the solo career he left to start wasn’t going very well. Jason says he heard that the band reunited because they felt that the world needed their message now more than ever. Mason says that that sounds like a superhero, who swings into action when he is needed. He compares Rage to Batman.

Do you think an extreme leftist message is needed now more than ever or more unwelcome than ever? Who is your favorite superhero? What do you think he or she ought to do to improve the world right now?

 

Comments

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nlourenco

nlourenco

Portugal

RATM simply rules… "Your anger is a gift"! Just read they're lyrics…

12:39 AM Aug 26 2007 |

husky

Brazil

I can´t agree with the Rage´s point. They support the Zapatista Movement for example. Nevertheless, the society needs leftist ideas in order to push them to think differently about their problems.

06:02 PM Aug 08 2007 |

kifalisa

kifalisa

Czech Republic

I love RATM not for theirs political meaning but for theirs great huge music sound. And my political opinion=crap and crap and crap…......

05:34 PM Aug 08 2007 |

carlosbertholdi

Brazil

I think that the world need more liberal ideas inspired on scientific view, religion for example, is the kind of thing that does not help anybody and people keep  or encourage themselves to do certain things and they don't even stop to think about it, like this whole talk about God, for instance, is it worth? if I die and find out somewhat that this whole religious thing is bullshit. Anyway, there is so much concrete things to be discover in this world that directly influence our lives than to waste time on something that you don't even know that can be proven true or false.   

12:20 AM Aug 07 2007 |

explorer143

Pakistan

THINGS REPLACE BY THE TIME.

06:50 AM Aug 06 2007 |

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