Vietnow - Rage Against the Machine

Posted by Sir Four at 10:04am Jun 13 '14
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It's a song about right-wing radio. Lyric quotes are in the spelling/formatting as they appear on the RAtM web site.

Turn on tha radio, nah fuck it turn it off
Fear is your only god on the radio
Nah fuck it, turn it off
Turn it off, turn on tha radio, nah fuck it turn it off
Fear is your only god on the radio

The lyrics mention God/religion repeatedly, to mock the holier-than-thou, "we are the good, moral Chistians" attitude that right-wing radio puts forward. But it's BS. Fear, not morality, is what really motivates the listeners.

Nah fuck it, your saviour's my guillotine, crosses and kerosene

The sort of biting lyric you'd expect from RAtM. Obviously referencing the Klan, which was/is right-wing and "Christian".

Merge on tha networks, slangin' nerve gas
Up jump tha boogie then bang, let 'em hang
While tha paraniod try ta stuff tha void
Let's capture this AM mayhem
Undressed, and blessed by tha Lord

Some of the specific lines here are unclear to me, though the gist is about programs in the paranoid style proliferating across the AM dial.

Tha power pendulum swings by tha umbilical cord
Shock around tha clock, from noon 'til noon
Men grabbin' they mics, and stuff 'em into tha womb

Using the abortion issue to push their agenda. Men (it's almost all men) figuratively invading women's wombs... still relevant today, e.g. 1, 2, 3

Terror's tha product ya push
Well I'm a truth addict, oh shit I gotta headrush
Sheep tremble an here come tha votes

Voters motivated by fear. AM talkers aren't pushing sound moral principles; they're pushing fear. Listeners are addicted to the outrage they feel, and the moral indignation.

Thrown from tha throat, new cages an scapegoats

The hosts' diatribes turn people into scapegoats for the country's ills, pushing those maligned groups into figurative or perhaps literal cages ("tough on crime").

Undressed and blessed by tha Lord

They're only doing God's work, you see.

Tha same devil that ran around Managua wit a sword
Check out tha new style that Ollie found
I tune in wit a bullet ta shut down tha devil sound

The devil here is Oliver North, Reagan's man in Nicaragua assisting Contra rebels in the 80s, who went on to have a syndicated AM radio show.

Flex tha cerebellum, fire, uh!
Somebody gotta shell 'em
These evil angels lists, hittin' tha AM playlist
Paid ta say this

Evil angels paid to say this = the hosts, and their lists = the "villains" of their narratives:

That one inhuman, illegal, single woman
Tha one wit out a room

Groups of weak/powerless people are the scapegoats. Who are the people ruining the country? The illegals. The women who want control of their wombs. The poor. These are not "the least of these" deserving of compassion, rights, etc. but the villains (less than human) needing to be caged.

The transmissions wippin' our backs
Yeah, comin' down like bats from Stacy Coon

Comparing the daily diatribes to the beating of Rodney King.

Is all tha world jails and churches? [x5]

The black and white world as portrayed by these radio programs. The "good ones", the listeners, are moral and Christian. The scapegoats need to be gotten rid of or jailed or taught their place.

Fear is your, fear is your, fear is your only god [x4]

Restating the thesis of the song, and again mocking claims of Christian piety.


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