Anyways, NME was talking to the jackasses from We Are Scientists about playing Reading or Leeds or some big, rainy festival which RATM had headlined. Rather than be gracious (hey, I'm not a huge Rage fan either) or intelligent, the favorite sons of Brooklyn went for glib and basically, ignorant.
The whole thing is here
The choicest bit:
Murray added: "This is an argument I have with myself a lot because I really hate political statements coming from bands. I feel like the last person I want to hear you know a philosophy from is someone whose one credential is that they can play the guitar."
Murray admitted Rage Against The Machine aren't all bad though, saying: "On the other hand it's good to have bands like Rage Against The Machine, who no matter whether or not you think they're a bunch of fools who are trapped in freshmen year of university, are at least speaking their minds and like trying to make a difference. Although, were they spouting fascist ideas then we'd all be condemning them." (my italics)
This is what disturbs me so much about our scene in this city sometimes...apparently, it's funny and immature to give a damn about anything. Maybe it was all of my formative years in the punk scene, but I always thought it was badass that certain groups were really committed to certain ideals. And it did me a lot of good to hear to hear what they had to say...
Look, obviously, a group like Rage Against the Machine isn't above pageantry, sure. But in the quote above, it sounds a lot more like we are disqualifying guys from speaking out just because they have guitars; as if that makes them junior citizens.
