American Bands

"A hundred years will never ease Hearing things I won't believe. I saw it with my own two eyes, All the pain that I can't hide. And this pain starts in my heart, And this love tears us apart. You won't find me bent down on my knees, Ain't bendin' over backwards baby, Not to please."

"Sometimes I have a ghetto in my mind; Other times sunshine high head fine. In between I get cold, old mean, Intertwined with country pride open and kind. This draws a line, Sorry to coin a phrase. On either side is wisdom and rage."

"She never mentions the word addiction In certain company. Yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan After you meet her family.She paints her eyes as black as night now, She pulls those shades down tight. She gives a smile when the pain comes; The pain gonna' make everything alright."

"Feeling second fiddle to a dead man, Up to my neck with your disregard. Like a beat dog that's walking on the broadway, No one wants to hear you when you're down."

"I've been down, Cascading and blue without a sound. Now I've traded my black feathers for a crown. So feed me milk & honey. Lay me down, Lay me down, Look around. Show me holy places not yet found. Let's disappear and we'll hide underground. We'll get high and we'll feel safe and sound. It comes around."

"Cold sweatin' as I dwell in my cell, How long has it been? They got me sittin' in the state pen. I gotta get out - but that thought was thought before I contemplated a plan on the cell floor. I'm not a fugitive on the run, But a brother like me begun - to be another one. Public enemy servin' time - they drew the line y'all To criticize me some crime - nevertheless They could not understand that I'm a Black man And I could never be a veteran. On the strength, the situation's unreal, I got a raw deal, so I'm goin' for the steel."

"Cheat the odds that made you Brave to try to gamble at times. Well I feel like dirty laundry, Sending sickness on down the line. Tell you why.'Cause I'm jealous, jealous again. Thought it time I let you in. Yeah, I'm jealous, jealous again. Got no time, baby."

"Goodbye daughters of the revolution. Open your eyes and see your solution. Hallelujah come join the jubilee."

"No matter what the name - we're all the same, Pieces in one big chess game. Yeah - the voice of power Is in the house - go take a shower boy. P.E. a group, a crew - not singular. We were black Wranglers, We're rap stranglers. You can't angle us - I know you're listenin'. I caught you pissin' in your pants. You're scared of us dissin' us. The crowd is missin' us. We're on a mission boy."

"Twice as hard As it was the first time I said goodbye.And no one ever wanna' know. Love ain't funny, A crime in the wink of an eye."

"The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me."

"Every generation gets the rap-metal it deserves but in 1992, Rage Against the Machine gave us the rap-metal we needed. Hearing their revolutionary ruckus on the same rock radio assembly line as the Black Crowes and Guns N’ Roses felt like discovering a Molotov cocktail in a crate of milk bottles."

"The social and politically toned hard rock from Rage Against The Machine is a quintessential part of ‘90s pop-culture and the hard-rock genre."

"Those who died are justified by wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites."

"Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses."

"Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!"

"A jail cell is freedom from the pain in my home Hatred passed on, passed on and passed on A world of violent rage But it's one that I can recognise Having never seen the colour of my father's eyes Yes, I dwell in hell, but it's a hell that I can grip I tried to grip my family But I slipped."

"No escape from the mass mind rape Play it again jack and then rewind the tape And then play it again and again and again Until ya mind is locked in Believin' all the lies that they're tellin' ya Buyin' all the products that they're sellin' ya They say jump and ya say how high Ya brain-dead Ya gotta fuckin' bullet in ya head."

"Landlords and power whores On my people they took turns Dispute the suits I ignite And then watch 'em burn"

"What goes on? Rollin' Stones of the rap game not braggin' Lips bigger than Jagger, not saggin. Spell it backwards I'm a leave it at that...That ain't got nothin to do with rap. Check the facts, expose those cats Who pose as heros and take advantage of blacks. Your government's gangster so cut the crap. A war goin on so where you at?Fight the power comes great responsibility. F the police but who's stoppin' you from killin' me? Disasters, fiascos over a loop by PE If it's an I instead of We Believin' TV Spittin riches, bitches, and this new thing about snitches. Watch them asses move, the masses switches. System dissed them but barely missed her. My soul intention to save my brothers and sisters."

"What I use in the battle for the mind I hit it hard Like it supposed, Pullin' no blows to the nose Like uncle L said I'm rippin' up shows. Then what it is Only 5 percent of the biz I'm addin' woes That's how da way it goes Then you think I rank never drank, point blank, I own loans. Suckers got me runnin' from the bank. Civil liberty I can't see to pay a fee. I never saw a way to pay a sap, To read the law Then become a victim of a lawyer."

"The booming system blasted modern-day movement anthems, songs from N.W.A and Public Enemy. Listening to those anthems in my community gave me hope. The 1989 classic "Fight the Power" came on. We had listened to that song probably a million times on the front lines, but as I stood alongside people from all around the country again, who were there to fight the power with us, it felt special. Ferguson Frontline needed support. We were all spent and traumatized. But, in this moment, my heart filled. We rode the waves of Chuck D and Flavor Flav's voices, throwing our fists up in the air. I looked around me and thought to myself, "These are my people. Something is still happening here. This is real. This is our movement.""

"So called facts are fraud They want us to allege and pledge And bow down to their God Lost the culture, the culture lost Spun our minds and through time Ignorance has taken over Yo, we gotta take the power back! Bam! Here's the plan Motherfuck Uncle Sam Step back, I know who I am Raise up your ear, I'll drop the style and clear It's the beats and the lyrics they fear The rage is relentless We need a movement with a quickness You are the witness of change And to counteract We gotta take the power back Yeah, we gotta take the power back Come on, come on! We gotta take the power back"

"Crucifixion ain't no fiction So called chosen frozen Apology made to whoever pleases, Still they got me like Jesus. I rather sing, bring, think reminisce 'Bout a brother while I'm in sync. Every brother ain't a brother cause a color Just as well could be undercover. Backstabbed, grabbed a flag From the back of the lab, Told a Rab get off the rag. Sad to say I got sold down the river, Still some quiver when I deliver."

"1989 the number another summer (get down), Sound of the funky drummer. Music hittin' your heart cause I know you got soul (Brothers and sisters, hey) Listen if you're missin' y'all Swingin' while I'm singin' Givin' whatcha gettin' Knowin' what I know, While the Black bands sweatin' And the rhythm rhymes rollin'. Got to give us what we want, Gotta give us what we need. Our freedom of speech is freedom or death. We got to fight the powers that be. Lemme hear you say Fight the power."

"So get up get, get get down, 911 is a joke in yo town. Get up, get, get, get down. Late 911 wears the late crown."

"So many of us in limbo. How to get it on, it's quite simple. Three stones from the sun, We need a piece of this rock. Our goal indestructible soul. Answers to this quizzin' To the Brothers in the street, schools and the prisons History shouldn't be a mystery. Our story's real history, Not his story. We gonna work it one day Till we all get paid. The right way in full, no bull. Talkin', no walkin', drivin', arrivin' in style. Soon you'll see what I'm talkin' 'bout. 'Cause one day The brothers gonna work it out. Brothers, brothers gonna work it out."

"Elvis was a hero to most, But he never meant shit to me you see Straight up racist that sucker was Simple and plain. Mother fuck him and John Wayne. 'Cause I'm Black and I'm proud. I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped. Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps. Sample a look back you look and find Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check Don't Worry, Be Happy Was a number one jam. Damn if I say it you can slap me right here."

"Hit me. Going, going, gone. Now I dialed 911 a long time ago. Don't you see how late they're reactin'? They only come and they come when they wanna. So get the morgue, embalm the goner. They don't care 'cause they stay paid anyway. They teach ya like an ace, they can't be betrayed. I know you stumble with no use people. If your life is on the line then you're dead today."

"You got no rap - but you want to battle. It's like havin' a boat - but you got no paddle. 'Cause I never pause - I say it because I don't break in stores - but I break all laws. Written while sittin' - all fittin' not bitten, Givin' me the juice that your not gettin'. I'm not a law obeyer - so you can tell your mayor I'm a non-stop, rhythm rock poetry sayer. I'm the rhyme player - the ozone layer. A battle, what? Here's a bible, start your prayer."

"Bass in your face, Not an eight track. Gettin' it good to the wood So the people Give you some a dat, Reactin' to the facts That I kick and it stick And it stay around. Pointin' to the joint, put the Buddha down, Goin', goin', gettin' to the roots. Ain't givin' it up, So turn me loose. But then again I got a story That's harder than the hardcore Cost of the holocaust I'm talkin' 'bout the one still goin' on."

"Never badder than bad 'cuz the brother is madder than mad At the fact that's corrupt as a senator. Soul on a roll, but you treat it like soap on a rope 'Cuz the beats in the lines are so dope. Listen for lessons I'm saying Inside music that the critics are blasting me For they'll never care for the brother and sisters Now across the country has us up for the war. We got to demonstrate, come on They're gonna have to wait 'till we get it right. Radio stations I question their blackness. They call themselves black, but we'll see if they'll play this.Turn it up, bring the noise! I said turn it up!"

"Goin' quicker in the speedin' lane, Jealous can't do it and it's causin' them pain. Caught in my smoke, all they did was choke. Look at my spokes, you know I'm no joke. Out that window, middle finger for all, Jealous at my ride, stereo and black walls. Suckers they got the nerve and gall To talk 'bout the car when they're walkin' tall."

"Land of the free, But the skin I'm in identifies me. So the people around me Energize me. Callin' all aboard this train ride. Talkin' 'bout raw hardcore, Leavin' frauds on the outside. But the bad thing is anyone can ride the train. And the reason For that is 'cause we look the same. Lookin' all around at my so called friends Light skin to the brown, The black, Here we go again."

"Fall out of the car like a hostage from a plane"

"I am drowning There is no sign of land You are coming down with me Hand in unlovable hand"

"People say friends don't destroy one another. What do they know about friends."

"I hope you die I hope we both die"

"Guy in a skeleton costume Comes up to the guy in the suit, Runs through him with a broadsword."

"I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me."

"Ghosts and clouds and nameless things... Squint your eyes and hope real hard, maybe sprout wings."

"Woke up afraid of my own shadow. Like, genuinely afraid."

"When you punish a person for dreaming his dream, Don't expect him to thank or forgive you."

"As esoteric and arcane as their music tends to be, there's no doubt that this unique group of musicians weave their magic to everlasting effect."

"The album art was a unique design created by artist Alex Grey. The art is different layers of patterns with the different layers of the human body. In Alex Grey's book "Transfigurations" he says the "saw blade" made of eyes "represents the primordial spirit of emptiness and awareness. The next layer was a vajra emitting energy, the subtle essence of soul around which the physical body coagulates. The next several layers detail the physical systems of viscera, skeletal, muscular, nervous, and cardiovascular systems.""

"Tool are one of the few bands who have made themselves famous by disregarding all expectations of them."

"Particularly impressed was I with "Lipan Conjuring," which was so thoughtful an addition to the album that I feel as if it were included just for me. You see, I went to the record store with only fifteen dollars in my pocket, and I had a devil of a time deciding between 10,000 Days and Native Moods: A Pathway to Peace. On one hand, I love rockin' out to some ten-minute chugging shuffles, but there's another part of my soul that craves the inner harmony that can only be brought on from some high-quality chanting. It was with a heavy heart that I left the store carrying only one of these two things— or so I thought! Imagine my immense pleasure when my hard rock album was interrupted— no, that's too harsh a word— when my hard rock album was magnificently bolstered by exactly the sort of stupid fucking crap I might hear on some grocery store counter impulse buy CD of New Age chanting bullshit! Bravo! I can have my cake and eat it too, and while I eat my cake I can listen to some total crap!"

"A strangely chatty Maynard James Keenan broke his self-imposed exile and spoke casually to the crowd, inciting them to a cheer of "Yes!" and sometimes sharing his thoughts, most of which were unashamedly eccentric to say the least."

"With their feet firmly planted on their spot on the stage and their faces obscured by their long hair, the players simply let their instruments communicate, and made no attempt to try it any other way. Adam Jones in particular was a foreboding figure – his sheer stillness contrasted drastically by the strained and pained sounds he forced from his guitar."

"First up, "Vicarious": a Dateline Special Report on violence in the news media featuring guest commentator Maynard James Keenan. Excellent! I've been hoping to hear Maynard weigh in on the hottest issue of 1990."