Audioslave: Songs of Politics and Protest

Tom Morello couldn't be happier. In the past he's channeled his activist sentiments into his folk-singing Nightwatchman persona. Now he's got the force of a mighty band to back up his opinions. The guitarist sat down with us to talk about the songs that get him stoked up about trying to change the world.

The Clash - "Working For the Clampdown"
"Judge says 'Five to ten'/I say 'Double that again, I'm not working for the clampdown."

The Clash was my Paul Revere band. I couldn't believe there was a band who said stuff so righteous, unapologetic, and fearless. But it wasn't like a college lecture - it was the most exciting band of all time. I was pretty much a fan of heavy metal music exclusively until a friend of mine brought London Calling to school. First of all, I thought cover was very cool. Then I put it on. I was like, "This isn't heavy metal, it's better!" It was resonating both in the head and the gut. I thought, "Maybe I can play guitar, too. Maybe I've got a thing or two to say."

Bruce Springsteen - "Atlantic City"
"Down here it's just winners and losers/don't get caught on the wrong side of that line."

Nebraska was as heavy and dark as any Slayer record - just an acoustic guitar and harmonica capturing Reagan-era America. The protagonist's life has gone to hell through economic decline. He's going to do a favor for some guy and he's trying to convince himself that it's all right, because everything dies and maybe everything comes back. He's talking both about his life and the person he's asked to kill. It was politics personalized. An awful administration causes this bad economy that causes this one man to make a horrendous decision.

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Public Enemy - "Fight the Power"
"Our freedom of speech is freedom or death/ We got to fight the powers that be."

This will be sung for 100 years by kids in the streets when revolution is in the air. Fear of a Black Planet was the first tape I listened to a thousand times. The way that Chuck D looked at race relations in America was so right on. Who sings songs like that? Rage opened up for Public Enemy on our first tour of the West Coast, when there was a tremendous backlash against hip-hop. These audiences of predominantly white college kids were almost outnumbered by the police, who were expecting Bloods and Crips and looting. We got to watch firsthand what it was like for a controversial group to go through rough times.

Bright Eyes - "When the President Talks to God"
"Does God suggest an oil hike/ When the president talks to God?"

It's really clever, honest and angry. That's all you can ask for in a protest song. Each line begins with "When the president talks to God ..." Is it God that suggests he should open more prisons? Is it God that suggests to him which Muslim souls should be saved? There's a trick to writing protest music. If the art doesn't come first, then the music is not going to have any impact no matter what you're singing about. The new Muse record has a lot of politics in it. I don't know if they're the subtlest political points, but the band is so great that it gets over in a way that is better than a Howard Zinn polemic.

Woody Guthrie - "This Land is Your Land"
"Some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'/ If this land's still made for you and me."

You don't know it when you're singing this in the third grade, but this is America's best protest song. It was written as an answer to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." Guthrie thought Berlin really missed the point. So he wrote a class war anthem. He's talking to a specific part of America. There are two verses they've excised from your schoolbook. One of them says, "As I was walking that lonesome highway, I saw a sign that said No Trespassing/ On the other side it didn't say nothing/ That side was made for you and me." It's standing up for this land that is ours, saying it doesn't belong to warmongers and profiteers.