Song of the Day 9/11: Rage Against the Machine, “Killing in the Name”

This will be debated by future historians, but for my money the United States’ embrace of fascism can be traced to Sept. 11, 2001. Fascistic movements thrive on defense of blood and soil, and in that regard the attack by Middle Eastern extremists operated like the Reichstag Fire.

Consider: In the immediate aftermath, polls recorded 87% public support for George W. Bush, among the highest ever recorded for any president. Cable infotainment embraced pro-American, and soon pro-war, propaganda. Self-censorship extended even to marginal media like music radio. Clear Channel, which owned more than 1,200 stations at the time, compiled a list of “lyrically questionable” songs that DJs might not want to play. Though avoiding the word, the memo functioned as a de facto ban.

Most songs on the list had lyrics about airplanes, fire or death, though there were some odd inclusions, like the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian.” A few — “Peace Train,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Imagine,” for example — seem to have been prohibited for preaching pacifism; more than a whiff of fascism there.

Only one band had its entire output prohibited: Rage Against the Machine. Fascists allow no criticism of their country or institutions, and such criticism is Rage’s raison d’etre.
Censorship has frequently been the response — when they appeared on “Saturday Night Live” in 1996 they were expelled from the building after their first song, and were physically barred from the stage by police at a free concert near the 2008 Republican National Convention.

“Killing in the Name,” inspired by the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police in 1991, appeared on the band’s first LP the next year. It’s the best-selling single in the band’s catalog because in 2009 a British guy, disgusted that the UK’s holiday charts were being dominated each year by singers from the TV talent show “X Factor,” mounted a campaign to make “Killing in the Name” the No. 1 tune that Christmas. It succeeded, and RATM donated proceeds from the sales to charity. They also played a free concert in London the next year to celebrate.