Slipknot's Jim Root Calls Rage Against The Machine's Message 'Backwards'

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Rage Against the Machine have never been shy about the political messages in their music, and "Killing In The Name" reignited in popularity following the George Floyd protests in 2020, but Slipknot's Jim Root isn't inspired by the song. In fact, the guitarist thinks its message "seems backwards."

Root spoke to Music Radar about the lyrical themes of Slipknot's upcoming album The End, So Far, and gave his thoughts on RATM in the process.

“Everything is so bizarre and so bananas, I don’t even know what’s going on with the world right now,” Root explained. “I couldn’t even tell you what is going on with the culture, because, being locked up for two years, and then you come out and everything’s upside down, it’s really… I don’t get it.”

“I thought rock ‘n’ roll, and punk and metal, and all that stuff was meant to be anti-establishment and against the man, and now it seems more and more like, ‘Obey!’ and do as you’re told sorta s**t, and that seems backwards to me," he continued. “I don’t know if I am the only one that feels that way. I haven’t really talked to anyone in the band about it, ’cause we’re just trying to get through these tours, through the protocol and the COVID s**t, and all that.”

“We haven’t really checked in with one another to see how we’re doing, how we’re feeling about the state of the world and all that, but when I hear a band that’s saying ‘F**k you, I won’t do what you tell me'' telling me to do what the government tells me to do, that seems backwards to me," Root admitted. “I think people are just so f**king sick and tired of sociopolitical content because you are just hammered with it, no matter if it’s a news cycle, a feed on social media, or any of that s**t."

Instead, Root believes people want to listen to and see live music as a means to escape. “What I get, when we go out and play shows, is people just don’t f**king care about that anymore," he said. "People have their issues, and people have their things they are concerned about. Yes, of course, and they always will. But for the most part people just wanna shut off, come out and forget about the world for a while, and they wanna have fun.”


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