Rage Against the Machine - Testify song analysis

Rage Against the Machine are arguably the first band to blend hip-hop-style vocals with heavy-metal grinding guitars to create the sub-genre known as rock-rap. The mostly down-tuned, heavily funk-influenced metal guitar from Tom Morello combined with the booming rhythm section of bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk give vocalist Zack de la Rocha the perfect backdrop to showcase his politically influenced and hard-hitting lyrics.

“Testify”, the first song from Rage Against the Machine’s 1999 album ‘The Battle of Los Angeles”, appears to be a commentary of the general public’s blindness to international issues and the filtering of information by the news media. This could be dealing with the American public, what the band is a part of, but it is not mentioned directly in the song. Rage Against the Machine identifies this current problem by making references to the filtered-down information put forth by the news media, the war over oil in the middle east, and ...