Pocket Full of Shells
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
This video is a couple of months old (September 2, 2008), but I still thought it was a very fascinating video to watch.
Rage Against the Machine, for those that don't know, is a rap rock band that has always been highly critical of the U.S. government's foreign and domestic policy. Back in September, the band was supposed to perform at an event called the Ripple Effect Festival, which promoted non-partisan politics. The festival was to take place near the the Republican convention at the Minnesota State Capitol. According the Ripple Effect staff, state law enforcement and capitol staff prevented Rage Against the Machine from taking the stage stating that they arrived 30 minutes passed the 7pm event curfew.
State officials likely knew about the nature of Rage Against the Machine's music and the band's history of political activism, so they used a curfew regulation in an attempt to muzzle the band's freedom of speech. However, as the video below will illustrate, what the state did could possibly have served to magnify the impact of the message that the band was trying to get across. What may have been just another concert in Minnesota, has generated nearly half a million views of the event that took place afterwards as Rage Against the Machine took to the streets and performed A cappella over the megaphone to thousands of fans.
Perhaps it is because it was the state attempting the curtail the rights of a famous band that drew the attention of hundreds of thousands, but it does shows how quickly a political movement can unfold.
More information about the event can be found here:
Powers, A., "Rage Against the Machine in Minnesota and the state of political pop" L.A. Times Music Blog, (3 September 2008).
