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Guerrilla Radio

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"Guerrilla Radio"
Song

"Guerrilla Radio" is the second track from the 1999 album The Battle of Los Angeles by the band Rage Against the Machine. The band won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for this song. It has remained one of their signature tracks, along with "Bulls on Parade" and "Killing in the Name" off Evil Empire and their debut album respectively. "Guerrilla Radio" was also featured on the popular skateboarding game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. It is their highest charting single.

The song was covered by lounge/comedy group Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, whose band name also spoofs Rage. In April 2007, Alanis Morissette covered [1] it live. It is worth noting that Rage Against The Machine's Evil Empire bumped her debut album Jagged Little Pill from the number one spot on the Billboard 200 back in 1996.

On July 2007, the song's video for "Guerrilla Radio" was ranked #45 on MuchMusic's 50 Most Controversial Videos for extreme amounts of profanity. Though, it appeared in RTPNadverts in the summer of 2006, as an instrumental song.

This song is one of many various songs featured on the album Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran.

Music video

The promo was shot by production company Squeak Pictures in Los Angeles in October 1999 and directed by Happy, i.e., the husband-and-wife directorial team of Laura Kelly and Nicholas Brooks. The video which, among others, touches upon the exploitation of garment workers, parodies the popular late 90's Gap commercials directed by Pedro Romhanyi.[1] These ads featured attractive young people singing songs while against a white backdrop, wearing Gap clothing. The phrase "everybody in denial" (the 'denial' being Gap brand leather, vests, etc) then flashes loudly across the screen.

The video begins with bland, generic, elevator music music being played. There are shots of sweatshop workers (UNITE! union members playing themselves) at their tables, against a white backdrop. Shortly, the phrase "everybody in denial" is flashed on screen. The band is then seen standing against a white background, calmly playing their instruments. As the song picks up, pictures are seen of a man putting money from the workers in his pockets, taking a girl away from her mother, and the band playing live in a dark, strobe-lit room.

Track listing

  1. "Guerrilla Radio"
  2. "Without a Face (Live Version)"

UK Track Listing

Disc 1

  1. "Guerrilla Radio"
  2. "No Shelter"
  3. "The Ghost of Tom Joad"

Disc 2

  1. "Guerrilla Radio" (Radio Edit)
  2. "Fuck tha Police" (Live) (N.W.A cover)
  3. "Freedom" (Live)

Other Versions

DJ Quik produced a remix of the song, featuring rearranged instrumentals and new verses by Zack de la Rocha along with the original version's chorus and outro.

As part of his solo project, The Nightwatchman, Tom Morello plays an acoustic version of this song at live shows.

References

  1. ^ Johnson, Tina (1999-10-07). "Rage Against the Machine Lands Oscar Winner for "Guerilla Radio" Video". MTV Networks. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rage Against The Machine.
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