Personally I'm a huge fan of RATM. I'm very unsure, however, of how exactly they'll be remembered. Do you think they'll go down as a "great" band of this generation or will they mostly be forgotten? Two interesting points about them which I think are noteworthy:


-I once had a discussion about which band would it be most tough for someone to cover one of their songs and do it better than the original. And many of us agreed upon RATM simply because the unique quality of Tom and Zack. (FWIW Led Zeppelin was the other popular choice in the conversation)

-I think that many people would agree that they are FAR AND AWAY the best band of their genre(rap/metal fusion or rapcore I guess you could call it). I mean, seriously what other mainstream band in that genre is even in their league? And is there any other band that has such a wide gap between them and the other mainstream bands of their particular genre?



I would be very happy if they had a great legacy. In the post-Nirvana era they're one of my three favorite bands(the other two being Radiohead and Weezer). Thoughts?

I am a fan of RATM, but I think their longevity is hindered by the fact that they did not produce many albums.

In my mind they will be fortunate if their legacy reaches that of Boston, which was another band that had a distinctive singer (ever hear a cover band play Boston?) and a guitarist with a new and unique sound, but produced few albums.

Not a huge fan, but a fan nonetheless. I think the main drawback to them is all the albums are basically the same. You know what they will sound like before they are released.

The same can be said for other very popular bands too.... AC DC for example, which has released the same rehashed stuff for decades.

(sidenote) Tom Morello's mom was my HS history teacher, I met him a few times out at the bars too. He's an alright guy.

(2nd sidenote) He used to play with Tool's guitarist back in HS, they won the battle of the bands obv.

AC/DC is one of the best 25 rock bands ever, so if RATM is remembered like that I'd say that's doing pretty well.

I like RATM and wish they had continued...OP is right in saying they're the best of their genre and on of the few bands in recent years who were overtly political. Truthfully, I think their impact and influence is on par with that of Nirvana, another band of only a few albums, but the fact that the latter band's lead singer killed himself has vaulted it ino mythical status, deserved or not.

I think RATM was the Tool of their generation...it's too bad they didn't get achance to grow and evolve like Tool has.

I really like RATM and I agree with the comments that they will be fondly remembered, by at least a segment of the population for years to come.

I don't think they will have the same legacy as Nirvana, who were certainly overrated, but also benefitted from a lot of factors outside of their music. Also, Nirvana had the benefit of one of the better musicians of the last twenty years, Dave Grohl. It still blows my mind that he played all of the intruments on The Foo Fighters debut album before he formed the band so they could tour.

In terms of other artists in the rap metal genre, I don't think they/he are/is as good as RATM, but I really like White Zombie/Rob Zombie. For some strange reason I just really like the Zombie music. Also like Rammstein.

They were kinda part of the same generation

maybe so but RATM was more of a 90s band and Tool is a 21st Century band....

People who enjoy Rock will remember RATM, people who enjoy music as a whole, or the general public, not so much. A unique sound of their own, but they used their unique sound too often, or better put they weren't very wide with variety. Their songs tended to sound the same, but I'm wondering if it was more that they had such a unique sound compared to everyone else, that you just absolutely knew it was a RATM song from the first 5 seconds of any of their songs.

I think their semi-political views won't be remember either. I think they will just be categorized as a good band of their times, that won't have any sustaining longevity or following for years.

I mean semantics but Tool put out three albums in the 90s and peaked popularity-wise with Lateralus in 2000, with only one album (right?) since then.

Tool certainly takes their sweet time putting out albums, but each one, with the possible exception of opiate, are stunning imo. I always felt like RATM never matched the intensity of the first album again.

i imagine they'll be remembered as a very talented band that didn't put out that many albums and didn't evolve (or mature, if you want to use that word) at all.

that doesn't even put them in the discussion as being a great band.

they're kind of the music equivalent of Joel Zumaya

Well, it's hard to really call them influential given that their genre is basically dead - At least until Limo Bizkit or Kid Rock make a big comeback (Beastie Boys notwithstanding) though I've always thought they were closer to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers or maybe Jane's Addiction than anything. However, being part of a dead end genre isn't the be all and end all... Ska has been basically dead for decades but that doesn't make The Specials any less than a great band. And mods have been gone for longer, but that doesn't take anything away from The Jam.

I'm not dropping those names just to be pretentious. I think that's the kind of company Rage belongs in. Bands that musicians and music geeks know and love but who ultimately fade away as far as mainstream recognition. Like The Specials, The Jam or Jane's Addiction.

Didn't RAtM get back together?

I don't think they'll be remembered as widely as Radiohead or RHCP, but I can't imagine they'll be forgotten. Granted, they didn't make a lot of music, but it's powerful stuff and it's aged really well (ya, sample size, I know). Like I said, they won't be recognized as much as other 90s bands that stayed around into the 21st century, but the people that do remember RAtM will definitely consider them one of the great bands of the era.

i think this is spot on.

I don't. I liked, didn't love, Rage when I was a kid. I still like their debut quite a bit, mostly because I'm a fan of hardcore music, and that album had the most hardcore music style. Certain songs on Evil Empire did too. Past that they got more funk oriented to me and I wasn't a huge fan.

I hear 'em on the radio a decent amount.. it sort of bothers me that people find Tom Morello's playing 'great' or 'interesting' at all. I'm sure he's talented and all.. but what he does with Rage is pretty boring and breaks up otherwise well put together songs for uninteresting, uninspiring effects instrumentals. All the while bragging about not using a synthesizer or studio effects, like that's somehow different than 8 effects pedals or whatever.

If we're going to compare them to baseball players, I'd go more along the lines of Kerry Wood than Zumaya. Especially if RATM launches an ill fated comeback as a softer version of what they were, a la Kerry Wood's current ill fated comeback as a closer with no control.

Do you have any reason to suspect they will? Everything I've heard suggests that they will not be producing any new music.

"Didn't RAtM get back together?"

some of them formed audioslave w/ chris cornell (ex soundgarden singer)...the stuff is quite meh imo...

No reason except for the fact that once all the members of a disbanded group spend their last nickels on third rate hookers and dime bags, they always get back together. It is the law of being a washed up rock star.

To be fair, Rage is quasi-reunited. They're playing some shows around the country (notably Lollapalooza coming up), but they've said they won't be making new music, afaik.

Your post needs more BOSSTONES in it.

Dicky Barrett is teh awesome.

they'll be remembered as the least embarassing act of an EXTREMELY embarassing sub-genre of music

and for the eternal irony of putting out all those lyrics and ideas on a major label

and for being totally kickass live

i dunno about this "musician and music geeks" stuff though, RATM's predominant audience is and always has been testosterone driven males between 14-25, and basically everything they influenced was trash.

Good post seabeast, but I think they'll be remembered as something separate from the gayness of late 90s-early 00s rap-rock.

lol no mention of them being the Degeneration X band at the mike tyson wrestlemaina and doing 2 theme songs for WWE

I think they'll be well remembered. I was a very big fan when I was younger and they'd broken up by the time I discovered them.

It is possible to cover them, incidentally. Me and a friend do a very bad blues cover of bombtrack called bluestrack. It's awful, but it usually gets a laugh.