Did white Rage Against the Machine fans actually listen to/understand the lyrics?

[Clayton Endicott]

It went STRAIGHT over the vast majority of White people's heads.

Including the executives of Coca-Cola

So I automatically assume that whoever is listening, especially if they're White, has no idea what's going on until proven otherwise

These are the same dumb ass white folks that blast Born In The USA every 4th of July. I think Ronald Reagan's senile ass used it on the campaign trail in '84 too

 

[keond]

cacs are dense as fukk. Remember the song Born in the USA?



White bred hillbilly fukking cacs think this is some rah rah USA is awesome song, because of the hook.

Springsteen was literally mocking patriotism

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said "son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "son, don't you understand"
I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go
Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I'm a long gone daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I'm a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A.

Although a superficial listener might think the song a flag-waving paean to America, the song is actually a wry and somewhat caustic commentary on the hypocrisy of patriotism. The tune recognizes the plight of unfortunate foreign peoples suffering in a questionable war; while paying tribute to Vietnam veterans who served their country, some of whom were Springsteen's friends and some of whom did not return from the conflict; it also protests the hardships Vietnam veterans faced upon their return from the war.

The song's narrative traces the protagonist's working-class origins, induction into the armed forces, and disaffected return to the States. An anguished lyrical interlude is even more jolting, describing the fate of the protagonist's (literal or figurative) brother (in some recordings or live shows, the word "brother" is replaced with "buddy"):


I had a brother at Khe Sanh

Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there; he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms, now


Though the primary enemy combatants in the Battle of Khe Sanh were the North Vietnamese Army, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) did aid the NVA forces in the fighting. For the song's lyrics, obviously, Viet Cong made more sense for poetic purposes, rather than to serve as the most accurate portrayal of the battle. Eventually the Americans prevailed and broke the siege, only to withdraw from the outpost a couple of months later. Khe Sanh thus became one of the media symbols of the futility of the whole war effort in the States.

Two scholars writing in the journal American Quarterly explored the song as a lament for the embattled working-class identity. Structurally, they noted that "the anthemic chorus contrasted with the verses' desperate narrative," a tension which informs an understanding of the song's overall meaning: the nationalist chorus continuously overwhelms the desperation and sacrifice relayed in the verses. They point out that the imagery of the Vietnam War could be read as metaphor for "the social and economic siege of American blue-collar communities" at large, and that lyrics discussing economic devastation are likely symbolic for the effect of blind nationalism upon the working class. The song as a whole, they felt, laments the destabilization of the economics and politics protecting the "industrial working class" in the 1970s and early 1980s, leaving only "a deafening but hollow national pride."[5]

 

[ThrobbingHood]

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that white people love the idea of rebellion, anti-establishment, revolution but not if it means black liberation:

“Give me Liberty or Give Me Death.”

Stone Cold was the most popular wrestler (before The Rock overtook him), because here was a white guy who would Stunner his boss, said fukk his establishment and wouldn’t play by the rules.

A white guy broke it down to me years ago. That’s how a lot of them felt about work and their boss.

So even if the music is rebellious, against their own interest (white supremacy), they still love the idea of anarchy... but they won’t truly support it all the way through.

The Clash was against classism but most of their fans were middle to upper class white kids. Public Enemy had/had a mainly white fan base screaming “Fight The Power”. These fools just like anything that says fukk the establishment.

But as @Booker T Garvey stated, once they get older, get jobs, a wife and children and it comes time to placing them in a good school.. they swiftly become Just like the white girls who fukk with black men in college but erase that part of their past once they move into suburbia with Chad.

 

[ColdSlither]

No they don’t. I remember when John McCain played Born in the USA. A very anti Vietnam and war song in general, on top of being about a broken system. And not just him, a bunch of conservatives politicians rock out to his song, and it’s like are you even listening to what he’s saying

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

Did they really listen to wu-tang?

Public enemy? Dead Prez?

 

[boskey]

Bob Marley especially

 

[Grand Eeezus Maxwell]

I’ve always wondered the same about white Wu-Tang fans. Along with all the 120 references, RZA, Masta Killa, Dirty, U-God, Sunz Of Man & Killarmy, in particular, stayed wit the “killin devils” bars. Shogun even had a line about “snipers hittin caucasians” lol

 

[Cladyclad]

It depends on the fans.
Are they overall metal fans, or are they fans that listen to the artist for the lyrics themselves?

I know plenty of fans of groups like System of a Down, The Clash, even Green Day who legitimately give no credence to the anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and socialist lyrics of the group; they just enjoy the grooves and hooks of the songs.

I also know a lot of people who listen to those artists BECAUSE OF the concepts and the message itself.

Remember Chocolate Rain?
Song was exclusively about systemic racism, and Blackness in the US. Every single line of the song.

It went STRAIGHT over the vast majority of White people's heads.

Including the executives of Coca-Cola

So I automatically assume that whoever is listening, especially if they're White, has no idea what's going on until proven otherwise

I was too busy laughing at dude for years. Never listen to that shyt

That shyt crazy

 

[Cloutius Maximus]

I was too busy laughing at dude for years. Never listen to that shyt

That shyt crazy

bruh i just googled the lyrics wow...

 

[Rollie Forbes]

Chuck Berry
Hendrix
Prince
Bad Brains
Slash
Morello

They better hope we don’t take that shyt back once we get bored with hip hop

Add Eddie Hazel and Vernon Reid to that list.

 

[Cadillac]

cacs do this all the time

you see this with Hip hop in how they stan Wu tang, Public enemy, Tupac etc

some do know the message, but just don't care

 

[Listen]

Forget white people, if people in general really cared about lyrics in their music, we wouldn't have almost any artists that's on the radio.

Regular people only care about melodies and catchy hooks.

As a young hip hop fan, I had a weird time figuring out if I should even listen to some of it, since some of it, like Dead Prez specifically, was not inclusive to us pink people.

 

[Originalman]

I've always wondered if they were really paying attention to what they were really saying or if they only cared about the guitar work









Reminds me of all the white Wu-Tang fans who pretend they understand the lyrics but don't realize RZA and them are calling them devils lol

So true....

 

[jackswstd]

White folks are dumb. Born in the USA was against the Vietnam War and they adopted it as an anthem.

 

[xCivicx]

It depends on the fans.
Are they overall metal fans, or are they fans that listen to the artist for the lyrics themselves?

I know plenty of fans of groups like System of a Down, The Clash, even Green Day who legitimately give no credence to the anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and socialist lyrics of the group; they just enjoy the grooves and hooks of the songs.

I also know a lot of people who listen to those artists BECAUSE OF the concepts and the message itself.

Remember Chocolate Rain?
Song was exclusively about systemic racism, and Blackness in the US. Every single line of the song.

It went STRAIGHT over the vast majority of White people's heads.

Including the executives of Coca-Cola

So I automatically assume that whoever is listening, especially if they're White, has no idea what's going on until proven otherwise

Yeah that song was deep as shyt but the whole internet meme part of it overshadowed the actual lyrics