In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello was asked about those who think “metal should not be political.”
“Yeah, well, when people say that musicians should not be involved in politics, it means they are people that disagree with your politics,” he responded (via Blabbermouth). “The second that you write a song that agrees with their politics, all of a sudden they’re all for it. So, one, it’s very hypocritical, but two, I also think that, why should you give away your free speech rights in the job that you do? Because it offends someone?”
Morello continued: “I think the converse is what is actually true. I think that you do yourself and your times a disservice by censoring who you are in your work. Not just musicians. I think, one, it’s sort of weirdly sort of selfish to kind of ghettoize musicians as, like, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t say anything.’ I think in your work as a music journalist or in your work as a tour manager or as your work as a bus driver, whatever, you should not leave behind who you are and what you believe.
“And I think, like I said, there’s an extra hot layer of hell for people in times of great injustice who censor themselves and remain quiet when they should have spoken out because they’re afraid of some Internet troll.”
