Illustration by Eric Gillin, Photograph by WireImage

Dear Zack de la Rocha,

Welcome back, buddy! Until you did that reunion gig at Coachella, I had forgotten all about you! And how you abandoned Rage Against the Machine, its rabid fanbase and those left-leaning political ideals to go wank off with DJ Shadow on a solo record that has still never seen the light of day. But, hey, nobody's bitter about the last seven plus years -- it's not like anything of consequence happened while you were gone.

I'm not going to be negative. This week, it's been really nice to look back on your career with Rage, when you and Tom Morello provided the perfect soundtrack for angst during the prosperous Clinton Era. (Dude, remember those epic battles against the Parents Music Resource Center? How about that Mumia Abu-Jamal guy, huh? Oh, and Leonard Peltier, too!) You were totally changing the world every day -- Che Guevara didn't even have his own T-shirt before you guys got to him! Thinking back on that time feels like flipping through old photos from college. Good times.

Still. You leaving. Talk about crappy timing. After a summer spent flipping off cops and raising a ruckus at the 2000 party conventions, you totally bailed... just as the Bush administration came into power. Then September 11 went down, Clear Channel yanked Rage songs off the air, and you? Nothing. After spending seven years sending your fans into street fights with Howitzers, you left them unarmed on D-Day.

Hey, you know, whatever. Everybody gets a little subjective amnesia about those heady, Lee Greenwood-fueled days after the Twin Towers blew up. I'm sure you were probably preparing a scathing hard-rock screed about the foreign policy blunders that led to Al Qaeda's ascendancy just as Congress was signing off on the Patriot Act. It's cool, I mean, Linkin Park was holding it down for you -- they did a record with Jay-Z!

And when the U.S. went into war in Iraq based on sketchy intelligence and utter ignorance of the inherent religious and ethnic conflicts that could arise during an ensuing occupation? That Web-only release of March of Death was more than adequate. The thirty-two people who heard the song were moved. Why should you use the deplorable Capitalist machine to broadcast your position to millions when you can do the technological equivalent of handing out fliers?

You have nothing to apologize for. It's not your fault "Killing In The Name" has devolved from a protest song to the tune they play after last call at Paddy O'Herlihey's. (FYI: it usually comes on right after "Jump Around.") Who cares if "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!" has become the mantra of suburban teens who don't want to do homework or leave the mall early? Its not your fault that the Dixie Chicks and Pink are what passes as subversive or that the task of fighting the Bush regime has been left to grey panthers like Springsteen, Bono and dust-farting hippy Joan Baez, who got kicked off a bill at Walter Reed Medical Center this weekend.

With minorities being treated like fifteenth-class citizens during Hurricane Katrina, habeas corpus being tossed aside like Kim Kardashian's underwear when a camera turns on, Guantanamo Bay being used as a kennel, Enron mugging employees for their life savings while folding in disgrace, Jack Abramoff playing Texas Hold 'Em with the concept of Congressional ethics, Mark Foley hitting on anything that looked like a mid-'90s Lukas Haas, George Allen reintroducing "macaca" to the national lexicon...

I'm sure you had your reasons for walking away. Subcommandante Marcos and the Zapatistas probably would have done the same thing if they were in your position.

Sincerely,

Jason Notte

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