If you've spent any time on social media over the past two years, your feed has probably had more of multi-billionaire Elon Musk's thoughts on it than ever before. After acquiring Twitter back in April of 2022, Musk has seemingly used a vast majority of his time to post on his own social media platform, and notably often lifting viral posts and memes created by others and sharing them as his own account to his now nearly 198,000,000 followers. Often, these joke posts, memes, and other "comedic" social media assets are years old if not longer, which is where we find Musk yet again with an indirect shot at Rage Against The Machine, stating, "Why are so many people raging FOR the machine?"
Why are so many people raging FOR the machine? 😂
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 16, 2024
On its face, this is a typical, outdated boomer joke that people who are not a fan of RATM's messaging or music have trotted out for years, as if the lazy play on words is any sort of clapback to the band or anyone with similar views to the band's messaging and lyrics.
Whether or not the band members themselves were the intended targets, guitarist Tom Morello responded by quote tweeting Elon Musk and sharing the album art of Evil Empire, stating, "Funny cuz Elon was the kid on the cover of Evil Empire." This is not the first time Morello has criticized Elon Musk for his opinions. Back in January, Musk and many other right wing pundits, including some on Fox News, lost their minds over Green Day changing a lyric in their politically charged song, "American Idiot," to directly call out the Trump administration. Elon stated on X," Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it." Morello and many others responded to the pseudo outrage with sharing pictures of celebrities and musicians that frequented FOX News and other right wing outlets, calling out the immediate hypocrisy of the messaging.
"Evil Empire" is the name of Rage Against The Machine's 1996 second album, which went triple platinum. The album title criticized certain negative aspects of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, and was inspired by a speech given by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, in which he condemned the Soviet Union. However, when guitarist Tom Morello mentioned Elon Musk in relation to the album, he was speaking metaphorically—Musk was not the person depicted on the album cover.
In fact, the cover features a painting of Ari Meisel by Mel Ramos, titled "CrimeBusters." The band later discovered the painting and used it for their album art, as reported by Kerrang! in 2018.
Over the years, Rage Against The Machine has faced heavy criticism for their political views. During the pandemic, some critics labeled them "Rage For The Machine" because they followed COVID-19 health guidelines during their abbreviated 2022 reunion tour. Right-wing and anti-vax groups objected to the band's shows potentially being restricted by local health measures. However, Morello clarified that by the time the tour occurred after pandemic-related delays, there were no mandatory vaccination restrictions at their shows. Despite this, misinformation continues to fuel criticism against the band, though as usual Morello and his bandmates readily dismantle the talking points succinctly.
As much as Musk tries with what some may label as "humor," or "edginess," the joke is tired and the set up is lazy, as per his usual MO. Let's watch a Rage video instead:
