33. Rage Against the Machine - Renegades of Funk (2002)

The last rock record to recall what rock once was is this record, from the band whose very name - Rage Against the Machine - reminds us that rock used to be music that matters, music that makes you want to stand up and rebel against the world. And this is exactly what this record does: lights a fire under you. I didn't get that from any other rock record throughout the entire decade.

Actually, in the mid-nineties there was already a sense that rock is beginning to shove its head up its own ass, and lose contact with the reality around it. One of the only rock genres that still did it for me was funk-metal, whose bands - Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Faith No More etc. - still remembered that rock was originally white boys making black music, and drew from funk to put extra energy into their metal. Towards the end of the decade, they were joined by the rap-metal bands, who merged metal and hip-hop. But the rap-metal bands lacked inspiration, and when Eminem came along, he drew the creative forces to distance themselves from rock and adopt hip-hop as their basis. Looking back, the main historical significance of funk-metal and rap-metal was that they formed one of the bridges on which the hegemony of the pop world passed from rock to hip-hop.

Rage Against the Machine combined the energies of funk-metal and rap-metal with a strong political stance, and were one of the last rock bands who made you feel like your world stands and falls with the music. Here they borrow a classic track from hip-hop legend Africa Bambaataa, and turn it into agitated, confrontational and inspiring rock. For Bambaataa, funk was the essence that drives the black man towards a better destiny, but Rage are letting us know that funk is hereon the essence of us all, and it drives humanity towards a better future. If this is truly the last great rock record, it is a grand final chord.