It’s a beautiful sunny Sunday in England and all is very much well with the world. It makes a sharp change from the rest of the weekend where it has been nothing but an uphill struggle where doing my job I like very much became a job. Not all of it, by any means, with a joyful Comedy Club 4 Kids in Bath yesterday featuring a small girl called Eliza who was all powerful, and even last night’s gig being far nicer than it was on Friday though that isn’t saying much. Especially as part of the comedy came from a man who’s birthday was ruined because his friend wouldn’t let him sleep with his daughter. Hmm. Yes. The freedom of escaping that gig as it finished and getting back into my car to head home was only exaggerated by the fact that I had very carefully picked my travelling music of choice to include what I like to call some of my favourite ‘angry music’. Angry music is the music you need to either a) hype yourself up or b) shout until you calm yourself down. Often when used for a), I shout too much and end up doing b). Its a wonderfully cathartic experience. So today I choose to share some of my favourite ‘angry music’ tracks with you, for you to shout at as well.
Track 1, last night’s prime choice and what made most of the other cars on the A3 hate me is one of many Zack De La Rocha tracks that very much fuel the ‘angry music fire’. Rage Against The Machine has, and always will be, one of my favourite bands for that sheer combination of thrash guitar/hip hop/political combination, essentially taking many things I love and mashing them together in one big pot of shout. There is little that will get me quite as fired up as the first few tracks of their first self titled album, with the riff that starts Bomb Track followed by Killing In The Name’, if listened to in a row, making me feel mere seconds away from breaking things and climbing stuff. That’s often the feeling I get when hearing properly angry music and in that order. Ideally, I would have an iPod with just those two tracks on it, a baseball bat, a lot of expensive vases and then a big ladder and it’d be my best day ever. While I’m a huge fan of Tom Morello, Zack’s vocals are what make Rage for me. The anger and passion in that man’s voice makes him sound like he will fight for his beliefs until he is cut down. If you ever get a chance to hear RATM’s cover of Cypress Hill’s ‘How Could I Just Kill A Man’ I think it proves that no one else could be possible of making an angry track even more so. I try on a daily basis to impersonate Zack’s voice. FACT.
This Zack track though isn’t a Rage one. No, this is the incredible combination of one of my favourite vocalists with Roni Size. Drum n Bass, as explained in my blog a few days ago, is another type of music that just gets my going. Its inexplainable but the rapid fire drum beats do something to my blood stream that make it dangerous if I listen to it in charge of any kind of machinery. The only other thing that used to have quite such an effect was the 24 soundtrack where I would often miss red lights if the CD was spinning in the car stereo, because I would be compelled to believe I was ‘on a mission’. Roni Size is one of the true heroes of DnB. I used to see him DJ at Fabric quite a lot, and still remember one of the best Reprezent gigs at Shepherd’s Bush Empire where Jungle Drummer missed a beat due to having the flu, and all six DJ’s, like robots, scratched and reset to the correct beat at the same time. ‘Yoiks’ was and still is the only word I can think of. Roni Size once said that he save all his best beats for his friends and family only, and since then, I have desperately strived to become his friend.
So yes, this track combines my favourite ‘angry’ voice with a truly hardcore beat. And there is 7 minutes of it. 7 whole minutes of sheer this. Enjoy:
Centre Of The Storm – Reprezent feat Zack De La Rocha
I harped on about that one for quite some time so let’s just riff through the rest before you get too angry to continue. So here are some others to burn off enough steam to run a small train from:
Shut ‘Em Down – Onyx feat DMX – You will notice that most tracks are hip hop or DnB orientated on today’s blog, and this is one of my fave hardcore rap tunes ever. Complete vile, nasty vitriol from the masters of such a style, Onyx, entirely about ‘Shuttin’ someone down. Add to that DMX who sounds permanently like someone’s pissed on his cereal, and its a whole world of raaaaaa.
Iz They Wildin Wit Us – Busta Rhymes feat Mystikal – Another from the hip hop vibe, this track is more fun than angry, but the sheer speed of it makes my brain want to jump out of my head and punch someone’s pet. Maybe. Mystikal sounds not only like someone’s pissed on his cereal, but as though they then violently shook him, despite him saying ‘no stop it’ a lot and then told his mother her hair smelt bad. He is proper mental angry. Then Busta’s rhyming goes beyond the speed of sound causes several dogs ears to implode. Maybe. Either way, it’s immense.
Temper Temper – Goldie feat Noel Gallagher – Most of these tracks seems to be an artist with a guest artist featuring which I guess may be cos then before recording they can irritate each other by doing ‘not touching can’t get mad’ or poking each other in the eye with things to incite the appropriate mood for the track. This track has Goldie who spends the video hitting things with a baseball bat just to show you how bad his temper is, while Noel Gallagher plays guitar. I mean, if I was hanging out with Goldie and he was all angry and had a bat, I’m not sure what else I’d do either. ANGER!
Angry enough yet? No? Well then try: any of 2Pac’s albums (not all angry at all, but it seems to work for me – oh and particularly the track ‘Hit ‘Em Up’, thanks @Paulbailey ! ), Non-Phixion – The CIA Is Trying To Kill Me, Noreaga – Superthug (which consists mostly of the word ‘WHAT?!?’, and yes, I’m sure the exclamation post word looks like that if written down), KRS One – Rappaz R N Danja (Chain Me To The Gear Remix) (This is by another RATM legend Tom Morello and his guitar makes KRS’s fear about rappers extinction seem rather harried. I bet no one described it like that before), Krust – Coded Language feat Saul Williams.
Now I know some people will be angry at my omittance of Metal tracks but if you want to recommend any please do. I’ll be honest, I need beats to fuel my rage. Musical beats I mean, though the other kind will probably induce some level of upset. Also, I’ve left out the Prodigy which usually works to an extent, but not as much. Any other suggestions for cathartic shouty times all welcome. I’m now all raged out and off to have tea and thoughts of sunny things. Hope you are suitably chilled too after my display of angry music. If instead I’ve made you more angry then try impersonating Zack De La Rocha until your voice hurts and you get tired. It works for me.
* Amendments have already been made thank to Twitter suggestions. @PaulBailey reminded me of one of the best angry 2Pac tracks ever. Also @Kelly_Harrison recommended Godsmack – I Fucking Hate You, @KR8ZYIVAN suggested Strapping Young Lad – Rapesong and Chimara – Pure Hated, and @Jaykayll suggested All Of Broken by NIN. And I’ve just remembered everything by Anal Cunt, especially the track ‘You’ve Got Cancer.’ More please!
