Music can make strange bedfellows, unexpected friendships, and unlikely alliances. Okay, life can make strange bedfellows…
"You might be surprised that Ted Nugent and I are good friends," the Rage guitarist admitted when asked by [Howard] Stern about separating an artist's musical work from their politics. Morello then revealed how he and the Motor City Madman became pals."
"While we certainly have differences, I consider [Nugent] a friend," Morello admitted.
You can hear the story of their budding acquaintance and the politics of deciding who gets to vote on who gets inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in this video of an interview with Howard Stern.
I've been sitting with this since I saw an interview with Morello in March 2021. I know neither of them personally except through their music. Nugent is a monumentally talented guitarist and a Trump supporter who has made controversial political statements and taken alt-right conservative political positions. Morello's recent collaborations with Boots Riley from The Coup as the phenom group Street Sweeper Social Club are potent, honest, and creative political anthems. This is not about their friendship. Still, the clash in my head of diametrically opposed political positions made me think more about relationships and politics in general, with people in your life, from work, the interweb, the gym, or other social spaces, and with family and friends.
Perhaps this video of Trump supporters "performing" Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" was a portend of this musical friendship. The video is just ridiculously rich and dripping in non-Alanis Morrissette irony. As a reminder, "Killing in the Name" was released in 1992 after the not guilty verdict in the legal case of the police officers videotaped beating Rodney King.
From "Killing in the Name"
"Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses"
I don't know what friendship and caring can mean when one's political beliefs and actions might make life chances and experiences more precarious and unsafe for one's friends or family. Famous people are famous. Ideology is a market. There should be no free speech for Fascism.
