"Vietnow" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerfor ...

and the final single from their album '' Evil Empire''. Officially it is only the third single from the album, as "

Down Rodeo "Down Rodeo" is a promotional single by American Rock music, rock band Rage Against the Machine which was initially sent out to various American radio stations. The song was intended as the third single from their ''Evil Empire (album), Evil Emp ...

" was a promo release only.

About

The cover photograph of an elderly lady seen from the back, carrying a

boombox A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered through ...

radio and walking down a mountain was taken by the Mexican photographer

Graciela Iturbide Graciela Iturbide (born May 16, 1942) is a Mexican photographer. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and is included in many major museum collections such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The J. Paul Getty Museum. Biograp ...

in the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...

in 1979. The original photograph is called "Mujer Ángel" and has also appeared in the black-and-white photography book, ''Canto a la Realidad: Fotografia Latinoamericana, 1860-1993'' as compiled by

Erika Billeter Erika Billeter (also known as Erika Gysling-Billeter, née Erika Schulze; November 8, 1927 – August 12, 2011), was a German-born Swiss art historian, curator, writer, and museum director. She was a prolific author and specialized in writing ...

. The song's lyrics concern right-wing

AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transm ...

shows, hosted by people such as

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

Oliver North Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. A veteran of the Vietnam War, North was a National Secu ...

and

Michael Reagan Michael Edward Reagan (born March 18, 1945) is an American political commentator, Republican strategist, and former radio talk show host. He is the adopted son of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and his first wife, actress Jane Wyman. He wo ...

. The verse riffs bear a resemblance to "

The Wanton Song "The Wanton Song" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their sixth studio album, 1975's ''Physical Graffiti''. It was developed from a jam session during rehearsals. Recording For his guitar solo, Page employed a backwards echo (whe ...

" by

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, whom

Tom Morello Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the rock band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello ...

has cited as a major influence. The lyrics "is all the world jails and churches" are perhaps influenced by the works of American novelist

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...

. Baldwin's 1953 novel ''Go Tell It on the Mountain'' includes the character Roy Grimes arguing with his mother and commenting, "You think that's all that's in the world is jails and churches?" At least one of James Baldwin's books is contained on

's '' Evil Empire'' liner notes. The line "Comin down like bats from Stacey Koon" is a reference to Sgt.

Stacey Koon Stacey Cornell Koon (born November 23, 1950) is an American convicted criminal and former sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department. He is one of the four police officers who were responsible for beating Rodney King in 1991. He was sentence ...

, one of the four

LAPD The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

policemen videotaped beating black motorist

Rodney King Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers during his arrest after a pursuit for driving whi ...

in 1991. He and Laurence Powell were the only two convicted of the four. The lyrics "Undressed and blessed but the lord, the same devil that ran around

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

with a sword" are a reference to the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

's involvement in sending

CONTRAS The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...

into

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

to shut down the Sandinista movement. The song made its live debut during the 1996

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...

festival in Australia. The song was covered by the hardcore punk band

Stray from the Path Stray from the Path is an American hardcore punk band formed in 2001 in Long Island, New York. They have released ten full-length albums. Their first three records were independently released – ''People Over Profit'' in 2002, ''Audio Prozac'' ...

in 2012.

Track listing

#"Vietnow" #"Clear the Lane" #"Intro/Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" (Live) #"Zapata's Blood" (Live)

References

External links

Official website

Axis of Justice
Tom Morello and

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...

's Activist Website "

Axis Of Justice Axis of Justice is a non-profit organization co-founded by Serj Tankian and Tom Morello. Its purpose is to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots progressivism to fight for social justice together. Formation In a 2007 intervi ...

" *
Graciela Iturbide´s Official Website
{{Authority control Rage Against the Machine songs 1997 singles Songs written by Zack de la Rocha Songs written by Tim Commerford Songs written by Tom Morello Songs written by Brad Wilk 1997 songs Songs against capitalism Epic Records singles