Rock music has always been a genre that needs to evolve to stay relevant and creative. It's a necessary part of the art world to keep up with the ever-changing cultural landscape. But no genre needed a resurgence quite as desperately as rock. Since the 1950s and the rise of Elvis Presley, rock has been the definitive genre with the most mainstream fans. However, this mainstream success came with gatekeepers who believed that rock's brilliance was rooted in tradition: blues riffs and mid-tempo rhythms. This attitude became harmful by the mid-1970s, leading to the emergence of new diverse genres like disco, soul, and even psychedelic and punk rock. But in the 1990s, rock was truly under threat as culture began to rapidly change. With the turn of the millennium, traditional rock modes were becoming quickly antiquated, and so it needed an exciting resurgence to prove why it had been so popular for so many years.
Rage Against the Machine cleverly blended rock and rap to usher in a new dawn of rap rock, capturing the angst of those living in the shadows of society while simultaneously moving rock into a brave new genre. In this fusion, they could boldly take on political agendas in a contemporary and relatable way. This was a shot in the arm for rock music, proving that no matter the decade, there's always a way to evolve. It's why bands like Bring Me The Horizon have managed to top festival bills and sell out arena tours in the modern age, as they are evolving the rock genre to speak to a more contemporary crowd.
So it was only right that Rage's Tom Morello and Bring Me The Horizon found a song to collaborate on, merging their appetite for the future and creating something fresh. This culminated in the 2021 track 'Let's Get the Party Started', about which Morello stated: 'I admire the fact that Bring Me The Horizon are forward-facing fans of hard rock'. Adding, 'They're not tethered to what has come before; they're willing to unapologetically rock super hard with their horns up, but at the same time, they have a flexibility to try different things. I thought we might sound great together!' While the method and approach might differ from Rage's in their '90s pomp, the sentiment is still the same, and that is something that should be protected, because perhaps now in the modern age, authenticity in music is more important than ever.
