Congressman Paul Ryan would like to clarify that Rage Against the Machine, a band whose messages oppose nearly all of Ryan's ideology, are not his go-to jam.
"They were never my favorite band," he told the New York Times. "I hate the lyrics, but I like the sound. Led Zeppelin has always been my favorite band. Again, these urban legends get going."
An interesting choice of words: "urban legends." The Ryan/Rage controversy began roughly two years ago when the NYT included this passage in a profile:
The nation's first Generation X vice-presidential candidate, he is an avowed proponent of free markets whose family has interests in oil leases. But he counts Rage Against the Machine, which sings about the greed of oil companies and whose Web site praises the anti-corporate Occupy Wall Street movement, among his favorite bands.
The most hilarious part of all this was when Rage guitarist Tom Morello took it upon himself to respond to that indignity by writing an op-ed in Rolling Stone.
"Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades," Morello wrote. "Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.
"Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage."
Morello also made sure to address the elephant in the room.
"I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is?" he wrote. "Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of "F--- the Police"? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production? So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings!"
While the issue has long been tossed aside, it still bugs Ryan enough that he decided to "end" the discussion in his most recent sit-down and symbolically (or perhaps literally) tear down the Rage poster hanging in his room.
