Over the bank holiday weekend Rage Against the Machine played their first comeback shows in Britain at the Reading and Leeds festivals. Stupidly, I’d spent all my pennies on other festivals and couldn’t even afford a day ticket to go and see my teenage heroes, who were incidentally my first ever gig.

Rage were the band that showed me the bigger world outside of my drab, acne-ridden, sulky, suburban existence (actually what’s changed?) Zack de La Rocha’s politically charged lyrics and Tom Morello’s other-worldly, remarkable guitar playing excited me and framed my new, tortured feelings of life’s terrible injustices – while of course giving me something heavy to mosh to.

I bought their entire back catalogue (still on the iPod), a cracking t-shirt (sadly hasn’t lasted the years) a nifty poster (only my girlfriend’s intervention stopped it from going back on my bedroom wall the other day) and general socialist paraphernalia, including a Che Guevara t-shirt (same fate as the Rage one) and an anti-nazi badge (I had to take it off my satchel, as from afar it looked like a normal swastika, which really wasn’t cool in a multi-cultural south London state school…)

This moment of teenage discovery and obsession is a common experience, but Rage’s comeback got me thinking about the relatively poor music scene I had as a teenager. I’m horrified to say it, but I’m a product of the Nu metal and rap-rock period. Although I’ve never had any love for the commercial tackiness of Limp Bizkit or the gross pantomime antics of Slipknot, I did have love for not just Rage, but Korn and the Deftones among numerous others.

Looking back, I’m unconvinced that middle class white rappers backed by an over-produced rock band, have ever or will ever be any good – I mean does anyone remember Crazy Town?

However, there are some moments where this hybrid does succeed. Public Enemy’s reworking of Bring the Noise with thrash band, Anthrax still sounds fresh today. The genre could even be going through a resurgence. Flobots a rap-rock group form California, are currently having massive success with their latest single Handlebars, and its sweeping political/ moral/ humanitarian message. It may be well meaning, but I always preferred my political message to be about obscure Mexican revolutionary groups.

I suppose the true gift of rap-rock infested teenage years is that it quickly opened me up to other areas of rock, indie and pop whilst also simultaneously initiating a lasting love for hip-hop, two I may not have had the chance to roll back the years at Reading, but I’m sure I can find a moment to put up the poster, stick on a record and find my young revolutionary heart beating once more.

This week Nick has mostly been listening to:
The Verve’s ‘Forth’ – someone should really have told them to put down the hash pipe and do some editing.