page_title: Tom Morello
section_title: Activism
hierarchical_section_title: Tom Morello / Politics / Activism
caption_attribution_description: English: Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello playing a set on Day 28 of Occupy Wall Street in New York.
context_page_description: Thomas Baptiste Morello is an American musician, singer, songwriter, actor, 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 was a member of the supergroup Prophets of Rage. Morello was also a touring musician with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. He is also known for his acoustic solo act, the Nightwatchman, and Street Sweeper Social Club. Morello also co-founded Axis of Justice, which airs a monthly program on Pacifica Radio station KPFK in Los Angeles.
  Born in Harlem, New York, and raised in Libertyville, Illinois, Morello became interested in music and politics while in high school. He attended Harvard University and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies. After his previous band Lock Up disbanded, Morello met Zack de la Rocha. The two founded Rage Against the Machine together, going on to become one of the most popular and influential rock acts of the 1990s.
context_section_description: Morello, with fellow members of Rage Against the Machine, protested the  "Parental Advisory" sticker on explicit albums and singles on the part of the Parents Music Resource Center, spearheaded by Tipper Gore. The protest consisted of the band refusing to perform at Lollapalooza 1993.  They took the stage naked, mouths covered in duct tape, and bodies painted with the organization's abbreviation, PMRC. Instead of performing, the band allowed their instruments to feedback for 14 minutes.
  Morello is a member of the labor union the Industrial Workers of the World.
  On August 27, 2008, Morello performed in Denver, Colorado at the Open the Debates rally in opposition to the Commission on Presidential Debates exclusion of third party candidates from the nationally televised debates. He performed "This Land is Your Land" as the Nightwatchman and endorsed independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Sean Penn, Jello Biafra, Brooke Smith and Cindy Sheehan were also part of the rally.
  In October 2009, Morello, among a number of musicians, sued the U.S. government for the declassification of all documents relating to the use of music in interrogations at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He stated, "Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured - from waterboarding to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts - playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums. Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me."
  On February 21, 2011, Morello organized and performed an acoustic concert in support of the protests over collective bargaining rights in Madison, WI.  The concert also featured the MC5's Wayne Kramer and Boston punk band Street Dogs.  He wrote an article in Rolling Stone about his experience.
  Recently, Morello has played at many Occupy movements, including Occupy Wall Street as well as Occupy Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver, British Columbia, Nottingham and Newcastle, England protests.
  When Republican nominee for vice president in the 2012 election Paul Ryan said that he liked the music of Beethoven, Rage Against the Machine and Led Zeppelin, Morello responded with an op-ed in Rolling Stone stating that, "Paul Ryan's love for Rage Against The Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."
  In June 2013, Morello and numerous other celebrities appeared in a video showing support for Chelsea Manning.
  On September 26, 2014, Morello played a benefit concert for 15 Now, the group launched by Socialist Alternative and Kshama Sawant to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. The concert was aimed at expanding the organization nationally.
caption: Morello playing Occupy Wall Street in New York, October 2011
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