"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 Wale ...

band

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

and the final single from their album ''

Evil Empire An evil empire is a speculative fiction trope in which a major antagonist of the story is a technologically advanced nation, typically ruled by an evil emperor or empress, that aims to control the world or conquer some specific group. They are ...

''. Officially it is the third single from the album, as " Down Rodeo" was a US-promo release only. The "Vietnow"-single was only released in certain European countries, like France and The Netherlands.

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 players/recorders and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid-1990s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered thro ...

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 () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America 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 and California). It ...

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. 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") transmi ...

shows, hosted by people such as

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

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 Sec ...

and

Michael Reagan Michael Edward Reagan (born John Charles Flaugher; March 18, 1945) is an American conservative political commentator, Republican Party (United States), Republican strategist, and former radio talk show host. He is the adopted son of former U.S. ...

. The verse riffs bear a resemblance to " The Wanton Song" by

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

, whom

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

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 (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...

. 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 ''

'' 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 former policeman with the Los Angeles Police Department. He is one of the four policemen who were responsible for beating Rodney King in March 1991. He was sentenced to years in federal ...

, one of the four

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

policemen videotaped beating black motorist

Rodney King Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was a Black American victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by Police officer, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high spe ...

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

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

with a sword" are a reference to the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

's involvement in sending

CONTRAS In the history of Nicaragua, the Contras (Spanish: ''La contrarrevolución'', the counter-revolution) were the right-wing militias who waged anti-communist guerilla warfare (1979–1990) against the Marxist governments of the Sandinista Na ...

into

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

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, Queensland, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typi ...

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 eleven 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 musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band System of a Down, which was formed in 1994. Tankian has released five albums with System of a Down ...

's Activist Website " Axis Of Justice" *
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