Tom Morello | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan
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What early influences shaped Tom Morello's musical journey?
You know, I can't be like the one black kid in town, the only person to get into Harvard, who then comes home without a degree.
So I... I get that. What is a non-sectarian socialist?
It's an answer you have to give to Guitar World when they try to hem you in.
Were you attracted to women in Renaissance art?
Much more so than in real life. Ray James Machine is like the ring in Lord of the Rings. It drives men mad. It drives men mad.
All right. We're going to jump right into the deep end.
By all means.
Do you view the entire world through the prism of Star Trek? Like many Trekkies do?
No, no, no. I would say that Star Trek harmonized with suspicions that I already had about how the world might one day be.
You know how the Trekkies are. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sure, sure, sure, sure.
So I got to ask you one of these cheesy kind of questions. Yeah, yeah. Who was the character on the OG Star Trek that you were most attracted to? Because we do kind of define ourselves that way.
Sure, sure. Probably... Sulu in a way.
Yeah, probably.
Can you give me? Yeah, sure. Probably Sulu in a way because I, first of all, I appreciated the, you know, the diversity in the cast, which of course was a big deal to me being sort of like the only black kid in an all white town. But there was something about Sulu that it felt to me like he was, he didn't have, he didn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders and yet he was in the coolest one.
Was he the one that had the kind of the cool haircut? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That felt to me like he had like a lot of range. I just found out the other day that his character was forced in by the network because they wanted a teen idol-ish character.
How did Tom Morello navigate the glam scene on the Sunset Strip?
And his character was, his haircut was based on the monkeys. Did you know that? I didn't know that. I literally just learned this like three days ago. It worked out, it worked out. Yeah, God bless. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it worked. I know you're, I always, you know, cause we both grew up in Illinois, not too far from each other, but how did you get from, tell me the family story of how you got from Harlem, which is where you're born to Chicago.
Sure, sure, sure, sure. Well, my, my mom met my father in East Africa, in Kenya. She was teaching there. And then I was born in Harlem and she was a single mom living.
But is this, sorry to interrupt you, but again, who knows? Because, you know, you do your research, but who knows what's true anymore? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I saw something where your father said, he's not my kid and took off. No, no, no.
Okay, so tell me the real story. Yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure. So my mom was teaching in East Africa where she was part of a bunch of like sort of white US teachers in the Aberdare Mountains where she went to teach. And she met the people making Kenya's independence movement there. And that felt more interesting to her. And my dad, who's Jomo Kenyatta's dad, they became romantically involved. And that was not going, you know, sort of raising an American half white kid was not gonna be sort of a part of his destiny. So she moved back to the States. She wanted to live somewhere where she grew up was entirely white. She wanted to live somewhere with some diversity, because she was gonna be raising a black kid.
So she moved to Harlem, and that's where I was born. Like West 142nd and Riverside is where we had a little apartment. But she worked for the Jimmy Dean show. Jimmy Dean, who was both a star and made sausage.
Jimmy Dean of country fame. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry to interrupt because it's an important part of your life story. But that was the pumpkin's go-to road destination was the Jimmy Dean franchise because you got the best breakfast. Did Rage have an on-the-road breakfast destination?
I always liked it during certain swaths of the country. Waffle House, of course.
Jimmy Dean was like, we're really spending money. Exactly.
I was aiming for more caloric intake. All right, God bless. Per dollar.
Sorry to interrupt. That's right. Your important life story.
It's totally fine. Both those are important parts of my life story.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What early influences shaped Tom Morello's musical journey?
0:00–1:46
2
How did Tom Morello navigate the glam scene on the Sunset Strip?
1:46–5:57
3
What is the origin story of Rage Against the Machine?
5:57–12:30
4
How did Audioslave redefine Tom Morello's musical identity?
12:30–17:45
5
What unique challenges does Tom face as a musician and activist?
17:45–23:09
6
How does Tom Morello balance family life with his music career?
23:09–29:15
7
What insights does Tom have about the current state of political music?
29:15–34:43
8
What future projects is Tom Morello passionate about?
34:43–1:19:21
Speakers
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