12 Best Hard Rock Deep Cuts
3. Settle For Nothing - Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against the Machine's self-titled has firmly cemented its place as a classic of the 90's. Across 10 tracks, the band invented what came to be known as rap-rock while delivering some of the most venomous political indictments to ever be released on a rock album. For all the savage moments on the record, it's the quieter moments that actually hit the hardest.
"Settle for Nothing" creeps up on the listener with an unsettling guitar riff from Tom Morello that sounds like it could have come from an ominous horror movie score. Zack de la Rocha's pained lyrics of adolescent isolation feel incredibly earnest as he talks about never seeing the color of his father's eyes. As the verses build, the track explodes with every chorus as the character contemplates thoughts of suicide to escape the hell of being trapped with his family.
Morello's linear runs for his solo also creep and crawl across your eardrums like little bugs before bringing it home with the heavy chorus every time it comes back around. There may have been more explosive songs on Rage's debut, but "Settle for Nothing" proves to be one of the record's most haunting passages.