Featuring on Rage Against The Machine’s self-titled debut, Killing In The Name was written about police brutality in the US following the 1992 Los Angeles riots. It’s widely considered to be the band’s signature track, and, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd this year, the song’s message seems more pertinent now than ever before.
Of course, for us guitar players, Tom Morello’s drop-D tuned juggernaut riffs are the kind of thing we plug in for - and it’s all about feel. Feel for shuffle-time riffing and triplet rhythms, and for micro-timing - switching between lazy ‘behind the beat’ playing in the verses and a straighter sounding main riff that precedes it.