Rage Against the Machine revolutionized popular music with their politically charged rap-metal anthems, and a recent poll of fans named the D-Generation X theme as their crowning achievement.

The song, called “Break it Down,” features off of Rage Against the Machine’s signature from the spoken passages in which singer Zach de la Rocha emulates a petulant teenager to the shouted passages in which he emulates a tantrum-throwing teenager.

The song is known for its incisive lyricism, with prose that speaks truth to power and highlights social injustices:

Degenerate into something, fool
We just got tired of doin’ what ya told us to do
That’s the breaks boy, yeah
That’s the breaks, little man
Break it down!

We gesture toward our genitalia
And invite fellatio with a catch-phrase!
We are middle-aged dads
Behaving like high school  bullies. 
Aren’t we cool? Break it down! 

The second-most popular Rage Against the Machine song as determined by the poll was My Time, which wrestler Hunter Hearst Helmsley has used as his theme, known for its inspiring lyrics: “One two, is this on? Hello? Anyone there? Seriously, is this on? Check? Take my wife, please!”

 

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