How the Naughties began.

Monday, December 7, 2009

How the Naughties began.

I’m doing some Wikipediaing for creative inspiration and whoa, I never knew that Rage Against The Machine got the New York Stock Exchange to shut down early one day! Michael Moore was involved!

On January 26, 2000 the band set up shop outside the Exchange on the steps of Federal Hall despite being denied a noise permit by the city.

Rage had time to run through six takes of “Sleep Now in the Fire” before the shoot was broken up by the New York Police Department. While police manhandled Moore and threatened him with arrest, the band members rushed the New York Stock Exchange. They made it through the building’s first set of doors before Exchange security hit a button, bringing down metal bars and closing the financial capital of the world at 3.15pm.

I love that they actually “hit a button”. WHAT DOES THE BUTTON LOOK LIKE? This was pre-9/11 of course; these days the group would be arrested before they could so much as plug in an amp. But I dunno, if Rage Against The Machine really wants to Rage Against The Machine they should LET ME EMBED THE VIDEO, you know? Fair warning: if you click that link you will see Rudy Giuliani’s dimpled face.