On this day (May 19) in 1998, Godzilla: The Album hit record store shelves. The soundtrack to the summer blockbuster contained multiple hit songs from the likes of Diddy and the Wallflowers. However, maybe the most interesting addition to the album was Rage Against the Machine’s “No Shelter.”
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Godzilla: The Album featured a handful of memorable hit songs. “Come with Me” saw Diddy rapping over “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. The track went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. ”Deeper Underground” was a No. 1 hit in the UK for Jamiroquai. The Wallflowers also scored a top 10 hit with their cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” While “No Shelter” wasn’t released as a single from the album, it made waves for its lyrical content.
Rage Against the Machine’s lyrics nearly always contain pointed social commentary, and “No Shelter” was no exception. The track called out media manipulation and rampant consumerism. However, the line Godzilla, pure motherf**kin’ filler to keep your eyes off the real killer, saw the band at odds with the film on which the track appeared.
Rage Against the Machine Mocks Godzilla Marketing in “No Shelter” Video
Rage Against the Machine didn’t stop with the line about Godzilla in “No Shelter.” They also attacked the film’s marketing campaign in the song’s music video.
The marketing for Godzilla featured billboards and other ads teasing the size of the film’s titular monster. Ads attached to city buses reading “His foot is as long as this bus,” and billboards that red “He’s twice as tall as this sign,” were all over large cities. All of the ads included the tagline “Size matters.”
Most of the video for “No Shelter” takes inspiration from the working conditions of the Industrial Revolution, but a few scenes are clearly parodies of the marketing for Godzilla.
The video opens on a shot of a tiny prison cell with the text, “Mumia Abu-Jamal’s cell is this big,” followed by “Justice does matter. Later, the clip shows a sign posted on a building that reads “The crater at Hiroshima would stretch from here.” Then, a sign on another building reads, “to here,” with the tagline “history does matter.” Another sign attached to a skyscraper reads, “Babies born into poverty in the U.S. each year would fill this building.” It featured the tagline “Inequality does matter.” Additionally, the video features a sign stating, “Land stolen from Mexico equals five states,” and featuring the tagline “Imperialism matters.”
Many accused Rage Against the Machine of “selling out” by appearing on the Godzilla soundtrack. However, using the massive platform of the soundtrack to criticize the entertainment industry as a whole was the most on-brand thing they could have done.
Featured Image by Patrice Lapointe/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
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