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Rage Against The Machine - No Shelter

Music Video
ArtistRage Against The Machine
SongNo Shelter
DirectorGavin Bowden
GenreRock
IntroNo
OutroNo
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown

Wiki

Synopsis

Rage Against the Machine perform inside a decaying industrial space as the video presents a grim vision of corporate control. Workers toil on assembly lines while executives develop a helmet fitted with a screen that hides its wearer's face and projects a manufactured smile. After testing the device on a distressed teenager, the executives approve it and remove him from the facility. City scenes feature billboards parodying Godzilla's "Size does matter" slogan, connecting the video's imagery of exploitation to the soundtrack's blockbuster origins.

Factoids & Trivia

  • The video was released in connection with the 1998 soundtrack album *Godzilla: The Album*, even though the song directly criticizes Hollywood spectacle, corporate marketing, and the entertainment industry.
  • The billboards in the city sequences parody the *Godzilla* advertising slogan "Size does matter." This gives the video a self-aware edge: the band uses a promotional tie-in to attack the commercial culture surrounding it.
  • The retro industrial imagery reflects the song's focus on consumerism and media manipulation. Assembly lines, suited executives, and the face-covering helmet turn those ideas into visual symbols rather than presenting the band in a conventional performance setting.
  • The video alternates the narrative material with footage of the band playing in what appears to be an abandoned factory or industrial building, preserving the group's stark, confrontational visual style.
  • "No Shelter" became one of Rage Against the Machine's notable soundtrack recordings. The band later used it as the opening song of its Woodstock 1999 performance, adding another layer of irony to a track about commercial culture and mass entertainment.
  • The song was initially available on the *Godzilla* soundtrack and later appeared as a bonus track on Australian and Japanese editions of *The Battle of Los Angeles*.

Lyrics

The act of extraction, got you number than number than numb
Into your pockets, son, they got you thinkin' that
What you need is what they sellin', made you think that buyin' is rebellin'
From the theaters to malls, on every shore,
the thin line between entertainment and war
The front line is everywhere, there be no shelter here

Suburban nightmare what you wishin' for
I'm as tight as the whip, the truth feathered and tarred
Memories erased and promise gone, trading your history for a VCR
Cinema, simulated life and trauma, birthright, culture, Americana
Chained to the dream they got you searchin' for,
the thin line between entertainment and war
...
© Rage Against The Machine - No Shelter. This is an excerpt, provided as citation under fair-use.
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