Iconic rap metal band Rage Against the Machine's (RATM) hit track, Killing in the Name, ends on a naturally cathartic note. The song begins with a section where vocalist Zack de la Rocha repeats the lines, "Now you do what they told ya/ Now you're under control" 12 times over. Then, it ends with him singing, "F**k you, I won't do what you tell me," as the intensity and volume rises each time he repeats the sentence, to hammer in the message of irreverence the words are meant to convey.

Cocking a snook at any sort of oppression has, in fact, played an integral part in shaping RATM's music. This, in turn, has allowed successive generations of the '90s and post- Millennium youngsters to give voice to their frustrations about the powers that be.