Watch Tom Morello at Occupy Wall Street

Performs set of protest songs including a Woody Guthrie classic.

By Fred Mills

Yesterday, Oct. 13, Nightwatchman/Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, no stranger to activism, went activist in a major way at the Occupy Wall Street gathering at NYC's Liberty Plaza, performing 4 songs and mincing no words in his disdain for the current state of affairs - including President Obama's apparent lack of backbone in standing up against what Morello called "the Wall Street criminals who torpedoed our economy."

It wasn't an altogether unscripted appearance; Morello's itinerary that day had been circulated heavily via the press, and it was clear that he had put some time in beforehand thinking about what introductions and between-song remarks he would make (such as his withering Obama comments). It was inspiring  just the same. As Rolling Stone reports, "Before the performance, Morello addressed the crowd - whom he called "friends." He introduced himself as the Nightwatchman, his folk alter-ego, and spoke directly to the attentive and excited members of the Occupy Wall Street movement: ‘First, they ignored you - then you got pepper-sprayed.' But he didn't stop there. Morello led the crowd in a charged chant: ‘I know in my heart, all hell can't stop us now.' And then, repeatedly, ‘All hell can't stop us now!'"

Morello played "The Fabled City" (a key track from his second Nightwatchman album) along with "Save the Hammer for the Man," World Wide Rebel Songs" and, most significantly, Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land."

Read the full RS report and check out the video footage shot by RS as well. Also below you can see a brief audience-shot clip of Morello speaking to the crowd.