"I'm both blessed and cursed to be a guitar player. I didn't choose
it, it chose me. The challenge was to find a way to weave my convictions
into my music in a meaningful way." - Tom Morello
As the cofounder and guitarist of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave,
and Prophets of Rage, and as a solo artist and collaborator with artists
as diverse as Bruce Springsteen and Wu-Tang Clan, few musicians have
been as groundbreaking as Tom Morello. Now, for the first time,
Morello's remarkable life as a guitarist, songwriter, singer, and
political activist is captured in Whatever It Takes.
Telling the story from his first guitar to the present day, Morello's
commentary is accompanied by a wealth of photographs, handwritten notes,
and set lists, many of which are previously unpublished and come from
the author's personal archives. Stunning images of Morello's heavily
customized guitars complete this jam-packed photographic memoir, and the
result, like his incendiary guitar playing, is fascinating, honest, and
completely unique.
Introduced by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, Jann Wenner,
the cofounder of Rolling Stone, Morello's Prophets of Rage collaborator
Chuck D, and Nora Guthrie, daughter of the legendary Woody Guthrie,
Whatever It Takes is the defining document of one of the greatest rock
guitar players of our times.
"He's not only the most dangerous guitarist in history, he just might
be the best." - Michael Moore
"He's not only a brilliant musician, but he has a deep heart and a
social conscience, just like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, or
Jackson Browne. Tom is right up there with that gang. I think this
excellent book helps prove why." - Jann Wenner
"Tom Morello is a Visionary Activist, meaning what he sees in his mind
goes full throttle into him making IT happen." - Chuck D
"A musician who has no fear, who is not afraid of a good fight, and
has no hesitation. When Tom Morello sings "This Is Your Land" he demands
we jump up and sing with our fists raised." - Nora Guthrie
