Chords + Lyrics | Bullet In The Head
Intro
||: E7 :|| x4
Verse 1
||: E7 | E7 :||
This time the bullet cold rocked ya. A yellow ribbon instead of a swastika.
Nothing proper about ya propaganda. Fools follow rules when the set commands ya.
Said it was blue, when ya blood was read. That’s how ya got a bullet blasted through ya head.
Blasted through ya head, blasted through ya head.
I give a shout out to the living dead. Who stood and watched as the feds cold centralized.
So serene on the screen you was mesmerized. Cellular phones sounding a death tone.
Corporations cold turn ya to stone before ya realize.
They load the clip in omnicolour. Said they pack the nine, they fire it at prime time.
Sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz. And mutha fuckas lost their minds.
Chorus 1
| E5 /G A5 | A5 E5/B /G /A |
Just victims of the in-house drive-by.
| E5 | 6/4 E5 (bend to F) |
They say jump, you say how high.
| 4/4 E5 /G A5 | A5 E5/B /G /A |
Just victims of the in-house drive-by.
| E5 | E5 |
They say jump, you say how high. Run it!
Solo (instr. 1)
||: 4/4 E7 :|| x8
Chorus 2
Just victims of the in-house drive-by.
They say jump, you say how high.
Just victims of the in-house drive-by.
They say jump, you say how high. Checka, checka, check it out.
Verse 2
They load the clip in omnicolor. Said they pack the nine, they fire it at prime time.
The sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz. And mutha fuckas lost their mind.
No escape from the mass mind rape. Play it again Jack and then rewind the tape.
And then play it again and again and again. Until ya mind is locked in.
Believing all the lies that they’re telling ya. Buying all the products that they’re selling ya.
They say jump and ya say how high. Ya brain-dead. Ya gotta fuckin’ bullet in ya head.
Chorus 3
Just victims of the in-house drive-by.
They say jump, you say how high. Yeah.
Just victims of the in-house drive-by.
They say jump, you say how high.
Instrumental 2
||: E5 (D5 A5 Bb5 A5 E5 G5 A5 G5 E5) :|| x3
| E5 (D5 A5 Bb5 A5 E5 G5 A5 G5) |
||: E5 (D5 A5 Bb5 A5 E5 G5 A5 G5 E5) :|| x12
Uggh! Yeah! Yea!
||: E5 (bass only D A Bb A E G A G E) :||
Outro
||: E5 (bass only D A Bb A E G A G E) :||
You standing in line, believing the lies.
You bowing down to the flag, you gotta bullet in ya head.
You standing in line, believing the lies.
You bowing down to the flag, you gotta bullet in ya head.
||: E5 (D5 A5 Bb5 A5 E5 G5 A5 G5 E5) :||
||: A bullet in ya head :|| x15
Ya gotta bullet in your fucking head!
End
||: E5 :|| E5 N.C |
Yeah! Yeah!
Bullet In The Head Chords: Decoding the Riff and Progressions
The verse mainly revolves around a static I chord. This trick appears as #6 on my Top 10 chord progressions list. When a tune doesn’t rely on many chord changes, the focus shifts instead to rhythm and lyrics.
In the course, we learn the bass riff and the rhythm for the whammy part, which won’t make much sense unless you actually have a whammy pedal.
Chorus
It’s in the chorus that we finally hear some chord movement, which creates a huge payoff.
The first thing that happens is that we move from the I chord, via the minor 3rd, to the IV chord. Then we simply go back again while holding the low E. After this comes the big trick of the tune: bending from the open E to an F behind the nut. This works great on a Les Paul, if you have a strat, use the whammy bar instead.
WHichever way you get there, the end results is a b9, the most dissonant note available. Another tune that uses the minor pentatonic with a b9 is Band Of Gold. If you can hear similarities like this between songs that are stylistically so far apart, you’ve come a long way.
To explain how to play this best in your band, I need to show you TAB. Here’s the link: Bullet In The Head – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Solo
Before we return to the verse, there’s a very dissonant solo, again taking advantage of the processed, wild sound the whammy pedal enables.
As the bass stays on the verse riff (E7), the guitar plays a descending scale against an open E string (you’ll definitely need TAB for this).
The notes are: E – D – C – B – A – G. That’s almost a complete Aeolian or Phrygian scale. Since we flirted with an F (b9) earlier by bending behind the nut, it makes sense to think of this as Phrygian.
The next section features D-shaped power chords moving chromatically down: C5 – B5 – Bb5 – A5, which sounds like a rather brutal exercise to my ears.
Finally, Tom launches into 16th-note triplets and blues licks.
When you put all these concepts together, they spell out one message: anything goes! Considering the song’s lyrics, that’s actually quite fitting—we want anything but the narrative.
Outro
In the final section (Instrumental 2 / Outro), we take the minor pentatonic riff up a notch by using the minor blues scale. This scale also appears in the riff for Sunshine Of Your Love.
Just like with Band Of Gold, comparing these riffs can help you grasp the importance of seeing music as intervals.
A key difference with Bullet In The Head, however, is how Tom goes one step further than just playing scale notes—he uses power chords:
||: E5 (D5 A5 Bb5 A5 E5 G5 A5 G5 E5) :||
Here’s a chord chart to help you remember the song’s unusual structure.
Bullet In The Head Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
My chord chart can be downloaded in two formats, as a static PDF, just like you see above, or as an iReal Pro file, which you can use the app to manipulate.
You can change the key using the app, although in this case I really can’t see that working. What you could do is change the layout.
My version had a main aim, to keep Bullet In The Head’s chords on one page, maybe that’s not your main priority.
Bullet In The Head TAB | Course Preview
In the course, we investigate how to play all the parts. As a preview, here’s the chorus. I’ve modified it into an open A5, as I feel this works better live than just a single A on string 6.
I’ve also chosen to notate this using quarter-note triplets rather than dotted 8ths.
Bullet in the Head — Media + Power + Protest
Released as a single from self-titled debut, Bullet in the Head stands as one of the most direct and confrontational statements by Rage Against the Machine. The tune reflects the band’s belief that governments and powerful institutions use mainstream media as a tool to shape public perception and maintain control.
Using constant repetition of certain narratives influence how people think, effectively placing a “bullet in the head” of independent thought.
Musically, the song is built around the band’s trademark fusion of heavy guitar riffs, hip-hop rhythms, and rap vocals from Zack de la Rocha. Guitarist Tom Morello provides a tense, groove-driven riff that gradually builds in intensity, creating space for the lyrics to take centre stage before exploding into a powerful climax. The track’s dynamic structure—moving from restrained verses to explosive choruses—mirrors the frustration and urgency of its message.
Bullet in the Head predates the band’s debut album recordings. The song first appeared on the group’s early demo, recorded before they secured a major label deal. When the band entered the studio to record the album, the track required very little alteration. Its arrangement, energy, and lyrical focus were already fully formed, making it one of the few songs to carry over almost unchanged from demo to final release.
This continuity highlights how clearly the band had defined their sound and message from the outset. As a result, Bullet in the Head remains one of the standout moments on Rage Against the Machine, capturing the raw intensity and uncompromising political voice that would come to define the band.
Bullet In The Head Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Bullet In The Head (Rage Against The Machine) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy:
