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"My anger is more civically rooted," Rollins, 45, said Sunday during a question-and-answer session at the South by Southwest Interactive festival. "To be an American without some anger, you're sleeping on the job."
Though a vocal critic of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, he said he still supports the troops, many of whom he's met while doing several tours with the USO, the private organization that entertains U.S. troops overseas.
"These people are incredibly human. They're like, 'I have a job to do sir and I really miss my wife,' and that's when it becomes very personal," he said.
He noticed one thing about the situation the troops face on the front lines versus what he sees on cable news networks.
"They get the XXX version, we're given NC-17 at best in terms of what's going on," he said.
The former Black Flag front man now hosts his own film-focused television show on the Independent Film Channel, aptly called "The Henry Rollins Show."
Rollins, who also hosts a radio show in Los Angeles, says he's not the tough guy his muscular, tattooed torso might suggest.
"I never had the big record, the big anything, just the big mouth," he said. "And some backbone to walk into some weird territory."
And he's not so sure music has the power to change the world anymore.
He says it if did, "Hendrix would have done it with his interpretation of the National Anthem. What does change things is people voting."
