Los Angeles, California 1991
Two friends who had known each other since the sixth grade, Zack de la Rocha and Tim
Commerford, meet a drummer named Jon Knox.
Knox told them that his old bandmate, Tom Morello, was looking to start a new band after
their old band, Lock Up, had broken up.
Morello invited de la Rocha and Commerford, as well as a drummer named Brad Wilk, for
a jam session.
De la Rocha and Commerford actually used to be in a band together back in junior high,
but other than that, the four had never played together before.
The jam session turned into multiple jam sessions, and the next thing ya know, they had a band.
De la Rocha would be the vocalist and provide the lyrics, which would undoubtedly be politically
charged most of the time.
By the way, he had been in multiple bands before this.
Morello would play guitar.
Commerford would play bass.
Wilk would play drums.
They named themselves “Rage Against the Machine.”
Apparently that name was originally supposed to be the name of a song and album de la Rocha
had written for his previous band, Inside Out.
Apparently this dude named Kent McClard also coined the phrase in a 1989 article in his
zine called No Answers.
Regardless, over the years many of their fans would come to view “The Machine” as any
system or organization that was responsible for injustice in the world.
“Rage Against the Machine” ended up being a pretty fitting name.
Their first performance was in “somebody’s living room” in Orange County, California.
After that, they quickly gained a following.
Not wasting any time, they recorded a 12-song demo, releasing it on cassette tape in December
1991.
Throughout early 1992, the band sold the tape for $5 at their live shows, eventually selling
more than 5,000 copies of them.
Oh by the way, if you have one of them, ya might want to hold on to it.
I saw one sold online for hundreds of dollars.
Anyway, the artwork featured images of stock market reports with a single match.
The band also printed the statement “No samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in
the making of this recording,” which would be printed on all later recordings they released.
In the liner notes, they also referred to themselves as “Guilty Parties,” which
would also be printed for all later recordings they released.
Oh, and they also sent the demo album to many major record labels, and while several wanted
to sign them, they ended up signing with Epic Records.
In April, they recorded their debut album at Sound City Studios in L.A. They ended up
re-recording seven of the twelve songs that were on their demo.
De la Rocha wrote the lyrics, which were obviously politically motivated and attacked multinational
corporations, cultural imperialism, and government oppression.
They seemed to represent a leftist voice that had become less prominent in the 1990s.
Tom Morello’s guitar work was inventive, to say the least.
In the studio, he was constantly experimenting with the weird new sounds his guitars could
make.
Garth Richardson produced.
After leaving the studio, the band hit the road, playing a notable show opening for Porno
for Pyros at one of their first ever gigs.
In October, they toured Europe, and by that time the hype for them was already building.
Epic released their self-titled debut studio album on November 3, 1992.
The cover featured part of the famous Malcolm Browne 1963 photograph of the Vietnamese monk
Thích Quảng Đức burning himself to death at a busy Saigon intersection to protest the
persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government.
The first single, “Killing in the Name” ended up being a huge radio hit.
The song is quite notable.
First of all, Morello wrote its guitar riffs back when he was teaching a student drop D
tuning on the guitar.
He paused the lesson with the student to record the riff so he wouldn’t forget it later
on.
Regarding the lyrics, there are only eight different lines but um yeah….the uncensored
version of it contains the f word 17 times.
Later, a BBC Radio 1 DJ named Bruno Brookes played that uncensored version on his Top
40 singles countdown show.
Oops.
The song was about police corruption.
De La Rocha was inspired to write the song based on what happened to Rodney King, who
was a victim of police brutality.
That ended up leading to some major riots in Los Angeles, and all that was just so happening
to go down when the band was recording the album.
But yeah, even though it was the band’s very first single, nearly 30 years later,
it remains THE song they are best known for, and holds up as a good introduction to what
the band is all about.
And don’t forget the other three singles from their self-titled debut album: “Bullet
in the Head,” “Bombtrack,” and “Freedom.”
Critics praised the album, and it would go on to sell millions.
Rolling Stone magazine later rated it as number 24 on their list of 100 Greatest Metal Albums
of All Time.
For the rest of 1992 and for most of 1993, Rage Against the Machine continued to tour
to support the album.
Notably, they had legendary performances at both Lollapalooza II in 1992 and Lollapalooza
III in 1993.
In 1994, the shows started to slow down, and there were already rumours swirling around
that the band would be breaking up.
However, they did record a new song, “Year of tha Boomerang,” for the Higher Learning
soundtrack.
Throughout 1995, they were performing less and less, but they did organize and headline
a benefit concert for Mumia Abu-Jamal, an activist and journalist who had perhaps been
wrongly accused of murder and put on death row.
The show, held at the Capitol Ballroom in Washington, D.C., raised more than $8,000
for his supporters.
Meanwhile, Rage Against the Machine was back in the studio.
They recorded at Cole Rehearsal Studios in L.A. with producer Brendan O’Brien, throughout
most of 1995 and into early 1996.
Out of these sessions came what would become their second studio album, Evil Empire, released
by Epic on April 16, 1996.
The title referred to a term used in the early 1980s by conservatives to describe the former
Soviet Union.
Three days before its release, the band appeared on Saturday Night Live.
Their two-song performance, however, was cut to just one song after the band attempted
to hang inverted American flags from their amplifiers to protest the conservative host
Steve Forbes.
Apparently, SNL executives were so upset by this that they kicked the band out of the
building, and Commerford tore up the American flags and threw them in Forbes’ dressing
room.
Still, fans had waited three and half years for this album, and it debuted at number one
on the U.S. Billboard 200.
The first single, “Bulls on Parade,” which features a memorable vinyl scratch effect
solo by Tom Morello toggling between two pickups on his guitar, got heavy airplay on alternative
rock radio stations around the world.
The song was a critique of American military spending.
The video for the song did well on MTV’s 120 Minutes and was later nominated for Best
Hard Rock Video at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.
Evil Empire had two additional singles: “People of the Sun,” and “Vietnow.”
The song “Tire Me,” even though it wasn’t a single, went on to win a Grammy Award for
Best Metal Performance.
“Down Rodeo,” a song about wealth inequality, also got a bit of radio airplay.
Critics also generally praised the album, and while it wasn’t as successful as their
self-titled debut, it still went on to sell millions.
On June 16, 1996, the band played the Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco.
It was the largest American benefit concert since Live Aid.
For the rest of the year and into 1997, they went on tour to support Evil Empire.
In April 1997, they began a series of stadium concerts supporting the band U2.
The band decided to donate their earnings from these performances to various activist
organizations.
In August, Rage Against the Machine began headlining an American tour of their own.
It was during this tour that many police organizations unsuccessfully tried to get their concerts
cancelled because of the bands’ “violent and anti-law enforcement philosophies.”
In late 1997, alternative rock stations began playing “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” a cover
song by the band, originally written by Bruce Springsteen.
On February 12th, 1998, the band released a new single called “No Shelter.”
It later appeared on the Godzilla soundtrack and also got some radio airplay.
Despite it being a song critical of consumerism and mass media’s influence on young people,
the song ironically promoted a film and commercially did quite well.
Some critics said that, with the release of the song, the band had “sold out.”
Regardless, the band kept on keeping on.
On June 30, Sony released an album called Live & Rare, which featured...um...live songs
and rare songs by them.
Ya know, B-Sides and stuff.
Shortly after that, the band returned to the studio to record their third studio album.
Brendan O’Brien returned to produce.
They wrapped up recording in the fall, but it’d be a full year before the next album’s
release.
In the meantime, they kept playing shows throughout 1999.
On January 28, they organized and headlined another benefit show for Mumia Abu-Jamal,
but this time it seemed to be more controversial for some reason.
In April, de la Rocha spoke before the International Commission of Human Rights of the United Nations
on Abu-Jamal’s behalf, calling for the end of the death penalty.
In June, the band played another Tibetan Freedom Concert, but more famously, or infamously,
they performed at Woodstock ‘99 on July 25.
Woodstock ‘99 demonstrated the rise of the nu-metal genre, and Rage Against the Machine,
uh, ended up sort of raging against THAT machine, too.
They weren’t too impressed with bands like Limp Bizkit.
On October 10, the band headlined the first-ever Coachella Festival in Indio, California.
And then finally, on November 2, Epic released their third studio album, The Battle of Los
Angeles.
It also debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and critics adored it.
And with more hits on the radio, Rage Against the Machine were three for three.
The biggest single was “Guerilla Radio,” which ended up winning the band another Grammy
Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Two other singles off The Battle of Los Angeles, “Sleep Now in the Fire,” and “Testify,”
also got a lot of airplay on alternative rock stations around the world.
The left leaning documentary filmmaker and activist Michael Moore actually directed the
music videos for both songs.
In fact, while shooting the video for “Sleep Now in the Fire,” the band actually did
cause the doors of the New York Stock Exchange to be closed and they really were escorted
outta there by security after they tried to sneak in.
Hundreds of fans had shown up, and you could argue this was the precursor to the later
Occupy Wall Street movement.
Anyway, The Battle of Los Angeles also went on to sell millions, and at the beginning
of 2000, right when the band seemed to be at the peak of their popularity, it all began
to quickly unravel.
First, de la Rocha announced plans for a solo project.
Next, the band was just having a hard time getting along, and when they weren’t performing,
were constantly fighting.
And then, that summer, the band sadly had their tour with the Beastie Boys cancelled
after one of their members, Mike D, injured his shoulder.
Still, it was a presidential election year, and the band felt it important that they stay
together and play a few more shows until the election.
In August, the band played a free show for MTV immediately outside of the 2000 Democratic
National Convention, but the show was highly restricted and almost shut down by local authorities.
On September 7, the band performed their hit “Testify” at the 2000 MTV Video Music
Awards.
Now, their music video for “Sleep Now in the Fire,” remember...the one where they
got escorted out of Wall Street?...well that one was nominated for Best Rock video.
However, after Limp Bizkit’s video for their song “Break Stuff” won instead, Tim Commerford
climbed onto the scaffolding of the set to protest.
He ended up getting arrested for disorderly conduct because of the stunt.
In fact, Commerford had told de la Rocha and Morello before the ceremony that he was going
to do it, and both de la Rocha and Morello tried to talk him out of it.
De la Rocha was apparently pretty embarrassed by it.
Rage Against the Machine did play some more shows in September, but that would be it,
as on October 18, de la Rocha announced he had left the band, saying "I feel that it
is now necessary to leave Rage because our decision-making process has completely failed.
It is no longer meeting the aspirations of all four of us collectively as a band, and
from my perspective, has undermined our artistic and political ideal."
De la Rocha said he was pursuing solo work, but since his departure he has mostly favored
activism over music.
Meanwhile, the rest of the band decided to stick together but form a new band with another
singer.
That singer ended up being THE Chris Cornell from the legendary grunge band Soundgarden,
which had broken up three years prior.
The new band was called Audioslave, and they ended up having a pretty successful run as
well as a supergroup.
But Rage Against the Machine did release a fourth studio album, even though it was just
a covers album.
That said, Renegades, released by Epic on December 5, 2000, ended up being one of the
most successful and critically acclaimed cover albums of all time.
It reached number 14 on the U.S. Billboard 200.
The biggest hit off the album was “Renegades of Funk,” performed originally by Afrika
Bambaataa.
In 2003, Tom Morello started a solo career under the alias the Nightwatchman.
Over the years, the former members of Rage Against the Machine have often been given
lucrative offers to reunite, but, more often than not, have turned them down.
However, there have been exceptions.
In 2007, they reunited to play the closing day of the Coachella festival.
That felt pretty good to them, so they went ahead and played a few more shows around the
world in 2008.
And guess what?
2008 was an election year, so they kind of kept going right up until the election.
In August, during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, they headlined the Tent
State Music Festival to End the War, a protest show against the Iraq War.
After the show, the band followed Iraq War veterans to the Convention, and after a four-hour
stand off with the police, were finally able to meet with then-presidential nominee Barack
Obama.
Later, they performed near the Republican National Convention.
The previous day, they tried to play a free anti-Republican National Convention show nearby,
but police cut that one short.
By December, reunion shows were winding down, and it didn’t seem like the band was planning
on recording any new material any time soon.
A year later, a grassroots internet campaign to prevent hits from the reality show The
X Factor from yet again reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart at Christmas was successful
when they instead got Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” to the top of the
chart.
And holy crap, this happened.
On December 17th, 2009, the BBC 5 Live Breakfast show featured the band playing the song live,
where of course they dropped some of the f bombs live on the air.
Oops.
Afterward, Rage Against the Machine played a free concert to celebrate at Finsbury Park
on June 6, 2010.
That show was later released as a video album.
Since 2009, lots of rumours have swirled around a fifth album from the band, but that has
yet to happen.
They’ve played a handful of shows here and there, but no tours.
For ten years, they have basically been back on hiatus (hi ay tuhs).
However, that all changes next March, as the band will be reuniting once again with the
Public Service Announcement Tour.
Now, this tour was originally supposed to happen in March 2020, but ya know, the COVID-19
pandemic happened, so they had to push it back a couple years.
Oh, and something else that is important to mention.
Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk never really broke up.
They have continued to consistently play together over the years, with their latest band being
Prophets of Rage.
Despite only the four members of Rage Against the Machine being together for 9...ok maybe
12 years, today the band remains more influential than ever.
One reason why is because they have defied all genres.
Sure, they have been labeled by journalists as a mix of hardcore punk, heavy metal, rap,
and funk, but Rage Against the Machine IS a genre.
Few bands SOUND like them.
Few bands LOOK like them.
But more importantly, few bands have had such laser focused political messages with their
lyrics.
Every song is a protest song against the establishment, or I guess...against the MACHINE.
And as long as there is injustice and oppressed people, there is a strong need for this band.
In fact, there’s a comfort in knowing this Rage exists.
This video is dedicated to Nolan Rogers, my amazing former student.
Rage Against the Machine is his favorite band, and they are also one of my favorite bands,
despite only releasing four studio albums.
I think they’re even a big reason why I first got interested in politics.
Anyway, do any of you plan on seeing them on their reunion tour?
Which band should I do a brief history of next?
Let me know down below, and thanks for watching.