, a Buddhist monk who burnt himself to death as a protest against Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem's administration's practices against the Buddhist religion, features on the cover of the first Rage Against the Machine album.]]
Rage Against the Machine (also Rage or RATM) was a nu metal/rapcore band formed in 1990, in Orange County, California. The group's personnel (the "Guilty Parties," according to the liner notes of their albums) were:
Zack de la Rocha - vocals
Tom Morello - guitars
Brad Wilk - drums
Tim Commerford a.k.a Timmy C., Tim Bob, Shimmering T, and Y.tim.K - bass
The group were popular through the 1990s and early 2000s, disbanding in 2000. They were a major influence in the nu metal genre, and were also known for their radical left-wing politics, which were featured in their music, album artwork, and were frequently mentioned in interviews and by their participation in political protests.
Among other campaigns, the band has rallied for the releases of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and life-long sentenced Leonard Peltier, been vocal supporters of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, performed outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California in protest, and played numerous concerts for various benefits.
The band's musical signatures were de la Rocha's distinctive, rap-influenced vocal style (influenced mostly by Chuck D. of Public Enemy), Commerford's grinding bass, and Morello's experimentation with guitar sounds. Fans particularly admired their powerful live performances. They toured with many other significant bands, including U2 and the Wu-Tang Clan.
Shortly after forming, Rage recorded twelve songs, and distributed it themselves as cassette tapes. Several record labels expressed interest in the group, which signed with Epic Records. Some critics (such as writers for Melody Maker) criticised the band for voicing loud commitment to left-wing causes whilst being signed to Epic, a subsidiary of Sony Records, at a time when many alternative labels were struggling. Some critics felt that the band's anarchism was insincere.
Tom Morello provided this rebuttal to that criticism:
A lot of labels contacted us, and lots of them just didn't seem to understand what we wanted to do. They kept talking about the message of the music as a gimmick. They were interested in us just because there was a buzz... They saw us as the latest local rock band to be hyped. But Epic agreed to everything we asked--and they've followed through... we never saw a conflict as long as we maintained creative control. When you live in a capitalistic society, the currency of the dissemination of information goes through capitalistic channels. Would Noam Chomsky object to his works being sold at Barnes & Noble? No, because that's where people buy their books. We're not interested in preaching to just the converted. It's great to play abandoned squats run by anarchists, but it's also great to be able to reach people with a revolutionary message, people from Granada Hills to Stuttgart.
Their eponymous debut album Rage Against the Machine was released in late 1992, and at a Lollapalooza appearance in 1993 in Philadelphia, the band stood still on stage for a full 15 minutes, completely naked, with duct-taped mouths and their guitars feeding back through the amplifiers, as a protest against censorship and the Parents Music Resource Center.
Evil Empire (1996) and The Battle of Los Angeles (1999) followed. The Evil Empire album featured Bulls on Parade, one of their more popular songs.
In 1999, the band's track Wake Up was used (together with Marilyn Manson's) for the closing credits of the highly influential popular science-fiction movie, The Matrix, which is extraordinarily fitting given the name of the band and the story of that series of films. Their music was also used at the end of the sequel, The Matrix Reloaded (Calm Like A Bomb).
Renegades (2000) was a collection of cover songs originally performed by Devo, Cypress Hill, MC5 and others. An album of live and rare material fittingly titled Live & Rare (1997), and a second live album, Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium (2003)(CD), several singles, music videos and three live shows, Rage Against the Machine (1997), The Battle of Mexico City (2001), and Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium (2003)(DVD). The CD and DVD, both titled Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, were released separately and contain slightly different track lists. The concert was the band's last.
Between the release of The Battle of Los Angeles and the release of Renegades, de la Rocha left the group. In lieu of his leaving the band, he released the following statement on October 18, 2000:
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. I am extremely proud of our work, both as activists and musicians, as well as indebted and grateful to every person who has expressed solidarity and shared this incredible experience with us.
One of Rage Against the Machine's most influential moments on the world stage was their recording of Sleep Now in the Fire on January 26th, 2000. Orchestrated by Michael Moore, the video was shot outside the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, in New York. As a result, the NYSE was forced to close down an hour early with dramatic financial implications.
Zack de la Rocha is reportedly working on new material in the hip-hop arena; the remaining members of the band teamed up with ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and formed Audioslave. The first Audioslave single, Cochise, was released in early November 2002, and the first album followed to mainly positive reviews.
According to a Spin magazine interview with de la Rocha, he has recorded several tracks with various artists, among them Reprazent and DJ Shadow. As of March 2005, there is no information on when de la Rocha's solo album will be released, but in 2003 a song called March of Death that he recorded with DJ Shadow was released in protest of the war on Iraq.
In September 2004, Zack released a song called We Want It All on the Songs and Artists That Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11 soundtrack.
WWE Superstar "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's entrance theme is based on a song performed by Rage Against The Machine (As he has openly admitted on his video "Hell Yeah").
Many fans would credit Rage Against The Machine for paving the pathway in the music industry that made such bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit possible.
Rage Against the Machine, 1992
Evil Empire, 1996
Live & Rare, 1998
The Battle of Los Angeles, 1999
Renegades, 2000
Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, 2003 (CD and DVD released separately; slight differences in tracklisting)
Bombtrack, 1992
Killing in the Name, 1993
Know Your Enemy, 1993
Bullet in the Head, 1993
Freedom, 1994
Bulls on Parade, 1995
Tire Me, 1996
People of the Sun, 1996
Down Rodeo, 1996
No Shelter, 1998
Sleep Now in the Fire, 1999
Guerrilla Radio, 1999
Testify, 2000
Calm Like a Bomb, 2000
The Ghost of Tom Joad, 2001
Renegades of Funk, 2002
How I Could Just Kill a Man, 2002
Rage Against the Machine 1997- This DVD contains footage of concerts in Irvine, CA, at the Rock Am Ring Festival 1996, and at the Pink Pop Festival 1994. It also features music videos for five Rage songs from their first two albums. The DVD also contains a poem by Zack de la Rocha (Memory of the Dead) and a cover song, "The Ghost of Tom Joad".
Revolution USA 1999- This unauthorized DVD contians the biographies of the band members and interviews with Tom Morello and music journalists, but does not contain any live video clips.
The Battle of Mexico City 2000- Because of their support of the Zapatista Movement and de la Rocha's Mexican heritage, Rage Against the Machine had a strong fan base in Mexico. This concert was Rage's first in Mexico, and the connection between the band and the fans is apparent. This band contains songs from Rage's first three albums and a cover, "Zapata's Blood".
Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
The official Rage Against the Machine site
The official band timeline
Good source of RATM Tabulature and much more
'the pretty incomplete RATM site'. Actually one of the most comprehensive RATM sites online.
The RATM Unofficial FAQ
zackdelarocha.com. Contains de la Rocha's track with DJ Shadow, "March of Death".
zdlr.net. A very good source for information on de la Rocha; "March of Death" is available for download.
Rage Against the Machine (also Rage or RATM) was a nu metal/rapcore band formed in 1990, in Orange County, California. The group's personnel (the "Guilty Parties," according to the liner notes of their albums) were:
The group were popular through the 1990s and early 2000s, disbanding in 2000. They were a major influence in the nu metal genre, and were also known for their radical left-wing politics, which were featured in their music, album artwork, and were frequently mentioned in interviews and by their participation in political protests.
Among other campaigns, the band has rallied for the releases of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and life-long sentenced Leonard Peltier, been vocal supporters of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, performed outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California in protest, and played numerous concerts for various benefits.
The band's musical signatures were de la Rocha's distinctive, rap-influenced vocal style (influenced mostly by Chuck D. of Public Enemy), Commerford's grinding bass, and Morello's experimentation with guitar sounds. Fans particularly admired their powerful live performances. They toured with many other significant bands, including U2 and the Wu-Tang Clan.
History
The band's founding members were vocalist Zack de la Rocha and guitarist Tom Morello. They owed their name to a song, "Rage Against the Machine", by de la Rocha's former group, Inside Out.Shortly after forming, Rage recorded twelve songs, and distributed it themselves as cassette tapes. Several record labels expressed interest in the group, which signed with Epic Records. Some critics (such as writers for Melody Maker) criticised the band for voicing loud commitment to left-wing causes whilst being signed to Epic, a subsidiary of Sony Records, at a time when many alternative labels were struggling. Some critics felt that the band's anarchism was insincere.
Tom Morello provided this rebuttal to that criticism:
Their eponymous debut album Rage Against the Machine was released in late 1992, and at a Lollapalooza appearance in 1993 in Philadelphia, the band stood still on stage for a full 15 minutes, completely naked, with duct-taped mouths and their guitars feeding back through the amplifiers, as a protest against censorship and the Parents Music Resource Center.
Evil Empire (1996) and The Battle of Los Angeles (1999) followed. The Evil Empire album featured Bulls on Parade, one of their more popular songs.
In 1999, the band's track Wake Up was used (together with Marilyn Manson's) for the closing credits of the highly influential popular science-fiction movie, The Matrix, which is extraordinarily fitting given the name of the band and the story of that series of films. Their music was also used at the end of the sequel, The Matrix Reloaded (Calm Like A Bomb).
Renegades (2000) was a collection of cover songs originally performed by Devo, Cypress Hill, MC5 and others. An album of live and rare material fittingly titled Live & Rare (1997), and a second live album, Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium (2003)(CD), several singles, music videos and three live shows, Rage Against the Machine (1997), The Battle of Mexico City (2001), and Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium (2003)(DVD). The CD and DVD, both titled Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, were released separately and contain slightly different track lists. The concert was the band's last.
Between the release of The Battle of Los Angeles and the release of Renegades, de la Rocha left the group. In lieu of his leaving the band, he released the following statement on October 18, 2000:
One of Rage Against the Machine's most influential moments on the world stage was their recording of Sleep Now in the Fire on January 26th, 2000. Orchestrated by Michael Moore, the video was shot outside the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, in New York. As a result, the NYSE was forced to close down an hour early with dramatic financial implications.
Zack de la Rocha is reportedly working on new material in the hip-hop arena; the remaining members of the band teamed up with ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and formed Audioslave. The first Audioslave single, Cochise, was released in early November 2002, and the first album followed to mainly positive reviews.
According to a Spin magazine interview with de la Rocha, he has recorded several tracks with various artists, among them Reprazent and DJ Shadow. As of March 2005, there is no information on when de la Rocha's solo album will be released, but in 2003 a song called March of Death that he recorded with DJ Shadow was released in protest of the war on Iraq.
In September 2004, Zack released a song called We Want It All on the Songs and Artists That Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11 soundtrack.