Rage Against The Machine

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

Rage Against The Machine

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Rage Against the Machine is a combination of punk rock ideals in a hardcore freight train package with a little rap peppered throughout. The socio-political lyrics and actions that permeate their music has loudly called for constant battles against the conformity of the masses and overall authority.

Zack de la Rocha - then - front man of Inside Out, a California based hard-core band - formed Rage Against the Machine in Los Angeles in 1991. He took the band's name from the title of Inside Out's unreleased second album. The band began playing the L.A. hardcore club scene while recording and distributing a twelve-track cassette that they sold to their fans at live shows. They sold over five thousand copies, an impressive feat for a newly formed band. The fury of the music and the unforgettable authentic songs stirred up controversy and drew attention to this unknown, unsigned band.

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At the end of the first year of playing together, Rage Against the Machine had already toured with Ice-T's hardcore band Body Count, Public Enemy, Pearl Jam, Lollapalooza and toured Europe with Suicidal Tendencies. No small feat for any band.

In 1992, Rage released their self-titled debut album on the Epic Records, which is also the home to such legends as The Clash, Black Sabbath, and Ozzy Osborne. Exhibiting the usual controversial style that has become synonymous with Rage, the self-titled album cover featured the 1963 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a Buddhist monk sacrificing himself in protest of the anti-Buddhist movement in southern Vietnam. The debut album spent a phenomenal eighty-nine weeks on the Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart peaking at #45.

The band toured through 1992 and 1993, heading up such controversial and political shows as and Lollapalooza, where the band staged a silent protest against the P.M.R.C by covering their mouths in duct tape and standing on stage for twenty five minutes, and two Rock for Choice concerts in Hollywood. They also headlined the Anti-Nazi League benefit in London and organized a benefit "For the Freedom of Leonard Peltier," that helped raise money for the former leader of the American Indian Movement that has been unfairly incarcerated for years. Soon after, Rage played "Latinpalooza," a benefit for the Leonard Peltier Defense Fund, Para Los Ninos, and the United Farm Workers.

The band left the road for a few years to work on a new album and regroup after a long, grueling tour schedule. In April 1996, Rage once again jumped into the boxing ring with the media and government. Booked on Saturday Night Live with guest host presidential candidate Steve Forbes, Rage made a political statement by hanging inverted American flags from their speakers. Needless to say the usual two-song set that SNL allows a band was cut to only one song. At that same time, the second album, Evil Empire - named after Ronald Regan's reference to the former Soviet Union - was released and entered the Billboard Top 200 at #1. Ironically, the band won a Best Metal Performance Grammy and Best Hard Rock Performance nomination for the album.

Some fans and critics thought that the band seemed to be on the road to "selling out" when they announced that they would join U2 on the Pop-Mart tour. However, in their own grand tradition, they decided to donate all proceeds to organizations like Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Women Alive, and the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico.

In 1999, Rage Against the Machine, almost a decade old, released its third album - The Battle of Los Angeles. Not straying from their original formula of socio-political punk rock ideals, this album incorporates the thought-provoking, establishment-bashing lyrics that are true to Rage form.


Rage Against the Machine is a combination of punk rock ideals in a hardcore freight train package with a little rap peppered throughout. The socio-political lyrics and actions that permeate their music has loudly called for constant battles against the conformity of the masses and overall authority.
Zack de la Rocha - then - front man of Inside Out, a California based hard-core band - formed Rage Against the Machine in Los Angeles in 1991. He took the band's name from the title of Inside Out's unreleased second album. The band began playing the L.A. hardcore club scene while recording and distributing a twelve-track cassette that they sold to their fans at live shows. They sold over five thousand copies, an impressive feat for a newly formed band. The fury of the music and the unforgettable authentic songs stirred up controversy and drew attention to this unknown, unsigned band.