The History of Rage Against the Machine

First of all, what does Rage against the Machine mean? Well, the actual phrase was originally going
to be the name of Inside Out (Zack's first band)'s second album. When Inside Out broke up, Rage
against the Machine was later formed. They felt the name would appropriate for the extreme politics
being put forth, and the method in which they were. Some of you might be asking "what machine are
they raging against?". According to Tom Morello, "The machine can be anything from the police in
L.A. that can tear motorists from their cars and beat them to a pulp and get away with it, to the state
capitalist machine that tried to make you just a mindless cog and sortof 'behave' and never confront
the system and just look forward to the weekend and the next six pack of beer.". 

The first meetings of the members of Rage against the machine was when Zack de la Rocha met
Tim Commerford (Timmy C., Tim Bob) while Zack was in 5th grade, and Tim was in 6th. They met
when Zack taught Tim how to rip off food from the college cafeteria. They were friends after that,
where Zack introduced Tim to the bass, which he plays in the band. Tom Morello first met Zack
when he saw him rapping with some of his friends at a club, but the PA was so bad, he didn't get
the full magnitude of Zack's feelings. Later when Tom looked through his lyric book, he realized
what Zack was really about. Now Tom knew Brad Wilk previously, because Brad responded to an
ad in the paper that Tom put out. The four of them got together, and decided to try to make a little
bit of music... 

The band's first "gig" was in the living room of one of Tim's friends in Huntington Beach, CA. The
band played only 5 and 1/2 songs that they had written, but the audience made them repeat them.
After that they decided that they had something going for themselves. They then, with their own
money, went into a recording studio, and completed a 12 track cassette on their own that sold
5,000 copies at clubs, and live shows. These are now famous demos, which include songs that
appear on the debut album. (Bullet in the Head on the album was taken directly from those demos).
That band then supported Porno For Pyros on their first performance. They then played their first
two shows on the second stage of Lollapalooza II, in L.A., California. They then signed onto Epic
after a scout saw them play, and they started recording "Rage Against the Machine". They began
their first European tour with Suidical Tendancies, until October of '92. Rage Against the Machine
was then released on Epic, which remained the Billboard top 200 chart for 89 weeks. After that
they went on tour, where they did several benefit concerts for Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier,
Anti-Nazi league and the "Rock for Choice" benefit. In '93, they appeared at Lollapalooza again,
but in Philidelphia, the created a protest against censorship, and the PMRC, by standing on stage
completely naked for a total of exactly 14 minutes, with the bass and guitar feedback just buzzing.
They put duct tape over their mouths, and the letters, "P" "M" "R" "C" written on the four band
members chests. Tom said, "It was to show that if the fans didn't take matters into their own hands,
they wouldn't be able to see bands like us." According to Tom, it wasn't really a "feel good" protest.
It was to wake people up to reality.

In December of 93, they released the "Freedom" video, which was in supporting of Leonard Peltier.
It combined live performance footage with scenes from the 1992 documentary, "Incident At Oglala"
and text from Peter Matthiessens's "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse". It becomes the #1 video in the
USA. They then toured for a while longer, while Zack became interested in the Zapatista movement
in Chiapas, Mexico. The band was put in Atlanta to make a new album, but that is where tensions
really rised. Zack would leave without notice for several weeks to Chiapas, while the other band
members were kindof on their own. They finally decided to get going, and they rented the room
across from one of their apartments in L.A. With cords running between hallways, they started
making Evil Empire. On 4-13-96, Rage appears on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" where their
performance is cut short after the first song when Brenden Obrien (producer) attempted to hang
inverted American Flags on the amplifiers, due to having presidential candidate Steve Forbes as
guest host that night. The next day, Bulls on Parade was released on Mtv. Two days after that, Evil
Empire is released, Rage's second album. Rage then played a free concert at California State
University. Evil Empire enters Billboard Top 200 at #1, knocking down Alanis Morisette's, "Jagged
Little Pill". Rage then toured the U.S. in the spring and summer of '96. People of the Sun was
released, which is about the Zapatista Movement. On Jan. 20, 1997, Zack de la Rocha, and Tom
Morello appear on the Radio Free LA broadcast, over the internet, and on the radio in selected
cities. Rage starts their 1997 tour once again, touring with U2 in a variety of cities. All profits earned
from these concerts goes directly to support political and social organizations. After that tour, Rage
teams up with the Wu-Tang Clan to head a huge world tour. Tom Morello teams up with The
Prodigy, and they create a song entitled "One Man Army", that will appear on the Spawn
soundtrack. Time goes on, and Rage continues touring in the U.S., headling a tour with Wu-Tang
riding shotgun, and also opening up for U2 shoes that donate all proceeds to charity. Rage releases
a new homevideo on November 25th entitled "Rage Against the Machine" which contains live
footage throughout their careers, and also the uncensored version of all 5 of their music videos. "The
Ghost of Tom Joad" video is released, which is a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song.