Rage Against The Machine Wiki Information
Rage Against the Machine
is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1991. The band's lineup, unchanged since its formation, consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk. Rage Against the Machine is noted for its innovative blend of alternative rock, punk rock, rap, heavy metal and funk as well as its revolutionary politics and lyrics. Rage Against the Machine drew inspiration from early heavy metal instrumentation, as well as rap acts such as Public Enemy, Urban Dance Squad, and Afrika Bambaataa. [1] The group's music is distinguished primarily by their powerful stage energy, de la Rocha's rhyming styles and Morello's unorthodox guitar techniques.
Rage Against the Machine released their self-titled debut album Rage Against the Machine
in 1992, which became a commercial success, leading to a slot in the 1993 Lollapalooza. The band did not release a follow-up record until 1996, with Evil Empire
. The band's third album The Battle of Los Angeles
was released in 1999. During their initial nine year run, they became one of the most popular and influential political bands in contemporary music. [2]
In 2000, shortly after breaking up, the band released their fourth studio album Renegades
, which is comprised entirely of cover songs. Zack de la Rocha started a low-key solo career; the rest of the band formed the rock supergroup Audioslave with former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, which disbanded in 2007. In April 2007, Rage Against the Machine performed together for the first time in seven years at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The band has continued to perform at multiple live venues since.
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RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE TICKETS
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History
Early years (1991–1992)
In 1991, guitarist Tom Morello left his old band,
Lock Up, looking to start another band. He was in a club in LA where Zack de la Rocha was
freestyle rapping. Morello was impressed, people said, by de la Rocha's lyric books, and asked him to be a rapper in a band. Morello drafted drummer Brad Wilk of
Greta, who had previously auditioned for Lock Up, while de la Rocha convinced his childhood friend Tim Commerford to join as bassist. The newly christened Rage Against the Machine named themselves after a song de la Rocha had written for his former popular underground
hardcore punk band,
Inside Out (also to be the title of the unrecorded
Inside Out
full-length album).
[3] Kent McClard, with whom Inside Out were associated, had coined the phrase in a 1989 article in his
zine No Answers
.
[4]
Shortly after forming, they gave their first public performance in
Orange County, California, where a friend of Commerford's was holding a
house party. The blueprint for the group's major-label debut album, demo tape
Rage Against the Machine
, was laid on a twelve-song self-released cassette, the cover image of which was the stock-market with a single match taped to the inlay card. Not all 12 songs made it onto the final album — two were eventually included as
B-sides, with the remaining three songs never seeing an official release.
[5] Several record labels expressed interest, and the band eventually signed with
Epic Records. Morello said, "Epic agreed to everything we asked — and they've followed through.... We never saw a[n] [ideological] conflict as long as we maintained creative control."
[6]
Mainstream success (1992–2000)
left," appear throughout popular culture.
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The band's debut album,
Rage Against the Machine
, reached
triple platinum status, driven by heavy radio play of the song "
Killing in the Name," a heavy, driving track featuring only eight lines of lyrics. The uncensored version, which contains 17 iterations of the word
fuck
, was once played on the
BBC Radio 1 Top 40 singles show.
[7] The album's cover featured
Malcolm Browne's
Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of
Thích Qu?ng Ð?c, a
Vietnamese Buddhist monk,
burning himself to death in
Saigon in 1963 in protest of the murder of Buddhists by the US-backed
Prime Minister Ngô Ðình Di?m's regime. To promote the album and its core message of
social justice and
equality, the band went on tour, playing at Lollapalooza 1993 and as support for
Suicidal Tendencies in Europe.
After their debut album, the band appeared on the soundtrack for the film
Higher Learning
with the song "
Year of tha Boomerang." An early version of "
Tire Me" also appeared during the movie. Subsequently, they re-recorded the song "Darkness" from their original demo for the soundtrack of
The Crow
and also "
No Shelter" appeared on the
Godzilla
soundtrack.
Despite rumors of a break up for several years, Rage Against The Machine's second album,
Evil Empire
, entered Billboard's Top 200 chart at number one in 1996. The song "
Bulls on Parade" was performed on
Saturday Night Live
in April 1996. Their planned two-song performance was cut to one song when the band attempted to hang inverted
US flags from their amplifiers ("a sign of distress or great danger"),
[8] a protest against having Republican presidential candidate
Steve Forbes as guest host on the program that night.
In 1997, the band opened for
U2 on their
PopMart Tour, for which all Rage's profits went to support social organizations.
[9] including
U.N.I.T.E. , Women Alive and the
Zapatista Front for National Liberation.
[10] Rage subsequently began an abortive headlining US tour with special guests
Wu-Tang Clan. Police in several jurisdictions unsuccessfully attempted to have the concerts cancelled, citing amongst other reasons, the bands' "violent and anti-law enforcement philosophies."
[11] [12] Wu-Tang Clan were eventually removed from the line-up and replaced with
The Roots. On the Japan leg of their tour promoting
Evil Empire
, a
bootleg album composed of the band's
B-side recordings titled
Live & Rare
was released by
Sony Records. A live video, also titled
Rage Against the Machine
, was released later the same year.
The following release,
The Battle of Los Angeles
also debuted at number one in 1999, selling 450,000 copies the first week and then going
double-platinum.
That same year the song "
Wake Up" was featured on the soundtrack of the film
The Matrix
. The track "
Calm Like a Bomb" was later featured in the film's sequel, 2003s
The Matrix Reloaded
. In 2000, the band planned to support the
Beastie Boys on the "Rhyme and Reason" tour; however, the tour was canceled when Beastie Boys drummer
Mike D suffered a serious injury.
[13]
Break-up and subsequent projects (2000–2006)
On October 18, 2000, de la Rocha released a statement announcing his departure from the band. He said, "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."
[14] The band's final studio album,
Renegades
, released shortly after the band's dissolution, was a collection of
covers of artists as diverse as
Devo,
Cypress Hill,
MC5,
The Rolling Stones, and
Bob Dylan.
The following year saw the release of another live video,
The Battle of Mexico City
, and 2003 saw the release of a
live album titled
Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
, an edited recording of the band's final two concerts on September 12 and 13, 2000 at the
Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.
[15] It was accompanied by an expanded
DVD release of the last show, and also included the previously unreleased music video for "
Bombtrack".
thumb as
Audioslave at the
Montreux Jazz Festival in 2005.
After the group's breakup, Morello, Wilk, and Commerford teamed up with former
Soundgarden singer
Chris Cornell to form a new band,
Audioslave, after briefly searching for a vocalist to replace De La Rocha. The first Audioslave single, "
Cochise", was released in early November 2002, and the debut album,
Audioslave
, followed to mainly positive reviews. Their second album
Out of Exile
debuted at the number one position on the Billboard charts in 2005.
[16] The band released a third album named
Revelations
on September 5, 2006. The band vowed to have a "one-album-per-year" schedule, until the departure of Chris Cornell on February 15, 2007.
[17]
Morello began his own solo career in 2003, playing political acoustic
folk music at
open-mic nights and various clubs under the alias
The Nightwatchman. He first participated in
Billy Bragg's Tell Us the Truth tour
[18] with no plans to record,
[19] but later recorded a song for
Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11
, "No One Left". In February 2007, he announced a solo album, entitled
One Man Revolution
, which was released in April 2007.
[20] Morello followed up his first studio album with "The Fabled City" which was released on September 30, 2008.
Meanwhile, de la Rocha had been working on a solo album collaboration with
DJ Shadow,
Company Flow, and
The Roots'
Questlove,
but dropped the project in favor of working with
Nine Inch Nails'
Trent Reznor.
[21] Recording was completed, but the album will probably never be released.
[22] A collaboration between de la Rocha and DJ Shadow, the song "March of Death" was released for free over the
World Wide Web in 2003 in protest against the imminent
invasion of Iraq,
[23] and the 2004 soundtrack
Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11
included one of the collaborations with Reznor, "
We Want It All".
In late 2005, de la Rocha was seen singing and playing the
jarana with
Son Jarocho band
Son de Madera on multiple occasions.
[24]
Members of the band had been offered large sums of money to reunite for concerts and tours, and had turned the offers down.
[25] Rumors of bad blood between de la Rocha and the other former band members subsequently circulated, but Commerford said that he and de la Rocha saw each other often and went
surfing together, while Morello said he and de la Rocha communicated by phone, and had met up at a September 15, 2005 protest in support of the
South Central Farm.
[26]
Reunion (2007–present)
thumb performing with Rage Against the Machine at Coachella 2007.
Rumors that Rage Against the Machine could reunite at the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival were circulating in mid-January 2007,
[27] and were confirmed on January 22.
[28] The band was confirmed to be headlining the final day of Coachella 2007.
[29] The reunion was described by Morello as primarily being a vehicle to voice the band's opposition to the "
right-wing purgatory" the United States has "slid into" under the
George W. Bush administration since RATM's dissolution.
[30] Though the performance was initially thought to be a one-off,
[31] this turned out not to be the case.
On April 14, 2007, Morello and de la Rocha reunited onstage early to perform a brief acoustic set at a
Coalition of Immokalee Workers rally in downtown Chicago. Morello described the event as "very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included."
[32] This was followed by the scheduled Coachella performance on Sunday, April 29 where the band staged a much anticipated performance in front of an
EZLN backdrop to the largest crowds of the festival.
[33] [34] [35]
Rage Against the Machine continued to tour in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan,
[36] and also played a series of shows in Europe in Summer 2008 including
Rock am Ring and Rock im Park,
Pinkpop Festival,
T in the Park in Scotland, the
Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, the
Reading and Leeds Festivals in England and the
Oxegen Festival in Ireland. The band also performed on August 2, 2008, in Chicago as one of the headliners (
Radiohead,
Kanye West and
Nine Inch Nails being the other three) for the 2008
Lollapalooza Music Festival.
When asked in May 2007 if the band were planning on writing a new album, Morello replied:
“
| There are no plans to do that... That's a whole other ball of wax right there. Writing and recording albums is a whole different thing than getting back on the bike (laughs), you know, and playing these songs. But I think that the one thing about the Rage Against the Machine discography
| ”
|
More recently, as of April 7, 2008, Morello has reportedly chosen not to comment about the possibility of a new album when interviewed by
MTV News.
[38] In July 2008, it was revealed that de la Rocha had begun a new project called
One Day as a Lion with drummer
Jon Theodore formerly of
The Mars Volta, with an eponymous EP released on July 22, 2008.
[39] Tom Morello also began a new project with Boots Riley of
The Coup called
Street Sweeper, who toured with Nine Inch Nails and
Jane's Addiction in the May 2009.
In August 2008, de la Rocha revealed his take on the possibility of new material:
“
| We’re going to keep playing shows -- we have a couple of big ones happening in front of both conventions. As far as us recording music in the future, I don’t know where we all fit with that. We’ve all embraced each other’s projects and support them, and that’s great.
| ”
|
In December 2008, Tom Morello revealed that Rage Against the Machine shows in 2009 were a possibility, although plans for the band to record a new studio album were very unlikely. When asked by
Billboard.com whether they planned to head to the studio in 2009, Morello stated that: "we've had a wonderful year and a half of playing shows, and I don't see any reason to not play more shows. The thing is there's only so many hours in the musical day, and mine are very occupied right now."
[41]
Morello elaborated that
The Nightwatchman is now "my principal musical focus, as I see it, for the remainder of my life. From the earliest days of playing open mic nights at coffee houses, it was apparent to me that this music was as important to me as any music I've ever been involved in. It really encapsulates everything I want to do as an artist."
In April 2009, Morello was asked about a new album from Rage Against The Machine, replied "Not anytime soon" but also said that "There may be some more Rage shows in the future". Currently, Morello is working on his new side project
Street Sweeper Social Club with
vocalist/
emcee Boots Riley of the
political hip hop group
The Coup. The band opened for
Nine Inch Nails and
Jane's Addiction during their 2009 summer tour.
[42]
Political views and activism
thumb the
flag of the United States at
Woodstock 1999
Integral to their identity as a band, Rage Against the Machine voice
revolutionary viewpoints highly critical of the domestic and foreign policies of current and previous
US governments. Throughout its existence, RATM and its individual members participated in political
protests and other
activism to advocate these beliefs. The band primarily saw its music as a vehicle for
social activism; de la Rocha explained that "I'm interested in spreading those ideas through art, because music has the power to cross borders, to break military sieges and to establish real dialogue."
[43] Morello said of
wage slavery in America:
“
| America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve.
| ”
|
Meanwhile, detractors pointed out what they regard as the tension between voicing commitment to
leftist causes while being millionaires signed to
Epic Records, a
subsidiary of media conglomerate
Sony Records.
[45] Infectious Grooves released a song called "Do What I Tell Ya!" which mocks lyrics from "Killing in the Name", accusing the band of being hypocrites. In response to such critiques, Morello offered the rebuttal:
“
| When you live in a capitalism
| ”
|
At the Coachella 2007 performance, De la Rocha made an impassioned speech during "
Wake Up", citing a statement by
Noam Chomsky regarding the
Nuremberg Trials and subsequent actions by US presidents,
[46] as follows:
“
| A good friend of ours once said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. presidents as were applied to the Nazis after World War II [...] every single one of them, every last rich white one of them from Harry Truman
| ”
|
|Zack de la Rocha}}
}}
The event led to a media furore. A clip of Zack's speech found its way to the
Fox News program
Hannity & Colmes
. An on-screen headline read, "Rock group Rage Against the Machine says Bush admin should be shot."
Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator, (a guest on the show) stated, "They're losers, their fans are losers, and there’s a lot of violence coming from the left wing."
[47] Alan Colmes then challenged Coulter for having said of Bill Clinton "The only issue is whether to impeach or assassinate"
[48]
On July 28 and 29, Rage co-headlined the
hip hop festival
Rock the Bells. On July 28, they made a speech during Wake Up just as they had done at Coachella. During this, De La Rocha made another statement, defending the band from Fox News, who he alleged misquoted his speech at Coachella:
On August 24, RATM played Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. They made another speech during Wake Up.
Subsequently, de la Rocha added
Tony Blair, the
British Prime Minister who supported and facilitated Bush's
2003 invasion of Iraq, to the list of those who ought to be tried and hanged at the
Reading Festival on August 22, 2008. The
Reading and Leeds Festivals organizer announced after the 2008 festival that Zack had requested Friday and Saturday slots specifically so he could be back in the US for the Democratic and Republican conventions taking place in the week of the 25th.
[50]
On August 27, 2008, Rage Against the Machine played a free concert in
Denver at the
Denver Coliseum during the
2008 Democratic National Convention in protest against the war in
Iraq. After the concert, the band joined members of
The Coup and
Flobots in an anti-war protest march from the
Denver Coliseum to the
Pepsi Center [51] led by
Iraq Veterans Against the War.
EZLN
thumb, referenced in the track "War Within a Breath" (1999)
The band are vocal supporters of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), especially de la Rocha, who has taken several trips to the Mexican state of
Chiapas to aid their efforts. The flag of the EZLN serves as the primary recurring theme in the band's visual art. Morello described the EZLN as "a guerrilla army who represent the poor indigenous communities in southern Mexico who, for hundreds of years, have been trodden upon and sort of cast aside and which really are the lowest form on the economic -social ladder in Mexico. In 1994, on New Years Day, there was an uprising there and they were led by the very charismatic
Subcomandante Marcos and it's a group which is tremendously supportive of the most objectively poor and continues to fight for dignity, for all people in Mexico."
[52] An interviewer was once told by de la Rocha, "Our purpose in sympathising with the Zapatistas is to help spark [real] dialogue."
De la Rocha has been particularly outspoken on the cause of the EZLN. He explained the importance of the cause to him personally:
The EZLN and de la Rocha's experiences with them inspired the songs "
Wind Below", and "
Without a Face" from
Evil Empire
.
and "
War Within a Breath" from
The Battle Of Los Angeles
.
The EZLN flag has been used as a stage backdrop at all of the band's shows since their reunion in April, 2007.
Saturday Night Live
On April 10, 1996 the band was scheduled to perform two songs on the
NBC comedy variety show
Saturday Night Live
. The show was hosted that night by ex-
Republican presidential candidate and billionaire
Steve Forbes. According to Tom Morello, "RATM wanted to stand in sharp juxtaposition to a billionaire telling jokes and promoting his
flat tax by making our own statement."
To this end, the band hung two upside-down Flag of the United States|American flags from their amplifiers. Seconds before they took the stage to perform "Bulls on Parade", SNL and NBC sent stagehands in to pull the flags down.
[54] The inverted flags, says Morello, represented:
The band's first attempt to hang the flags during a pre-telecast rehearsal on Thursday was stopped by SNL's producers, who "demanded that we take the flags down," according to Morello. "They said the sponsors would be upset, and that because Steve Forbes was on, they had to run a 'tighter' show." SNL also told the band it would mute objectionable lyrics in "
Bullet in the Head" (which was supposed to be RATM's second song), and insisted that the song be bleeped in the studio because Forbes had friends and family there.
On the night of the show, following the removal of the flags during the first performance, the band was approached by SNL and NBC officials and ordered to immediately leave the building. Upon hearing this, RATM bassist Commerford reportedly stormed Forbes' dressing room, throwing shreds from one of the torn down flags.
“
| SNL censored Rage, period. They could not have sucked up to the billionaire more. The thing that's ironic is SNL is supposedly this cutting edge show, but they proved they're bootlickers to their corporate masters when it comes down to it. They're cowards. It should come to no surprise that General Electric
| ”
|
Morello noted that members of the Saturday Night Live cast and crew, whom he declined to name, "[e]xpressed solidarity with our actions, and a sense of shame that their show had censored the performance."
Radio Free L.A.
Radio Free Los Angeles
was a radio show held by the band on January 20, 1997, the night of
Bill Clinton's inauguration as
President.
[55] The show comprised segments and interviews featuring
Michael Moore,
Emily Hodgson,
Leonard Peltier,
Chuck D,
Mumia Abu-Jamal,
UNITE,
Noam Chomsky,
Amy Ray of the
Indigo Girls, and
Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas.
[56] These were intercut with musical performances by Morello, de la Rocha,
Flea and
Stephen Perkins playing different versions of Rage songs, and also
Beck and
Cypress Hill playing their own songs. The band organized and played the show in response to the
re-election of Clinton:
“
| "That election had resulted in one of the lowest voter turnouts in the history of the country, as more and more Americans came to realize that their government was not in their hands, but in the hands of big business. Radio Free L.A. provided a musical and political gathering point for the majority of Americans — and young people especially — who rightly felt left out of the 'democratic process.'"
| ”
|
The two-hour show was syndicated by over 50 commercial U.S. radio stations
[57] and streamed live from the band's website. Transcripts of the interviews are freely available online.
[58]
"Sleep Now in the Fire" video shoot
On January 26, 2000, filming of the
music video for "
Sleep Now in the Fire", which was directed by
Michael Moore, caused the doors of the
New York Stock Exchange to be closed and the band to be escorted from the site by security,
[59] after band members attempted to gain entry into the Exchange.
[60]
Footage of enthusiastic Wall Street employees
headbanging to Rage's music was used in the final video. "We decided to shoot this video in the belly of the beast", said Moore, who was arrested during the shooting of the video: despite having a federal permit for the location, they did not have a sound permit.
2000 Democratic National Convention
thumb alongside a Free
Mumia banner in the style of the cover art from
The Battle of Los Angeles
(1999)
RATM played a free concert at the
2000 Democratic National Convention in protest of the
two-party system. The band had been considering playing a protest concert there since April of that year.
[61] Although they were at first required by the
City of Los Angeles to perform in a small venue at a considerable distance, early in August a
United States district court judge ruled that the City's request was too restrictive and the City subsequently allowed the protests and concert to be held at a site across from the DNC.
The
Los Angeles Police Department response was to increase security measures, which included a 12 ft fence and patrolling by a minimum of 2,000 officers wearing riot gear, as well as additional horses, motorcycles, squad cars and police helicopters.
[62] A police spokesperson said they were "gravely concerned because of security reasons".
2000 DNC protest
During the concert, de la Rocha said to the crowd, "brothers and sisters, our democracy has been hijacked,"
and later also shouted "we have a right to oppose these motherfuckers!"
[63] After the performance, a small group of attendees congregated at the point in the protest area closest to the DNC, facing the police officers, throwing rocks,
[64] and possibly engaging in more violent activity, such as throwing glass, concrete and water bottles filled with "noxious agents,"
[65] spraying
ammonia on police and slingshotting rocks and steel balls.
[66] The police soon after declared the gathering an
unlawful assembly,
shut off the electrical supply, interrupting performing band
Ozomatli,
and informed the protestors that they had 15 minutes to disperse on pain of arrest.
[67] Some of the protestors remained, however, including two young men who climbed the fence and waved
black flags, who were subsequently shot in the face with pepper spray.
Police then forcibly dispersed the crowd, using
tear gas,
pepper spray and
rubber bullets.
At least six people were arrested in the incident.
The police faced severe and broad criticism for their reaction, with an
American Civil Liberties Union spokesperson saying that it was "nothing less than an orchestrated police riot."
Several primary witnesses reported unnecessarily violent actions and police abuses, including firing on reporters
and people obeying police commands.
Police responded that their response was "outstanding" and "clearly disciplined."
De la Rocha said of the incident, "I don't care what fucking television stations said, [that] the violence was caused by the people at the concert; those motherfuckers unloaded on this crowd. And I think it's ridiculous considering, you know, none of us had rubber bullets, none of us had
M16s, none of us had
billy clubs, none of us had
face shields."
[68]
Footage of the protest and ensuing violence, along with an
MTV News report on the incident, was included in the
Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
DVD.
2008 Republican National Convention
On September 2, 2008, during the
Republican National Convention, Rage Against the Machine was scheduled to play a free show in protest of what Zack called the white and power abusing party in
St. Paul, Minnesota on the State Capital lawn for
Ripple Effect.
Tom Morello asked
SuicideGirls to report what happened at the conventions. Quoted, he said, "They showed up at exactly the time we were scheduled to perform, and as soon as we got out of our vehicle we were immediately surrounded by riot police who told us if we approached the stage we'd be arrested for playing music. They said that we were not on a permit for the day's show. We produced the permit and showed them that none of the artists that had already been playing for the previous four hours, including
Anti-Flag and
Michael Franti, none of the artists were listed on the permits. They just tried to use that as an excuse to stop us from playing. We were there right on time to play and they physically barred us from getting onto the stage because they were afraid of the music we were going to play.
"
Imagine if in Beijing during the Olympics a Chinese band whose songs were critical of the government was told they'd be arrested if they attempted to sing those songs in a public forum—there would have been an international human rights outcry. But that's exactly what happened in Minnesota. But this is a band that has made a living singing a song that goes 'fuck you, I won't do what you tell me,' so we weren't about to go back to the hotel with our tails between our legs. So we out-flanked the police line and went into the middle of the crowd, and played a couple of songs passing a bull horn back and forth, and it seemed to go over pretty well.
"
[69]
After unsuccessfully arguing with officials about playing, they walked into the crowd and sang "
Bulls on Parade" and "
Killing in the Name"
a cappella with megaphones.
[70] [71] Afterward, they led the march towards the Convention, but left just before the end.
On September 3, 2008, the band played a concert in
Minneapolis at the
Target Center, on the second day of the Republican National Convention. An impromptu demonstration spilled out into the streets afterwards. 102 people were arrested as riot police ended the gathering.
750px
Other activism
The band are advocates for the release of former
Black Panther and
Death Row inmate
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of murdering a police officer, and for whom they wrote and recorded the track "Voice of the Voiceless" for their 1999 album
The Battle of Los Angeles
. The band performed at a benefit concert with all proceeds donated to the International Concerned Family And Friends Of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and de la Rocha spoke before the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights in support of Abu-Jamal.
[72] The band also raised funds and awareness for political activist and convicted double-murderer
Leonard Peltier, and documented his case in the video for "
Freedom".
thumb, circa 1997.
At a 1993
Lollapalooza appearance in
Philadelphia, the band stood onstage
naked for 15 minutes with
duct tape on their mouths and the letters
PMRC
painted on their chests in protest against
censorship by the
Parents Music Resource Center.
[73] Refusing to play, they stood in silence with the sound emitted being only
audio feedback from Morello and Commerford's guitars. The band later played a free show for disappointed fans.
[74] Tom Morello was arrested for
civil disobedience in October 1997 during a union protest by garment workers and their supporters against the use of
sweatshop labor by
Guess?.
Billboards subsequently appeared in
Las Vegas and New York featuring a photograph of the band with the caption "Rage Against Sweatshops: We Don't Wear Guess? – A Message from Rage Against the Machine and UNITE (Union of Needletrades Industrial and Textile Employees). Injustice. Don't buy it."
Some other controversial stands taken include that of the music video for the song "
Bombtrack", in which RATM expresses support for the
Peruvian
guerilla organization
Shining Path and their incarcerated leader
Abimael Guzmán. Over its career, the band played benefit concerts for organizations such as Rock for Choice, the
Anti-Nazi League, the
United Farm Workers, children's care organization Para Los Niños and
UNITE.
[75] 1994 saw the band organizing Latinpalooza, a joint benefit concert for the Leonard Peltier Defense Fund, and Para Los Niños. The band also raised funds for
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, Women Alive, and played at the
Tibetan Freedom Concert on more than one occasion.
Album liner notes contained promotional material for
AK Press,
Amnesty International, the Committee to Support the Revolution in Peru, the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic,
Indymedia, Mass Mic,
Parents for Rock and Rap, the Popular Resource Center, RE: GENERATION,
Refuse and Resist, Revolution Books, the
Rock & Rap Confidential
, and
Voices in the Wilderness. When the band headlined
Reading Festival on August 22, 2008, and the
Pinkpop Festival on June 1, 2008 they came on stage to the sound of a prison
klaxon, dressed in orange prison jumpsuits with black sacks over their heads, presumably in reference to the conditions of prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay. They remained silent onstage for around a minute until being led to their instruments and performing their opening song,
Bombtrack, still in the prison outfits.
Zack de la Rocha also repeated his 'trial George Bush for war crimes' speech during the song "Wake Up", but also cited
Tony Blair as a criminal, telling the crowd:
Discography
- Rage Against the Machine
(1992)
- Evil Empire
(1996)
- The Battle of Los Angeles
(1999)
- Renegades
(2000)
Awards and nominations
Rage Against the Machine has received two Grammy Awards;
Best Metal Performance for the song "
Tire Me" and
Best Hard Rock Performance for "
Guerrilla Radio". The band has also received three nominations from the
MTV Video Music Awards, but has yet to win an award. Overall, Rage Against the Machine has received two awards from ten nominations.
;Grammy Awards
Year
| Nominated work
| Award
| Result
|
1997
| "Tire Me"
| Best Metal Performance
| Won
|
"Bulls on Parade"
| Best Hard Rock Performance
| Nominated
|
1998
| "People of the Sun"
| Best Hard Rock Performance
| Nominated
|
1999
| "No Shelter"
| Best Metal Performance
| Nominated
|
2001
| "Guerrilla Radio"
| Best Hard Rock Performance
| Won
|
The Battle of Los Angeles
| Best Rock Album
| Nominated
|
2002
| "Renegades of Funk"
| Best Hard Rock Performance
| Nominated
|
;MTV Video Music Awards
Year
| Nominated work
| Award
| Result
|
1996
| "Bulls on Parade"
| Best Rock Video
| Nominated
|
1997
| "People of the Sun"
| Best Rock Video
| Nominated
|
2000
| "Sleep Now in the Fire"
| Best Rock Video
| Nominated
|
Notes
- Rage Against the Machine - Biography
- Devenish, Colin (2001), ''Rage Against the Machine'': St. Martin's Griffin ISBN 0-312-27316-6
- Myers, Ben (October 16, 1999), Hello, Hello... ...It's Good To Be Back, ''Kerrang!''. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
- McClard, Kent, History of Ebullition Records. Retrieved February 19, 2007
- Rage Against the Machine
- Rage Against the Machine FAQ
- The Revolution Will Not be Trivialised
- Anon., Saturday Nigt Live Incident, Public release and distribution. Retrieved November 12, 2007.
- Title Unavailable
- Rage Against the Machine and U2 Make a Perfect Pairing
- Police Censorship Targets Rage
- Judge Gives Go-Ahead For Rage Concert Tomorrow At The Gorge
- Really Randoms: Jessica Simpson, Oasis
- Zack de la Rocha Leaves Rage Against the Machine
- "Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium" - Overview
- Audioslave Rage To First Billboard #1
- Chris Cornell Talks Audioslave Split, Nixes Rumors Of Soundgarden Reunion
- Tom Morello Rages Against A New Machine On Solo Acoustic Tour
- Audioslave's Morello Says New LP Feels Less Like Soundgarden + Rage
- Nightwatchman, Rage Reunion Have Morello Fired Up For Political Fights
- Reznor Says Collabos With De La Rocha, Keenan May Never Surface
- Nine Inch Nails (interview)
- Zack de la Rocha.com, official website promoting "March of Death". Retrieved February 17, 2007.
- "King of Rage Onstage Again" (February 2006), ''Spin''.
- Chris Cornell Working on Solo Release - But Dismisses Rumors of Audioslave Split
- ''Rockline'' interviews Audioslave. August 29, 2006.
- Morello Goes Solo, Rage To Reunite?
- Rage Against the Machine will reunite for Coachella
- Rage On at Coachella
- Rage Against the Machine discuss reunion
- Rage, Bjork, Chili Peppers Sign On For Coachella
- Rage Against the Machine Guitarist Calls Rally Performance 'Very Exciting'
- Rage Against the Machine reunite at Coachella
- Rage Against the Machine reunites
- Rage Against the Machine's Ferocious Reunion Caps Coachella's Final Night
- Rage Against the Machine tour announced
- Tom Morello: 'No Plans' For New Rage Against the Machine Album
- Tom Morello Talks Obama, Not Rage Against The Machine, On Set Of Anti-Flag Video
- Anti Records Signs One Day as a Lion
- Zack de la Rocha talks to Ann Powers
- Morello: Nightwatchman Takes Priority Over Rage
- Trent Reznor blog posting
- Wooldridge, Simon (February 2000), "Fight the Power", ''Juice Magazine''. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
- Young, Charles M. (February 1997), Tom Morello: Artist of the Year interview, ''Guitar World''. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
- Rage On: The strange politics of millionaire rock stars
- On Democracy, Noam Chomsky interviewed by Tom Morello
- Rage Against Bush
- Rage Against Bush
- YouTube - Zack de la Rocha Speech, Rock the Bells NYC
- Rage Against The Machine planning stunt for Republican Convention
- Rage Against the Machine to play war-protest concert in Denver
- Tom Morello interview on Triple J, October 31, 1999.
- "Interview with Zack from Chiapas" (July 19, 1998), ''Accion Zapatista de Austin''. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
- Rage Against the Machine
- Radio Free L.A. - Mon, Jan 20, 1997
- Radio Free L.A.
- Official RATM timeline
- Title Unavailable
- Rage against Wall Street
- Rage Against the Machine Shoots New Video With Michael Moore
- Rage Wage Battle of Los Angeles at DNC
- Protest concert due tonight outside convention: Security tight in Los Angeles
- LAPD unleashes horses-pepper spray-rubber bullets
- Rage against the cops
- Los Angeles police attack protesters at Democratic convention
- Convention opens to protests, rubber bullets
- Police defend use of pepper spray, rubber bullets at Democratic Convention protest
- ''Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium'' DVD, Grand Olympic Auditorium performance, part of de la Rocha's speech.
- Tom Morello interview on suicidegirls.com. Retrieved on September 30, 2008.
- Rage Against the Machine in Minnesota and the state of political pop
- Title Unavailable
- Nu metal - the Next Generation of Rock & Punk
- Rage Against the Machine
- Micallef, Ken (March 1996), Rage Against The Machine's Brad Wilk, ''Modern Drummer''. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
- Rage Against the Machine: A Time Line
References
- Rage Against the Machine - Biography
- Devenish, Colin (2001), ''Rage Against the Machine'': St. Martin's Griffin ISBN 0-312-27316-6
- Myers, Ben (October 16, 1999), Hello, Hello... ...It's Good To Be Back, ''Kerrang!''. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
- McClard, Kent, History of Ebullition Records. Retrieved February 19, 2007
- Rage Against the Machine
- Rage Against the Machine FAQ
- The Revolution Will Not be Trivialised
- Anon., Saturday Nigt Live Incident, Public release and distribution. Retrieved November 12, 2007.
- Title Unavailable
- Rage Against the Machine and U2 Make a Perfect Pairing
- Police Censorship Targets Rage
- Judge Gives Go-Ahead For Rage Concert Tomorrow At The Gorge
- Really Randoms: Jessica Simpson, Oasis
- Zack de la Rocha Leaves Rage Against the Machine
- "Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium" - Overview
- Audioslave Rage To First Billboard #1
- Chris Cornell Talks Audioslave Split, Nixes Rumors Of Soundgarden Reunion
- Tom Morello Rages Against A New Machine On Solo Acoustic Tour
- Audioslave's Morello Says New LP Feels Less Like Soundgarden + Rage
- Nightwatchman, Rage Reunion Have Morello Fired Up For Political Fights
- Reznor Says Collabos With De La Rocha, Keenan May Never Surface
- Nine Inch Nails (interview)
- Zack de la Rocha.com, official website promoting "March of Death". Retrieved February 17, 2007.
- "King of Rage Onstage Again" (February 2006), ''Spin''.
- Chris Cornell Working on Solo Release - But Dismisses Rumors of Audioslave Split
- ''Rockline'' interviews Audioslave. August 29, 2006.
- Morello Goes Solo, Rage To Reunite?
- Rage Against the Machine will reunite for Coachella
- Rage On at Coachella
- Rage Against the Machine discuss reunion
- Rage, Bjork, Chili Peppers Sign On For Coachella
- Rage Against the Machine Guitarist Calls Rally Performance 'Very Exciting'
- Rage Against the Machine reunite at Coachella
- Rage Against the Machine reunites
- Rage Against the Machine's Ferocious Reunion Caps Coachella's Final Night
- Rage Against the Machine tour announced
- Tom Morello: 'No Plans' For New Rage Against the Machine Album
- Tom Morello Talks Obama, Not Rage Against The Machine, On Set Of Anti-Flag Video
- Anti Records Signs One Day as a Lion
- Zack de la Rocha talks to Ann Powers
- Morello: Nightwatchman Takes Priority Over Rage
- Trent Reznor blog posting
- Wooldridge, Simon (February 2000), "Fight the Power", ''Juice Magazine''. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
- Young, Charles M. (February 1997), Tom Morello: Artist of the Year interview, ''Guitar World''. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
- Rage On: The strange politics of millionaire rock stars
- On Democracy, Noam Chomsky interviewed by Tom Morello
- Rage Against Bush
- Rage Against Bush
- YouTube - Zack de la Rocha Speech, Rock the Bells NYC
- Rage Against The Machine planning stunt for Republican Convention
- Rage Against the Machine to play war-protest concert in Denver
- Tom Morello interview on Triple J, October 31, 1999.
- "Interview with Zack from Chiapas" (July 19, 1998), ''Accion Zapatista de Austin''. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
- Rage Against the Machine
- Radio Free L.A. - Mon, Jan 20, 1997
- Radio Free L.A.
- Official RATM timeline
- Title Unavailable
- Rage against Wall Street
- Rage Against the Machine Shoots New Video With Michael Moore
- Rage Wage Battle of Los Angeles at DNC
- Protest concert due tonight outside convention: Security tight in Los Angeles
- LAPD unleashes horses-pepper spray-rubber bullets
- Rage against the cops
- Los Angeles police attack protesters at Democratic convention
- Convention opens to protests, rubber bullets
- Police defend use of pepper spray, rubber bullets at Democratic Convention protest
- ''Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium'' DVD, Grand Olympic Auditorium performance, part of de la Rocha's speech.
- Tom Morello interview on suicidegirls.com. Retrieved on September 30, 2008.
- Rage Against the Machine in Minnesota and the state of political pop
- Title Unavailable
- Nu metal - the Next Generation of Rock & Punk
- Rage Against the Machine
- Micallef, Ken (March 1996), Rage Against The Machine's Brad Wilk, ''Modern Drummer''. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
- Rage Against the Machine: A Time Line