Rage Against the Machine, also known as Rage or RATM,
was an American heavy metal band noted both for their
diligent political conscience and for their pioneering
blend of hard rock and rap which over time would come to
be known variously as Rock, Rap Rock or Rap Metal (Both
known under Rapcore), Nu Metal, Hard Rock, Funk Metal
and Alternative Rock or Alternative Metal — as well as
their vocal militant leftist beliefs. At the point of
their break-up in 2000, Rage Against the Machine had
become one of the most popular political hard rock bands
of all time, and certainly of the 1990s. Currently,
three members of the band, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford,
and Brad Wilk, are now members of Audioslave, featuring
former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell.
Widely regarded as the definitive originators of the
rap-rock genre, Rage drew inspiration from early
metallic instrumentation to create an almost totally new
style of music. The coalescence of rhyming styles and
vocals along with their sound, especially Tom Morello's
guitar techniques, made RATM difficult to confine to any
one particular musical genre, compelling a new
classification.
Tom Morello had just left his old band and decided to
start his own band. Morello and Brad Wilk were in a club
in L.A where Zack de la Rocha was rapping. Morello was
impressed by de la Rocha, and asked him to join his
band. De la Rocha had a childhood friend, Tim
Commerford, who was drafted in on bass. The band was now
composed of Tom Morello (guitar), Zack de la Rocha
(Vocals), Brad Wilk (Drums) and Tim Commerford (Bass).
Their name was derived from the unreleased album "Rage
Against the Machine" by de la Rocha's former group,
Inside Out, as well as being a reference to a speech by
Karl Marx, where he told workers to "Rage Against The
Machine". Shortly after forming, they gave their first
public performance in a living room in Orange County,
California and self-produced a 12-song cassette which
already included songs like "Bullet in the Head" [1].
Several record labels expressed interest and they
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."
Their debut album, the self-titled Rage Against the
Machine was released in late 1992. To promote the album
and its core message of social justice and equality, the
band went on tour, playing at Lollapalooza II and as
support for Suicidal Tendencies in Europe.
Mainstream success
Their second album, Evil Empire entered Billboard Top
200 chart at number one in 1996. A live video, also
titled Rage Against the Machine followed in 1997. 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.
Renegades, released shortly after the band's
dissolution, was a 2000 collection of covers of bands as
diverse as Devo, Cypress Hill, Minor Threat, MC5 and
even Bob Dylan. The following year saw the release of
another live video, The Battle of Mexico City.
A bootleg album of live and rare material fittingly
titled Live & Rare from 1997, was followed up by a
proper live release, Live at the Grand Olympic
Auditorium in 2003, an edited recording of their last
shows, September 12 and 13, 2000 at the Grand Olympic
Auditorium in Los Angeles. It was accompanied with an
expanded DVD release of the concerts.
On May 4th, 2006 the song Bulls on Parade entered VH1's
40 Greatest Metal Songs at #15.
was an American heavy metal band noted both for their
diligent political conscience and for their pioneering
blend of hard rock and rap which over time would come to
be known variously as Rock, Rap Rock or Rap Metal (Both
known under Rapcore), Nu Metal, Hard Rock, Funk Metal
and Alternative Rock or Alternative Metal — as well as
their vocal militant leftist beliefs. At the point of
their break-up in 2000, Rage Against the Machine had
become one of the most popular political hard rock bands
of all time, and certainly of the 1990s. Currently,
three members of the band, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford,
and Brad Wilk, are now members of Audioslave, featuring
former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell.
Widely regarded as the definitive originators of the
rap-rock genre, Rage drew inspiration from early
metallic instrumentation to create an almost totally new
style of music. The coalescence of rhyming styles and
vocals along with their sound, especially Tom Morello's
guitar techniques, made RATM difficult to confine to any
one particular musical genre, compelling a new
classification.
Tom Morello had just left his old band and decided to
start his own band. Morello and Brad Wilk were in a club
in L.A where Zack de la Rocha was rapping. Morello was
impressed by de la Rocha, and asked him to join his
band. De la Rocha had a childhood friend, Tim
Commerford, who was drafted in on bass. The band was now
composed of Tom Morello (guitar), Zack de la Rocha
(Vocals), Brad Wilk (Drums) and Tim Commerford (Bass).
Their name was derived from the unreleased album "Rage
Against the Machine" by de la Rocha's former group,
Inside Out, as well as being a reference to a speech by
Karl Marx, where he told workers to "Rage Against The
Machine". Shortly after forming, they gave their first
public performance in a living room in Orange County,
California and self-produced a 12-song cassette which
already included songs like "Bullet in the Head" [1].
Several record labels expressed interest and they
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."
Their debut album, the self-titled Rage Against the
Machine was released in late 1992. To promote the album
and its core message of social justice and equality, the
band went on tour, playing at Lollapalooza II and as
support for Suicidal Tendencies in Europe.
Mainstream success
Their second album, Evil Empire entered Billboard Top
200 chart at number one in 1996. A live video, also
titled Rage Against the Machine followed in 1997. 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.
Renegades, released shortly after the band's
dissolution, was a 2000 collection of covers of bands as
diverse as Devo, Cypress Hill, Minor Threat, MC5 and
even Bob Dylan. The following year saw the release of
another live video, The Battle of Mexico City.
A bootleg album of live and rare material fittingly
titled Live & Rare from 1997, was followed up by a
proper live release, Live at the Grand Olympic
Auditorium in 2003, an edited recording of their last
shows, September 12 and 13, 2000 at the Grand Olympic
Auditorium in Los Angeles. It was accompanied with an
expanded DVD release of the concerts.
On May 4th, 2006 the song Bulls on Parade entered VH1's
40 Greatest Metal Songs at #15.
No comments:
Post a Comment