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Rage Against the Machine

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Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine (also Rage and RATM) is an American rock band, noted for their blend of hip hop, heavy metal, punk and funk as well as their revolutionary politics and lyrics. During their initial nine year run, they became one of the most popular and influential political bands in contemporary music.[3]

The band split up October 18, 2000 with vocalist Zack de la Rocha starting a low-key solo career, and guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk forming the supergroup Audioslave along with former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. 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 multiple live venues since.

Rage Against the Machine drew inspiration from early metal instrumentation, as well as rap acts such as Public Enemy and Afrika Bambaataa. Their music was based primarily on de la Rocha's rhyming styles and vocals along with their sound, especially Morello's unusual extended techniques.

Band history

Early years (1991–1992)

In 1991, guitarist Tom Morello left his old band, Lock Up, looking to start another band. Morello was in a club in L.A where Zack de la Rocha was free-style rapping. Morello was impressed by de la Rocha's lyric books, and asked him to be the vocalist in a band. Morello called and drafted drummer Brad Wilk, 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 band, Inside Out (also to be the title of the unrecorded Inside Out full-length album).[4] Kent McClard, with whom Inside Out were associated, had previously coined the phrase in a 1989 article in his zine No Answers.[5]

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 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.[6]

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."[7]

Mainstream success (1992–2000)

Template:Sound sample box align right

"Know Your Enemy"
Sample of "Know Your Enemy" from the band's eponymous debut album
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Template:Sample box end The band's eponymous 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 repeating six lines of lyrics. The uncensored version, which contains 17 iterations of the word fuck, was once notoriously played on the BBC Radio 1 Top 40 singles show.[8] The album's cover pictured Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, burning himself to death in Saigon in 1963 in protest of the murder of Buddhists by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm'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" would also appear during the movie. Subsequently, they recorded an original song, "Darkness", for the soundtrack of The Crow and also "No Shelter" appeared on the Godzilla soundtrack.

Their 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 American flags from their amplifiers, a protest against having Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes as guest host on the program that night.

File:RATM - live.jpg
RATM is known for its energetic live shows

In 1997, the band opened for U2 on their PopMart Tour, for which all Rage's profits went to support social organisations.[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] 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, 2003's The Matrix Reloaded. In 2000, the band planned to support the Beastie Boys on the "Rhyme and Reason" tour; however, the tour was cancelled when Beastie Boys drummer Mike D suffered a serious injury.[13] By the time he recovered, Rage Against the Machine had disbanded.

Break-up and subsequent releases (2000–2006)

On October 18, 2000, de la Rocha released the following statement:

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.

— Zack de la Rocha, MTV News[14]

Renegades, released shortly after the band's dissolution, was a collection of covers of artists as diverse as Devo, Cypress Hill, Minor Threat, MC5, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. The following year saw the release of another live video, The Battle of Mexico City.

Following the September 11th attacks, Clear Channel created a list of "songs with questionable lyrics"; RATM has the distinction of being the only band to have all its songs on the list.

On September 12 and 13, 2000, Rage Against the Machine performed their final two concerts at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Rage performed with special guests B-Real and Sen Dog from Cypress Hill on a cover of their song "How I Could Just Kill a Man". A live album titled Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, an edited recording of the two concerts was released in 2003. It was accompanied by an expanded DVD release of the September 13 show, and also included the previously unreleased music video for "Bombtrack".

Members of the band had been offered large sums of money to reunite for concerts and tours, and had turned the offers down.[15] 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 see each other often and go surfing together, while Morello said he and de la Rocha communicate by phone, and had met up at a September 15, 2005 protest in support of the South Central Farm.[16] Morello and de la Rocha were photographed together at the protest, the first photograph of the two since the band's breakup. [17]

Reunion (2007-present)

Zack de la Rocha 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,[18] and were confirmed on January 22.[19] The band was confirmed to be headlining the final day of Coachella 2007.[20] 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.[21] Though the performance was initially thought to be a one-off,[22] 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 in downtown Chicago at a Coalition of Immokalee Workers rally in support of fairness in the fast food industry. Morello described the event as "very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included."[23] This was followed by the scheduled Coachella performance on Sunday, April 29. The band played in front of an EZLN backdrop to the largest crowds of the festival;[24] their performance was widely considered the festival's most anticipated.[24][25][26] De la Rocha made a speech during "Wake Up", citing a statement by Noam Chomsky regarding the Nuremburg trials,[27] 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 Truman on, would have been hung to death and shot—and this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be.[26]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Zack de la Rocha.

The event led to a media furor. 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 guest on the show) quipped, "They’re losers, their fans are losers, and there’s a lot of violence coming from the left wing."[28]

On July 28th and 29th, Rage headlined the Hip Hop festival Rock the Bells with the Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. 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:

A couple of months ago, those fascist motherfuckers at the Fox News Network attempted to pin this band into a corner by suggesting that we said that the president should be assassinated. Nah, what we said was that he should be brought to trial as war criminal and hung and shot. THAT'S what we said. And we don't back away from the position because the real assassinator is Bush and Cheney and the whole administration for the lives they have destroyed here and in Iraq. They're the ones. And what they refused to air which was far more provocative in my mind and in the minds of my bandmates is this: this system has become so brutal and vicious and cruel that it needs to start wars and profit from the destruction around the world in order to survive as a world power. THAT's what we said. And we refuse not to stand up, we refuse to back down from that position…[29]

On August 24, Rage Against the Machine played their first non-festival concert in 7 years at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, with support act Queens of the Stone Age. During the show, De La Rocha made a speech similar to the one at the Rock the Bells festival in July. On October 26, Rage co-headlined at New Orleans's Voodoo Music Experience. During Wake Up, de la Rocha gave a speech saying he went through the New Orleans communities, including the 9th Ward. He said that the Bush administration has started war on two fronts; he is destroying the communities in and around Baghdad and he is destroying the community and culture, notably African-American culture, within New Orleans.

Future

Rage Against the Machine has been confirmed to co-headline all 6 of the Big Day Out venues in Australia and New Zealand along with Bjork and the Arcade Fire from January 18 to February 3,[30][31] including additional shows in Sydney on the 22nd of January at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and in Melbourne on the 30th of January at Festival Hall. Tickets for these events sold out in under 3 minutes, with hundreds of tickets immediately turning up on eBay, prompting angry fans to place bids of up to AU$16,000,000 in order to frustrate scalpers.[32]

According to the band's official website, Rage Against the Machine will be playing three shows in Japan. In Osaka on the 7th of February at the Osaka Castle Hall and in Tokyo on the 9th & 10th of February at the Makuhari Messe.[33] According to the New York Daily News, the band is also due to play a concert at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on the 3rd of December, 2007.[34]

When asked 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 catalog is that to me none of it feels dated. You know, it doesn't feel at all like a nostalgia show. It feels like these are songs that were born and bred to be played now.

— Tom Morello, Blabbermouth.net, 1 May, 2007[35]

Post-breakup careers

Audioslave

Main article: Audioslave

After the group's breakup, Morello, Wilk, and Commerford briefly tried to replace de la Rocha in RATM. Rumoured vocalists at the time included Rey Oropeza of downset., Chuck D of Public Enemy, and B-Real of Cypress Hill. However, the band teamed up with former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell to form a new band, Audioslave. 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. 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.[36]

Tom Morello

The Nightwatchman

Main article: The Nightwatchman

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[37] with no plans to record,[38] 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.[39]

Axis of Justice

Main article: Axis of Justice

He also co-founded the Axis of Justice along with System of a Down front man Serj Tankian, for the purpose of bringing musicians and fans together to fight for social justice. In 2004 the organization released Concert Series Volume 1, a live CD/DVD recorded from various performances of the Axis of Justice concert series in 2004. Fellow band member Brad Wilk also performed with the organization and is featured in the live album.

Zack de la Rocha

Main article: Zack de la Rocha § Post-Rage work

Meanwhile, de la Rocha had been working on a solo album collaboration with DJ Shadow, Company Flow, and The Roots' ?uestlove,[14] but dropped the project in favor of working with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor.[40] Recording was completed, but the album will probably never be released.[41] 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,[42] and the 2004 soundtrack Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11 included one of the collaborations with Reznor, "We Want It All".[40] In late 2005, de la Rocha was seen singing and playing the jarana with Son Jarocho band Son de Madera on multiple occasions.[43] News has surfaced that de la Rocha's solo album has been completed and he is in the process of deciding how to release it.[44]

Political views and activism

RATM burning 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 the U.S. 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."[45] 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.

— Tom Morello, Guitar World[46]

Meanwhile, detractors pointed out the tension between voicing commitment to leftist causes while being signed to Epic Records, a subsidiary of media conglomerate Sony Records. 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 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.[7]

EZLN

The "black flag and a red star" of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation as 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."[47] An interviewer was once told by de la Rocha, "Our purpose in sympathising with the Zapatistas is to help spark [real] dialogue."[45]

de la Rocha, while known for shying from the media, has been particularly outspoken on the cause of the EZLN. He explained the importance of the cause to him personally:

It is important for me, as a popular artist, to make clear to the governments of the United States and Mexico that despite the strategy of fear and intimidation to foreigners, despite their weapons, despite their immigration laws and military reserves, they will never be able to isolate the Zapatista communities from the people in the United States... Through concerts, videos, interviews, broadcasting of information at concerts, and our songs' lyrics we have placed within reach of young people, our audience, the experiences of the Zapatistas; we act as facilitators of the ways in which they can participate and put them in contact with the organization and the Zapatista support committees in the United States.[48]

de la Rocha made four trips to Chiapas in order to aid the EZLN. His first was in an observatory team monitoring negotiation between the EZLN and the Mexican government. At one point de la Rocha and others in the team formed a human chain to protect the EZLN from potential threats.[49]

His second trip, in February 1996, was to peace campaign camps in La Garrucha. de la Rocha said of the experience:

There, I experienced the terror and the intimidation to the integrity of the people by the soldiers; the isolation in which the communities had to subsist; the military camps located between the houses and the fields, I understood then that one of the great missions of a low intensity war is to wear out the people through hunger and to create lack of goods. That starvation practice against the people has the same effect as throwing bombs on the population, but is more comfortable for the rulers because it maintains Mexico as a stable place and as a suitable place for financial investments and it doesn't place the Free Trade Agreement at risk. We were witness of that, we saw how the soldiers burned and razed the fields, threw the children out of schools, and turned the latter into barracks... and each time we became more familiar with the Zapatistas' form of organization, communal work and cooperation. And I realized that the intentions behind the militarization were to break down the community, to keep the people from organizing in an autonomous manner in order to overcome poverty and isolation.[48]

Later in 1996, de la Rocha led an educational trip for young students, artists and activists from L.A. to Chiapas.

The EZLN and de la Rocha's experiences with them inspired the songs "Wind Below", and "Without A Face" from Evil Empire[48] and "Calm Like a Bomb", "War Within a Breath" and "Maria" from The Battle of Los Angeles[49]

Mumia Abu-Jamal

The band are advocates for the release of former Black Panther and Death Row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. De la Rocha spoke before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in support of Abu-Jamal on April 12, 1999. RATM wrote and recorded "Voice of the Voiceless" for their 1999 album "The Battle of Los Angeles" to show their support for Mumia and those fighting to have him released. They also performed at a benefit concert with all proceeds donated to the International Concerned Family And Friends Of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Leonard Peltier

The band also raised funds and awareness for life-sentenced political activist and convicted murderer Leonard Peltier. At their live shows, before playing "Freedom", Zack would often repeat, "It's been 20 years, there's no proof and he's still in jail!" The music video for Freedom also documented the Peltier case.

Latinpalooza

Latinpalooza was a joint benefit concert held on October 22, 1994 for the Leonard Peltier Defense Fund, United Farm Workers, and Para Los Niños, at Grand Olympic Grounds, Los Angeles, CA. Rage Against the Machine shared the bill with Cypress Hill, Ligher Shade Of Brown, Fobia, Little Joe Y La Familia, and Thee Midnighters.

PMRC protest

File:Lollapaloozaratm.jpg
RATM protesting against Parents Music Resource Center at Lollapalooza 1993.

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.[50] The only sound emitted was audio feedback from Morello and Commerford's guitars. Regarding this event, Wilk said "The first ten minutes they were going nuts, but after ten minutes they were getting pissed."[51] The band later played a free show for disappointed fans.[51]

Want me to be perfectly frank? The size of my penis—that's what was going through my mind in Philadelphia. It looked like I'd just stepped out of the ocean. I swear to God, it's bigger than that. So I was thinking: I wish I'd worn boxer shorts before instead of briefs, because briefs kinda like constrict me. I took them off and it was this ... half-roll of nickels.

— Tim Commerford [3]

I was thinking about how the wind felt underneath my scrotum, what the people in the front were thinking, and all the cameras flashing and what they were going to be thinking as they developed their film. Actually, doing that was no big deal. It didn't freak me out. That's how we all came into the world. It's a liberating thing.

— Brad Wilk, Modern Drummer [51]

Saturday Night Live censorship

On April 10th, 1996 the band were 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 an unidentified RATM member, "RATM wanted to stand in sharp juxtaposition to a billionaire telling jokes and promoting his flat tax by making our own statement."[52]

To this end, the band hung two upside-down 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. The inverted flags, says Morello, represented:

Our contention that American democracy is inverted when what passes for democracy is an electoral choice between two representatives of the privileged class. America's freedom of expression is inverted when you're free to say anything you want to say until it upsets a corporate sponsor. Finally, this was our way of expressing our opinion of the show's host, Steve Forbes.[52]

The band's first attempt to hang the flags during a pre-telecast rehearsal on Thursday were frustrated 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.[52]

On the night of the show, following the removal of the flags during the first performance, the band were 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 GE, which owns NBC, would find "Bullet" particularly offensive. GE is a major manufacturer of US planes used to commit war crimes in the Gulf War, and bombs from those jets destroyed hydroelectric dams which killed thousands of civilians in Iraq.

— Tom Morello

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."[52]

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.[53] 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.[54] These were intercut with musical performances by Beck, Cypress Hill, Flea, Stephen Perkins as well as members of Rage. The band organized 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."

— Tom Morello, Ratm.com[54]

The two-hour show was syndicated by over 50 commercial U.S. radio stations[55] and streamed live from the band's website. Transcripts of the interviews are freely available online.[56][57]

Guess? protest

On December 13 1997 in Santa Monica, California, Tom Morello was arrested for civil disobedience during a union protest. The protest was a 'March of Conscience' by garment workers and their supporters against the use of sweatshop labor by Guess?.[55] 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)."[55]

"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,[58] after band members attempted to gain entry into the Exchange[59]. Trading on the Exchange floor, however, continued uninterrupted[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 threatened with arrest during the shooting of the video, despite the band having obtained a permit to perform.[58]

2000 Democratic National Convention

Further information: 2000 DNC protest activity

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.[61] The police 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".[62]

During the concert, de la Rocha said to the crowd, "brothers and sisters, our democracy has been hijacked,"[61] 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,[63] shut off the electrical supply, interrupting performing band Ozomatli,[64] and informed the protestors that they had 20 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.[66] Police then forcibly dispersed the crowd, using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets.[66] At least six people were arrested in the incident.[67]

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."[65] Several primary witnesses reported unnecessarily violent actions and police abuses, including firing on reporters[64] and people obeying police commands[67]. Police responded that their response was "outstanding" and "clearly disciplined."[67] De la Rocha said of the incident, "I don't care what fucking television station said 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.

Other activism

The band is outspoken about a range of political issues.

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.[55] 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.[55] 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.

Discography

Main article: Rage Against the Machine discography

Singles

Studio albums

Date of Release Title Label US Billboard Peak US Sales UK Album Chart
1992 Rage Against the Machine Epic Records #45 3x Platinum[69] #17
1996 Evil Empire Epic Records #1 3x Platinum[69] #4
1999 The Battle of Los Angeles Epic Records #1 2x Platinum[69] #23
2000 Renegades Epic Records #14 Platinum[69] #71

Awards

Grammy Awards:
MTV Video Music Awards:

It should be noted that the infamous event where Tim Commerford climbed to the top of the stage set and nearly brought the left stage down occurred at the 2000 MTV VMAs. Reportedly, Commerford did it in protest of the fact that Limp Bizkit, whose video was merely other celebrities lip-synching the words to the song "Break Stuff" in front of the band performing, won Best Rock Video instead of Rage Against the Machine's "Sleep Now in the Fire".

On May 4, 2006 "Bulls on Parade" entered VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs at #15.

In 2004, The Battle of Los Angeles and Rage Against the Machine both were entered into Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The Battle of Los Angeles placed 426 and Rage Against the Machine placed 368.

RATM lyrics and quotations have become popular as protest slogans

The phrase rage against the machine, used as a verb or noun phrase indicating rebellion, has become prevalent in popular culture with the band's success. On a podcast of The Ricky Gervais Show, Stephen Merchant joked that Gervais was "raging against the machine" when he wore a t-shirt with Bullshit written on it as a teenager. In another example, a conversation with one of the NPCs in the game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines contains the dialogue option, "So how long have you guys raged against the machine?" The Simpsons has passed references to both the band and the phrase; In one episode, the character Bart says that his t-shirt, adorned with "Adults suck, then you are one", expresses his "rage at the machine",[70] and in a later episode Bart says "When I raged against the machine, money poured out" after destroying school vending machines.[71] The phrase has also seen some use in politics; Raj Pannu led the social democratic party, the Alberta New Democrats, during the 2001 election under the slogan "Raj Against the Machine".[72]

The band have also been referenced in musical parody songs and albums. The band's name is parodied in that of the comedy band, Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. That group's album Lounge Against the Machine contains a lounge version of the song "Guerrilla Radio". Wordplay on the band's name is evident in the musical comedy sketches "Rage against the Coke Machine (interlude)" from OPM's Menace to Sobriety and "Rage Against the Answering Machine" by Ugly Kid Joe. In the band Harvey Danger's song, "Flagpole Sitta" off the album "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?", one of the lines is "I wanna' publish zines / and rage against machines". Alternative rock band TISM released an album entitled Machines Against the Rage. The "Weird Al" Yankovic album Straight Outta Lynwood contains the song "I'll Sue Ya", which he states is a parody of Rage Against the Machine's musical style.[73]

Two various artists tribute albums to the band have been released; Freedom: A Tribute to Rage Against the Machine in 2001 and the Spanish language album Tributo a Rage Against the Machine En Español in 2005. Additionally, A Tribute to Rage Against the Machine, a knock-off labelled a "tribute" recorded by anonymous session musicians, was released in 2003.[citation needed]

Notes and citations

  1. ^ a b c All Music Guide entry for Rage Against the Machine retrieved May 3, 2007
  2. ^ Real.com entry for Rage Against the Machine retrieved July 27, 2007
  3. ^ a b Devenish, Colin (2001), Rage Against the Machine: St. Martin's Griffin ISBN 0-312-27316-6
  4. ^ Myers, Ben (October 16, 1999), Hello, Hello... ...It's Good To Be Back, Kerrang!. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
  5. ^ McClard, Kent, History of Ebullition Records. Retrieved February 19, 2007
  6. ^ Woodlief, Mark. "Rage Against the Machine". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved 2007-01-07.
  7. ^ a b Rage Against the Machine FAQ, Internet Archive cache of FAQ on the official Rage Against the Machine website. Retrieved February 17, 2007
  8. ^ Robinson, John (January 29, 2000). "The Revolution Will Not be Trivialised". NME. Retrieved 2007-02-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ BBC.co.uk h2g2 entry for Rage Against the Machine
  10. ^ "Rage Against the Machine and U2 Make a Perfect Pairing" (newspaper article). The State. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  11. ^ "Police Censorship Targets Rage" (online article). Revolutionary Worker #925. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  12. ^ "Judge Gives Go-Ahead For Rage Concert Tomorrow At The Gorge" (newspaper article). Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  13. ^ "Really Randoms: Jessica Simpson, Oasis" (magazine article). Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  14. ^ a b Armstrong, Mark (October 18, 2000). "Zack de la Rocha Leaves Rage Against the Machine". MTV News. Retrieved 2007-02-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Chris Cornell Working on Solo Release - But Dismisses Rumors of Audioslave Split". MTV News. MTV.com. Retrieved 2007-01-07.
  16. ^ Rockline interviews Audioslave. August 29, 2006. Free recording of interview.
  17. ^ Photo of de la Rocha with Morello and photographer's comments
  18. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (January 19, 2007). "Morello Goes Solo, Rage To Reunite?". Billboard. Billboard.com. Retrieved 2007-01-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ Boucher, Geoff (January 22, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine will reunite for Coachella". Los Angeles Times. LATimes.com. Retrieved 2007-01-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Finn, Natalie (January 22, 2007). "Rage On at Coachella". E! News. EOnline.com. Retrieved 2007-01-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ "Rage Against the Machine discuss reunion". NME. February 2, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (January 22, 2007). "Rage, Bjork, Chili Peppers Sign On For Coachella". Billboard. Billboard.com. Retrieved 2007-01-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ "Rage Against the Machine Guitarist Calls Rally Performance 'Very Exciting'". Launch Radio Networks. 93X Rock News. April 20, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ a b Staff Writer (April 30, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine reunite at Coachella". NME. Retrieved 2007-05-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ Sulugiuc, Gelu (April 30, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine reunites". Reuters. Yahoo! News. Retrieved 2007-05-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ a b Moss, Corey (April 30, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine's Ferocious Reunion Caps Coachella's Final Night". MTV News. MTV.com. Retrieved 2007-05-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ Tom Morello interviews Noam Chomsky, ZMag. Accessed June 21, 2007.
  28. ^ "Rage Against Bush". Spin. May 4, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMuWTsEZRLo
  30. ^ "Rage Against the Machine tour announced". fasterlouder.com.au. www.fasterlouder.com.au. September 19, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ "Rage Against the Machine - The fans have spoken!". Big Day Out. September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/fans-rage-against-the-scalpers/2007/09/28/1190486540211.html
  33. ^ [1]
  34. ^ [2]
  35. ^ "Tom Morello: 'No Plans' For New Rage Against the Machine Album". Blabbermouth.net. Ultimateguitar.com. May 1, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ Harris, Chris (February 15, 2007). "Chris Cornell Talks Audioslave Split, Nixes Rumors Of Soundgarden Reunion". MTV News. Retrieved 2007-02-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon (October 22, 2003). "Tom Morello Rages Against A New Machine On Solo Acoustic Tour". MTV News. Retrieved 2007-02-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  38. ^ Moss, Corey (July 29, 2004). "Audioslave's Morello Says New LP Feels Less Like Soundgarden + Rage". MTV News. Retrieved 2007-02-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  39. ^ Harris, Chris (February 6, 2007). "Nightwatchman, Rage Reunion Have Morello Fired Up For Political Fights". MTV News. Retrieved 2007-02-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  40. ^ a b Moss, Corey (May 10, 2005). "Reznor Says Collabos With De La Rocha, Keenan May Never Surface". MTV News. Retrieved 2007-02-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  41. ^ Gargano, Paul (October 2005). "Nine Inch Nails (interview)". Maximum Ink Music Magazine. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
  42. ^ Zack de la Rocha.com, official website promoting "March of Death". Retrieved February 17, 2007.
  43. ^ "King of Rage Onstage Again" (February 2006), Spin.
  44. ^ url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003642285
  45. ^ a b Wooldridge, Simon (February 2000), "Fight the Power", Juice Magazine. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  46. ^ Young, Charles M. (February 1997), Tom Morello: Artist of the Year interview, Guitar World. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
  47. ^ Tom Morello interview on Triple J, October 31, 1999.
  48. ^ a b c "Interview with Zack from Chiapas" (July 19, 1998), Accion Zapatista de Austin. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  49. ^ a b Rricke, David (November 25, 1999),"The Battles of Rage Against the Machine", Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  50. ^ "Rage Against the Machine". Velvetland.org. Retrieved 2007-06-24. (Image of PMRC protest available at this site.)
  51. ^ a b c Micallef, Ken (March 1996), Rage Against The Machine's Brad Wilk, Modern Drummer. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
  52. ^ a b c d Anon., Saturday Nigt Live Incident, Public release and distribution. Retrieved November 12, 2007.
  53. ^ http://www.mediacast.com/Calendar/97-01-20/Radio_Free_L.A./
  54. ^ a b Radio Free L.A. at RATM.com]
  55. ^ a b c d e Official RATM timeline at ratm.com. Cite error: The named reference "timeline" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  56. ^ Tom Morello interviewing Noam Chomsky for Radio Free L.A. at Zmag.org
  57. ^ Transcript of interview with Subcommandante Marcos for Radio Free L.A.
  58. ^ a b "Rage against Wall Street". Green Left Weekly #397. March 15, 2000. Retrieved 2007-10-11. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  59. ^ Basham, David (January 28, 2000). "Rage Against the Machine Shoots New Video With Michael Moore". MTV News. Retrieved 2007-02-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  60. ^ ""New York Stock Exchange Special Closings", 1885-date" (PDF). NYSE Group. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  61. ^ a b c Asch, Andrew (August 15, 2000). "Rage Wage Battle of Los Angeles at DNC". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-02-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  62. ^ a b "Protest concert due tonight outside convention: Security tight in Los Angeles". CNN. August 14, 200. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  63. ^ a b Bleyer, Jennifer (August 15, 200). "LAPD unleashes horses-pepper spray-rubber bullets". Scoop Independent News. Indymedia. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  64. ^ a b c York, Anthony (August 15, 200). "Rage against the cops". Salon.com Politics. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  65. ^ a b White, Jerry (August 17, 200). "Los Angeles police attack protesters at Democratic convention". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  66. ^ a b c "Convention opens to protests, rubber bullets". CNN. August 15, 200. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  67. ^ a b c d "Police defend use of pepper spray, rubber bullets at Democratic Convention protest". CNN. August 15, 200. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  68. ^ Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium DVD, Grand Olympic Auditorium performance, part of de la Rocha's speech.
  69. ^ a b c d Recording Industry Association of America RIAA
  70. ^ "Fat Man and Little Boy", The Simpsons. Original airdate December 12, 2004.
  71. ^ "The Heartbroke Kid", The Simpsons. Original airdate May 1, 2005.
  72. ^ Moroz, Ross. "Dr Raj Pannu retires (the Machine, presumably, keeps on running)". Vue Weekly. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  73. ^ "Weird Al unleashes his new album with a Bill Plympton Video DON'T DOWNLOAD THIS SONG!!!". Ain't It Cool News. 2006-09-11. Retrieved 2007-02-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

References

Devenish, Colin (2001), Rage Against the Machine: St. Martin's Griffin ISBN 0-312-27316-6

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