Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine at 2008's Big Day Out.
Background information
Also known as RATM, Rage
Origin Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres Rap metal, funk metal, alternative metal
Years active 1991 (1991)–2000
2007–present
Labels Epic
Associated acts Audioslave, Cypress Hill, Beastie Boys, Busta Rhymes, Nine Inch Nails, R.E.M, Inside Out, Lock Up, Hardstance,
Website www.ratm.com
Members
Zack de la Rocha
Tom Morello
Tim Commerford
Brad Wilk

Rage Against the Machine is a Grammy award winning American rock band, formed in 1991 in Los Angeles, California. The band's line-up comprises vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk. Critics have noted Rage Against the Machine for its "fiercely polemical music, which brewed sloganeering leftist rants against corporate America, cultural imperialism, and government oppression into a Molotov cocktail of punk, hip-hop, and thrash."[1] Rage Against the Machine drew inspiration from early heavy metal instrumentation, as well as rap acts such as Afrika Bambaataa,[1] Public Enemy and Urban Dance Squad.[2] As of 2009, they have sold over 14 million records worldwide.[3]

In 1992, the band released its self-titled debut album, 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.[4]

Shortly after breaking up in 2000, the band released the cover album Renegades. De la Rocha started a low-key solo career in One Day as a Lion; the rest of the band formed the rock supergroup Audioslave with Chris Cornell, then-former frontman of Soundgarden, which disbanded in 2007, and in April of that year, 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 many live venues and festivals around the world since 2007 but have not recorded any new studio material, as of yet.

Contents

History

1991–1992: Early years

In 1991, guitarist Tom Morello left his 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).[5] Kent McClard, with whom Inside Out were associated, had coined the phrase in a 1989 article in his zine No Answers.[6]

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 triple 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.[7] 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."[8]

1992–2000: Mainstream success

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 "Fuck You" version, which contains 17 iterations of the word fuck, was once played on the BBC Radio 1 Top 40 singles show.[9] The album's cover featured Malcolm Browne's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Thích Quảng Đức, 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 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" 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, and subsequently rose to triple platinum status.[10] 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"),[11] a protest against having Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes as guest host on the program that night.[11]

In 1997, the band opened for U2 and back-lined Green Day on their PopMart Tour, for which all Rage's profits went to support social organizations.[12] including U.N.I.T.E., Women Alive and the Zapatista Front for National Liberation.[13] 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."[14][15] 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.

In 1999 Rage Against the Machine played at the infamous Woodstock '99 concert. 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.[1] 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.[16]

2000–2006: Break-up and subsequent projects

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."[17] 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.[1] Renegades achieved platinum status a month later.[10] 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.[18] It was accompanied by an expanded DVD release of the last show, and also included the previously unreleased music video for "Bombtrack".

Wilk, Commerford and Morello performing with Chris Cornell 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.[19] 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.[20]

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[21] with no plans to record,[22] 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.[23] Morello followed up his first studio album with "The Fabled City" which was released on September 30, 2008. During the latter of his career as The Nightwatchman, Morello joined up with Boots Riley and formed the rap rock group Street Sweeper Social Club, which released its debut self-titled album in June 2009.

Meanwhile, De la Rocha had been working on a solo album collaboration with DJ Shadow, Company Flow, and The Roots' Questlove,[17] but dropped the project in favor of working with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor.[24] Recording was completed, but the album will probably never be released.[25] 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,[26] and the 2004 soundtrack Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11 included one of the collaborations with Reznor, "We Want It All".[24] In late 2005, De la Rocha was seen singing and playing the jarana with Son Jarocho band Son de Madera on multiple occasions.[27] Rage Against the Machine was ranked 33rd on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock list in 2005.

Members of the band had been offered large sums of money to reunite for concerts and tours, and had turned the offers down.[28] 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.[29]

2007–2008: Reunion and tours

Rumors that Rage Against the Machine could reunite at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival were circulating in mid-January 2007,[30] and were confirmed on January 22.[31] The band was confirmed to be headlining the final day of Coachella 2007.[32] 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.[33] Though the performance was initially thought to be a one-off,[34] 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."[35] 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.[36][37][38]

Rage Against the Machine continued to tour in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan,[39] 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 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, May 1, 2007[40]

Morello declined to comment about the possibility of a new album when interviewed by MTV News in April 2008.[41] 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.[42]

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. ”
 
— Zack de la Rocha, Los Angeles Times, August 11, 2008[40]

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."[43] 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."[43] He repeated this point in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.[44]

However, After the "Rage Factor" celebratory show in Finsbury Park on June 6, 2010, after the campaign to get Killing in the Name to Christmas Number 1, Zack de la Rocha stated that it was a "genuine possibility". Stating that they may use the momentum from the campaign to get back into the studio and write a follow up record to 2000s "Renegades" after 10 years. When talking to NME, Zack de la Rocha said: "I think it's a genuine possibility, We have to get our heads around what we’re going to do towards the end of the year and finish up on some other projects and we’ll take it from there."

2009-2010: Killing in the Name campaign and subsequent European tour

In December 2009, a campaign was launched on Facebook by Jon and Tracy Morter, from South Woodham Ferrers, which generated nationwide publicity and took the track "Killing in the Name" to the coveted Christmas Number One slot in the UK Singles Chart, which had been dominated for four consecutive years from 2005 by winners from the popular TV show The X Factor.[45] Before the chart was announced on December 20, 2009 the Facebook group membership stood at over 950,000, and was acknowledged (and supported) by Tom Morello,[46] Dave Grohl,[47] Paul McCartney,[48] Muse, Fightstar,[49] NME, John Lydon,[50] Bill Bailey,[50] Lenny Henry,[50] BBC Radio 1,[51] Hadouken!,[52] The Prodigy,[53] Stereophonics,[53] BBC Radio 5 Live,[54] and even the 2004 X Factor winner Steve Brookstein,[55] amongst numerous others. On the morning of December 17, Rage Against the Machine played a slightly censored version of "Killing in the Name" live on Radio 5 Live, but four repeats of 'Fuck you I won't do what you tell me' were aired before the song was pulled.[56] During the interview before the song they reiterated their support for the campaign and their intentions to support charity with the proceeds. The campaign was ultimately successful, and "Killing in the Name" became the number-one single in the UK for Christmas 2009.[57][58] Rage's Zack de la Rocha spoke to BBC1 upon hearing the news, stating that:

"We're very very ecstatic and excited about the song reaching the number one spot. We want to thank everyone that participated in this incredible, organic, grass-roots campaign. It says more about the spontaneous action taken by young people throughout the UK to topple this very sterile pop monopoly. When young people decide to take action they can make what's seemingly impossible, possible."[58]

The band also set a new record, achieving the biggest download sales total in a first week ever in the UK charts.[58] De la Rocha also promised the band would perform a free concert in the UK sometime in 2010 to celebrate the achievement.[58] True to their word, the band announced that they would be performing a free concert at Finsbury Park, London on June 6, 2010.[59] The concert, dubbed "The Rage Factor", gave away all the tickets by free photo registration to prevent touting over the weekend of the February 13-14, followed by an online lottery on February 17. This proved to be overwhelmingly popular, with many users facing connection issues. The tickets were all allocated by 13:30 that same day.[60] After allowing ticket holders to vote for who they wanted to be the support acts for "The Rage Factor", it was announced that Gogol Bordello, Gallows and Roots Manuva would support Rage Against the Machine at this concert.[61]

In addition to the free gig at Finsbury Park, the band headlined European festivals in June 2010 including the Download Festival at Donington Park, England, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in Germany and Rock in Rio Madrid in Spain. [62] They also performed in Ireland on June 8 and The Netherlands on June 9. [3] Zack de la Rocha has stated that it is a definite possibility that the band will record a new album, the first time since 2000's Renegades [63] Morter has confirmed this, stating the discussions he and the band had backstage before the Finsbury Park gig saying the band did write new material, but they had no motivation to release them until now. De la Rocha mentioned the very strong reaction from the Download Festival 2010 audience as an incentive for releasing new material.[64] In addition, the band returned to Los Angeles on July 23, 2010 for their first US show in two years and their first hometown show in 10 years. [65] The concert benefited Arizona organizations that are fighting the SB1070 immigration law. On the night of the show, a spokesperson announced to the crowd that ticket sales--all of which are non-profit to the bands--had raised $300,000. The band has been confirmed to do a short South American tour in October, performing at venues such as the SWU Festival in Brazil, the Maquinaria Festival in Chile, and Velez Stadium in Argentina. This will be the band's first shows in the continent.

Political views and activism

Rage Against the Machine burning the American flag 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."[66] 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[67]

Meanwhile, detractors pointed out what they regard as the hypocrisy of voicing commitment to leftist causes while being millionaires signed to Epic Records, a subsidiary of media conglomerate Sony Records.[68] 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.[8] ”

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,[69] 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.[38] ”

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."[70] Alan Colmes then challenged Coulter for having said of Bill Clinton "The only issue is whether to impeach or assassinate"[71] Referring to her 1998 book in which she wrote, "Otherwise there would be debates only about whether to impeach or assassinate."[72]

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:

“ 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 a 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: that 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...[73] ”

On August 24, RATM played Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. They made another speech during Wake Up.

“ We played this show at Coachella Pavilion. It was our first show back. I said a few things from the stage, and the next day Fox News ran this whole piece about us saying that the Presidents should be assassinated. But those fascists always get it wrong when they just want to pin a band in the corner for standing up. What we said was that the whole Bush Administration should be put on trial for war crimes and then hung and then shot, that's what we said.

But besides that it made me think about something. It made me think, "what are they so afraid of?" It made me think about what scares them. Is it really four musicians from Los Angeles who've got a point of view? Is it really just this music and these rhythms and these words? Is that what they're scared of? I thought I'd think about it and you know what? My conclusion is this: nah, they ain't scared of us, they're scared of you! They're scared that you might come election time and throw Bush and Cheney and all them fascists out of power! That's what they're scared of!

And let me say this: the Democrats are scared of you too! Because they know that you see through their bullshit too. Because when Bush was wiretapping, spying on citizens, torturing innocent people – they were supposed to be the people to defend us from them, and they didn't do shit! So the Democrats are scared of you too. Why? Because they know they're coming to power and they're taking it all for granted, but they're scared because they know that if they don't start fucking pulling troops from Iraq that you're going to go and burn down every office of every Senator that doesn't do the job.

Well I will say this, that the world is watching us now. The whole world is watching us. The brothers and sisters in South America who are dealing with this imperialist violence have got their eyes on us. Our brothers and sisters in Iraq got their eyes on us. Because we are the ones that are prepared to, and going to, put an end to this nonsense. So Wake Up. Come on, Wake Up! Wake Up!

 ”

Subsequently, De la Rocha added Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister who supported and facilitated George 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.[74]

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[75] led by Iraq Veterans Against the War.

EZLN

The "black flag and a red star" of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, 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."[76] An interviewer was once told by De la Rocha, "Our purpose in sympathising with the Zapatistas is to help spark [real] dialogue."[66]

De la Rocha 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.[77] ”

The EZLN and De la Rocha's experiences with them inspired the songs "Wind Below" and "Without a Face" from Evil Empire,[77] 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."[11] To this end, producer Brendan O'Brien suspended 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.[78] 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.[11] ”

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.[11]

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 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."[11]

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.[79] 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.[80] 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.' ”
 
— Tom Morello, Ratm.com[80]

The two-hour show was syndicated by over 50 commercial U.S. radio stations[81] and streamed live from the band's website. Transcripts of the interviews are freely available online.[69][82]

"Sleep Now in the Fire" video shoot

On January 26, 2000, filming of the music video for "Sleep Now in the Fire", caused the doors of the New York Stock Exchange to be closed and the band to be escorted from the site by security.[83] Directed by Michael Moore, the video was shot on the steps of the Federal hall building, in downtown Manhattan, across from the New York Stock Exchange. The band invited fans to join them in the shoot and approximately three hundred showed up. [84] After breakdown of the shoot the band members along with many of their fans stormed the doors of the NY stock exchange. Zack de la Rocha was shoved away from the entrance after briefly entering through a side door.[85] The band along with their fans succeeded in forcing the Stock Exchange to lock its doors during the middle of the trading day.[86] After the incident Morello was quoted saying. "Our protest stopped trading at the stock exchange for the last two hours of the day. I guess we stopped downsizing for at least a couple of hours." [84] Footage of enthusiastic Wall Street employees headbanging to the music, police attempting to take Tim Commerford's bass as he refused to quit playing, and the emergency doors of the New York Stock exchange closing were all 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.[83] No one other than Moore was arrested in relation to the incident.[85]

The video was nominated at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rock Video. After losing the award to Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff", bassist Tim Commerford climbed up the fake palm tree behind the podium and refused to come down. He then began shaking the set, which appeared as though it might collapse.[87] Commerford, was eventually coaxed down and was ultimately arrested after a brief scuffle. [87] Tim's actions are widely believed to be the impetus for singer Zach De La Rocha's exit and the end of Rage.[88]

2000 Democratic National Convention

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.[89] 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.[89] 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.[90] A police spokesperson said they were "gravely concerned because of security reasons".[90]

During the concert, De la Rocha said to the crowd, "brothers and sisters, our democracy has been hijacked,"[89] and later also shouted "we have a right to oppose these motherfuckers!"[91] 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,[92] and possibly engaging in more violent activity, such as throwing glass, concrete and water bottles filled with "noxious agents,"[93] spraying ammonia on police and slingshotting rocks and steel balls.[94] The police soon after declared the gathering an unlawful assembly,[91] shut off the electrical supply, interrupting performing band Ozomatli,[92] and informed the protestors that they had 15 minutes to disperse on pain of arrest.[95] 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.[94] Police then forcibly dispersed the crowd, using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets.[94] At least six people were arrested in the incident.[95]

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."[93] Several primary witnesses reported unnecessarily violent actions and police abuses, including firing on reporters[92] and people obeying police commands.[95] Police responded that their response was "outstanding" and "clearly disciplined."[95] 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."[96]

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 power abusing party in St. Paul, Minnesota on the State Capital lawn for Ripple Effect. Tom Morello was asked by 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."[97]

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.[98][99] 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. The band surprised the crowd when they silently stood on stage while wearing orange Guantanamo Bay-like prisoner suits with black hoods over their heads. They opened up with "Bombtrack" [100] An impromptu demonstration spilled out into the streets afterwards. 102 people were arrested as riot police ended the gathering.[101]

Rage Against the Machine performing at the Target Center during the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Rage Against Torture

In October 2009, Rage Against the Machine, along with members of Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and The Roots joined a campaign to close Guantanamo Prison, calling also for the declassification of military records regarding the use of music in torture.[102] Based on reports that songs by Rage and Nine Inch Nails were used in torture at the controversial facility, the group is filing for further declassification under the Freedom of Information Act.[102]

Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured – from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts – playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums. Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me – we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now.[103]

—Tom Morello

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.[104] 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".

The anti-sweatshop poster targeted at Guess?, 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.[105] 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.[106] 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?.[81] 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."[81]

Some other controversial stands taken include that of the music video for the song "Bombtrack", in which RATM expresses support for the Peruvian terrorist 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.[81] 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.[81] 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, Getafe Electric Festival on May 30, 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.

In June 2010, frontman Zack de la Rocha stepped up his campaign to compel the state of Arizona to repeal its controversial immigration law by encouraging artists to boycott performing in the state. In addition, he has said they "are going to be organizing a series of concerts that are respectful of the nature of the boycott in its attempts to isolate the Arizona government but not isolate the people."[107]

Members

Discography

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. In 2008 the band were given a special "Hall of Fame" award from Kerrang!.

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" 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" Nominated
2000 "Sleep Now in the Fire" Nominated
NME Awards
Year Nominated work Award Result
2010 Rage Against the Machine Heroes of the Year Won
Kerrang! Awards
Year Nominated work Award Result
2008 Rage Against the Machine Hall of Fame Won

References

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  83. ↑ 83.0 83.1 "Rage against Wall Street". Green Left Weekly #397. March 15, 2000. http://www.greenleft.org.au/2000/397/24186. Retrieved 2008-09-08. 
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  86. ↑ "Sleep Now In The Fire". MichaelMoore.com. http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/sleep-now-in-the-fire. Retrieved 2010-06-09. 
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  96. ↑ Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium DVD, Grand Olympic Auditorium performance, part of De la Rocha's speech.
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  99. ↑ "Rage Against the Machine RNC – 09.02.08 (Performs Acapella in Crowd)". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYwzW2QFnwo. 
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  103. ↑ "Rage Against Gitmo". Passport. Foreign Policy. October 23, 2009. http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/10/23/rage_against_gitmo. Retrieved December 5, 2009. 
  104. ↑ Mciver, Joel (2002). Nu metal – the Next Generation of Rock & Punk. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780711992092. 
  105. ↑ "Rage Against the Machine". Velvetland.org. http://www.velvetland.org/music/MUSES/Rage_Against_The_Machine/home.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-08.  (Image of PMRC protest available at this site.)
  106. ↑ Micallef, Ken (March 1996), Rage Against the Machine's Brad Wilk, Modern Drummer. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
  107. ↑ "Information Not Found". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/news/zack-de-la-rocha-ups-the-rage-against-arizona-1004101033.story#/news/zack-de-la-rocha-ups-the-rage-against-arizona-1004101033.story. Retrieved 2010-07-18. 

Further reading

External links

Rage Against the Machine
Tim Commerford · Zack de la Rocha · Tom Morello · Brad Wilk
Studio albums
Rage Against the Machine (1992) · Evil Empire (1996) · The Battle of Los Angeles (1999) · Renegades (2000)
Live albums
Live & Rare (1998) · Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium (2003)
Demo albums
Rage Against the Machine (1991)
Video
Rage Against the Machine (1997) · The Battle of Mexico City (2001) · Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium (2003)
Singles
"Killing in the Name" · "Bullet in the Head" · "Bombtrack"  · "Freedom" · "Year of tha Boomerang"  · "Bulls on Parade" · "People of the Sun" · "Tire Me"  · "Down Rodeo" · "Vietnow"  · "The Ghost of Tom Joad" · "No Shelter"  · "Guerrilla Radio"  · "Sleep Now in the Fire" · "Testify" · "Calm Like a Bomb"  · "Renegades of Funk" · "How I Could Just Kill a Man"
Other songs
"Know Your Enemy" · "Tire Me" · "Wake Up" · "We Want It All"
Tours
Rage Against the Machine Tour · 1994-1995 Tour · Evil Empire Tour · The Battle of Los Angeles Tour · Reunion Tour
Related articles
Discography · Awards · Political views and activism  · Inside Out · Lock Up · Audioslave · The Nightwatchman · One Day as a Lion · Street Sweeper Social Club