| The Battle of Los Angeles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Rage Against the Machine | ||||
| Released | November 2, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | September - October 1, 1998 at A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA; Royalstone Studios, North Hollywood, CA; Royaltone Studios, Hollywood, CA; Silent Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA; Southern Tracks, Atlanta, GA; Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA; Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, CA | |||
| Genre | Rap metal, alternative metal, funk metal | |||
| Length | 45:23 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Brendan O'Brien and Rage Against the Machine | |||
| Rage Against the Machine chronology | ||||
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The Battle of Los Angeles is the third studio album by Rage Against the Machine. It was released on November 2, 1999, over three years after their second studio album, Evil Empire. Between Evil Empire and Los Angeles, the band released a live album, titled Live & Rare. This album is Rage Against the Machine's most recent album consisting of original material.
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The song "Calm Like a Bomb" is featured in the credits of The Matrix Reloaded. The videos to "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Testify" were directed by documentarian Michael Moore. Both "Testify" and "Guerrilla Radio" are also featured in the video game Rock Band 2, being on-disc and downloadable, respectively.
The album debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 selling 420,000 copies its first week. That week saw a busy CD release schedule. The album denied Mariah Carey's highly anticipated album the chance to open at #1. "Guerrilla Radio" was featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, albeit heavily edited on the Nintendo 64 version, and it is also heavily edited on "Madden NFL 10". Both Time and Rolling Stone named it the Best Album of 1999. It was listed as #53 in SPIN Magazine's 100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005.
The album cover art was an original artwork by the LA Street Phantom aka Joey Krebs aka Joel Jaramillo, a well-known Los Angeles artist who has exhibited at numerous galleries in Los Angeles, New York City and throughout the United States.[1] Despite claims to the contrary, the image was not inspired by images from the 1992 street riots of LA or from images of Munich, but by the band's own music and words, and represents one in a series of images of the artist's work, which can also be seen on various street murals in Los Angeles.
The Battle of Los Angeles was heavily influenced by the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. "Testify", "Sleep Now in the Fire", "Voice of the Voiceless", among other songs, include direct quotes from the novel, and mention key Orwellian terms in the lyrics. "Voice of the Voiceless" also contains a quotation from the writings of Mao Tse-tung.
Regarding the album's title it is worth mentioning that there was an historical event called Battle of Los Angeles which took place on February 25, 1942, involving a large-scale anti-aircraft artillery barrage against targets which subsequently remained unidentified.
Saul Williams sampled "Born of a Broken Man" for his song "Om Nia Merican", which appeared on his 2001 album Amethyst Rock Star.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 426 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [2] |
| Robert Christgau | [3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (A) [4] |
| Rolling Stone | [5] |
| NME | (7/10) [6] |
| Spin | (9/10) [7] |
| Ultimate Guitar | (9.4/10) [8] |
| Vibe | (favorable) [9] |
| Yahoo! Music | (favorable) [10] |
All songs written and arranged by Rage Against the Machine and all lyrics by Zack de la Rocha.
In the US, some retail stores gave a free promo CD to those who pre-ordered the CD. It contained 2 tracks: "Clear the Lane" and "Hadda Be Playing on the Juke Box". In Australia certain chains gave a promo tape to those who pre-ordered titled "New... Live... Rare" which featured "Calm Like a Bomb" and the aforementioned all on one side and repeating on side B. All versions are the same as on their proper CD releases.
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| Year | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | The Billboard 200[11] | #1 |
| 1999 | Top Canadian Albums[11] | #1 |
| 1999 | Top Internet Albums | #1 |
| 1999 | UK Album Chart | #23 |
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "Guerrilla Radio" | Modern Rock Tracks | #6 |
| 1999 | "Guerrilla Radio" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #11 |
| 1999 | "Guerrilla Radio" | Canadian Singles Chart | #6 |
| 1999 | "Guerrilla Radio" | UK Singles Chart | #32 |
| 2000 | "Sleep Now in the Fire" | Modern Rock Tracks | #8 |
| 2000 | "Sleep Now in the Fire" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #16 |
| 2000 | "Sleep Now in the Fire" | UK Singles Chart | #43 |
| 2000 | "Testify" | Modern Rock Tracks | #16 |
| 2000 | "Testify" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #22 |
| Preceded by Supernatural by Santana |
Billboard 200 number-one album November 20-26, 1999 |
Succeeded by Breathe by Faith Hill |
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