Rage Against The Machine
Probably the most political
band of the 1990s, Rage Against the Machine pioneered a combination of
rock/heavy metal and rap which has often since been imitated, but never
surpassed. The band consists of Zack de la Rocha as lead vocalist, Tom Morello
on lead guitar, Tim Commerford on bass guitar and drummer Brad Wilk. Before
their split in 2000, they had managed, over their twenty year career, to
combine honest, controversial political content with mainstream commercial
success, and had become one of the most influential bands of the era.
The band released their triple platinum, self-titled debut album in 1992 on Epic Records, largely based on a 12 song, self-released cassette that they had recorded the year before. The album was incredibly successful, garnering RATM a legion of fans all over the world. After a long period of touring and live festivals, they released their second album in 1996, entitled ‘Evil Empire’. It entered at number one on the Billboard Top 200 chart, eventually reaching the triple platinum status achieved by its predecessor. Again, the band took to the road to promote the album and embarked on an ill-fated collaboration with the Wu-Tang Clan, before heading back into the studio to record their third album, ‘Battle of Los Angeles’. The album was released in 1999, debuting at number one, and selling 450,000 copies in the first week. However, despite the continued success, De la Rocha left the band in October 2000, shortly before their final studio album was released. A compilation of covers, ‘Renegades’ featured no original material from the band, although it still achieved platinum chart status.
After 7 years apart the band reunited in 2007 (primarily to voice their opposition to the right-wing policies of the Bush regime) in a one-off performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. However, what was intended as a temporary reformation became something more permanent. The band played a number of live gigs during the following two years, although the possibility of a new album was repeatedly rebuffed by both De la Rocha and Morello. This resurgence culminated with the advent of a Facebook campaign in late 2009 to get the band’s most famous track, “Killing in the Name”, to the top of the UK charts in protest at the dominance of Simon Cowell’s X Factor winners in previous years. The campaign was a success, with the campaign attracting over 950,000 members, and achieving the highest ever first week download sales in the UK charts. In celebration, De la Rocha promised a free concert in the UK at some point during 2010, later confirmed to be the 6th June at Finsbury Park, London.
