Rage Against The Machine Tour Overview
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello, and drummer Brad Wilk. The band is known for melding heavy metal and rap music with punk rock and funk influences, as well as their revolutionary socialist political views. As of 2010, they have sold over 16 million records worldwide. The band will be inducted into the 2023 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Rage Against the Machine released its self-titled debut album in 1992 to critical acclaim, and achieved commercial success following their performances at the 1993 Lollapalooza festival; in 2003, the album was ranked number 368 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The band's next two albums, Evil Empire (1996) and The Battle of Los Angeles (1999), were also successful; both albums topped the Billboard 200 chart. During their initial nine-year run, Rage Against the Machine became a popular and influential band, and had a large influence on the nu metal genre which came to prominence during the late 1990s and early 2000s. They were also ranked No. 33 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
About Rage Against The Machine
In 1991, following the break-up of guitarist Tom Morello's former band Lock Up, former Lock Up drummer Jon Knox encouraged Tim Commerford and Zack de la Rocha to jam with Morello as he was looking to start a new group. Morello soon contacted Brad Wilk, who had unsuccessful auditions for both Lock Up and the band that would later become Pearl Jam. This lineup named themselves Rage Against the Machine, after a song de la Rocha had written for his former underground hardcore punk band Inside Out (also to be the title of the unrecorded Inside Out full-length album). Kent McClard, with whom Inside Out were associated, had coined the phrase "rage against the machine" in a 1989 article in his zine No Answers.
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 featured newspaper clippings of the stockmarket section 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, while three others never saw an official release. 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."
Rage Against The Machine Facts
- In June 2010, Rage Against The Machine played a free gig in London’s Finsbury Park, as a thank you to fans for getting ‘Killing In The Name’ to number one at Christmas. All 40,000 tickets were snapped up in just three hours.
- The band are vocal supporters of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, especially De la Rocha, who has taken several trips to the Mexican state of Chiapas to aid their efforts.
- Tom Morello used to be an exotic dancer. He told NME: “When I graduated from Harvard and moved to Hollywood, I was unemployable…at one point, I even worked as an exotic dancer. ’Brick House’ [by The Commodores] was my jam!”
- While appearing on Saturday Night Live in 1996, bassist Tim Commerford took a U.S. flag, tore it up, and charged into guest host/Republican Steve Forbes’ dressing room, hurling it at his associates. This incident followed Rage’s planned two-song set being cut short after they hung inverted American flags onto their amps.
