They felt like they were singing to me. Remember, this was during the "Dubya" Bush administration. He'd used the national tragedy of 911 to attack Iraq and diverted forces away from the actual fight with Al Queda and search for Bin Laden.
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Old people of Era, what was the initial reaction to Rage Against the Machine like back in the olden days?
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They blew everyone's mind at my junior high school. They were one of those bands that almost every group of students listened to. I even remember teachers who were initially put-off by their sound, but once they actually listened to the content even they were on-board with it, especially the English and Social Studies teachers.
Rage was, and still is, perfect for lifting too.
Rage was, and still is, perfect for lifting too.
I think it's better well known in hip hop circles than you think. I mean, it's not talked about a huge amount, but then, it's not hip hop so that makes sense. I've heard rappers cite them as influences though. And most of my hip hop loving friends appreciate them, even ones that aren't necessarily into rock a great deal.
I was in HS at the time, I was pretty much 100% into hip-hop and they were pretty influential to me and my crew. They were one of my first forays into music other than hip-hop and led me into getting into a lot of other rock at the time.
Evil Empire's release was a big event and got played just as much as their first album. Constant rotation throughout high school.
Evil Empire's release was a big event and got played just as much as their first album. Constant rotation throughout high school.
They were very influential and relevant for their time back then, but their both sides bullshit between Bush and Gore didn't age well.
Not known in hip hop circles,? Bro CHUCK D was the singer for prophets of rage, Zach did tracks w DJ shadow, Saul Williams, run the jewels etc. They are definitely known in hip hop circles, and zach is friends w a lot of rappers.
Also "some of those who work forces, are the same who burn crosses" repeated over and over was raw as fuck for rock music at the time, and has a legacy and lasting impact to this day.
Also "some of those who work forces, are the same who burn crosses" repeated over and over was raw as fuck for rock music at the time, and has a legacy and lasting impact to this day.
I was between 9 and 15 when they were in their heyday. Absolutely loved them and saw them live a few times. Self-titled is one of my favorite rock albums ever and when the RTJ song with Zack came out a few years back, I spent weeks just listening to all the old Rage shit and it STILL sounds amazing.
In my circle they were viewed as another popular band, all of us had the album with the flaming monk on the cover but I don't think any of us realized the lyrics were meant to be potent nor were we flabbergasted by the rap/rock combo. I guess we were somewhat already exposed to that via RHCP/Faith No More. Actually funnily enough i think we thought they were slightly lame, and going on and on about them would be like going on and on about Pearl Jam.
For real.
My freshman year in college (1999) their Battle Of Los Angeles tour came to Atlanta.
I didn't go, but some of the dormmates on my floor went.
I believe it was RATM, Anti-Flag, and Gang Starr in the same show at Philips Arena.
They mentioned it was great because you had Rockers, Slackers, Headbangers, Gangbangers, Anarchists, and various other social radicals all rocking out together.
RATM were a very well connected act
Simply untrue.
RATM collaborated and toured with Wu Tang in the 90s, covered, toured and shared a stage with Cypress Hill, Zach collaborated and shared the stage with Chuck D from Public Enemy, Zach collaborated with Last Emperor and KRS-One on a track, they covered NWA and released a cover album full of hiphop tracks that inspired them.
Also, from your initial post, you seem to insinuate that RATM is a late 90s/early 2000s nu-metal band when they have formed and began making music almost a decade prior to that timeline.
I'm 39 and was in high school when Evil Empire landed. I vividly remember listening to "People of the Sun" as I locked up my bike and walked through the gymnasium into the school. That song was a revelation.
The band was huge back then and they only got bigger over the years, even after disbanding. We had 3 rock stations in my city that would play stuff from Rage back then and I bet if I moved back, they'd still be playing it now. They're a legendary band, OP. They were all over MTV back when the channel was still the bottom line of what was mainstream and cool.
The band was huge back then and they only got bigger over the years, even after disbanding. We had 3 rock stations in my city that would play stuff from Rage back then and I bet if I moved back, they'd still be playing it now. They're a legendary band, OP. They were all over MTV back when the channel was still the bottom line of what was mainstream and cool.
They were one of many cool bands in the 90s. Never struck me as extra special other Tom Morellos insane riffs. Doesn't help I can't stand
De La Rocha's voice.
De La Rocha's voice.
Dude in the Warner Brothers shirt and the dancing guy at 19:35 are legends lol. The first RATM live fans.
It's crazy how effortless they already sound here, especially Tom Morello. I know it probably took years and countless daily hours of practicing to get there, but he was ready from the start, damn.
As for OP's question, RATM was one of those groups that immediately became popular and changed the musical landscape as soon as everybody heard Killing In The Name here (Europe/Germany). It was like hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time a year earlier, just so fresh and powerful. They basically went from opening for the likes of Suicidal Tendencies to playing the biggest European Summer festivals within only a year or two.
Yea they're fairly well known in hip hop circles, especially underground. They fucking headlined Rock the Bells with Wu-Tang Clan in 2007. This was a hip hop festival featuring some of the most respected names at the time (Nas, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Cypress Hill, KRS-One, Pharoahe Monch, Public Enemy, MF Doom) and Rage was the closing act. Only time I've seen them live but it was incredible.
Pretty much this. I was more into shit like STP, Metallica, Tool, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, etc. RATM was big with my friends who were more of the angry sort, while I just couldn't really deal with La Rocha's voice and repetitive lyrics.
Oooof that festival had some goddamn quality artists! Would have loved to have been there.
They were one of a metric fuck ton of new bands/huge albums and sounds when they released, but they garnered a huge following based on how raw and talented they were.
In 1992 these were some of albums were released (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_in_music):
Rage Against the Machine - RATM
Nirvana - Nevermind
Rancid - Rancid
Alice in Chains - Sap & Dirt
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Tool - Opiate
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Faith No More - Angel Dust
Helmet - Meantime
Ministry - Psalm 69
NIN - Broken
Prodigy - Experience
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
REM - Automatic For The People
Mudhoney - Piece of Cake
Mainstream was still going strong too. Rap was on a fucking roll in 1992 as well. It was the beginning of the end of big hair and pop music's domination of the air waves. I remember coming home from the music store with Rage Against the Machine, Sir Mix A lot - Mack Daddy, Ice Cube - The Predator, and Alice in Chains - Dirt.
During the next few years, popular music really went off the fucking rails. Record execs didn't even know what was going on anymore and signed goddamn anything that sounded different, which resulted in bands getting signed that never would have had a chance just a few years earlier. It was such an unbelievable time to be a teenager and be into music. I was 17 and was in the perfect position to help welcome in all the new music variety. By the time I sold my CD collection around 2000, I had over 800 in my collection!
In 1992 these were some of albums were released (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_in_music):
Rage Against the Machine - RATM
Nirvana - Nevermind
Rancid - Rancid
Alice in Chains - Sap & Dirt
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Tool - Opiate
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Faith No More - Angel Dust
Helmet - Meantime
Ministry - Psalm 69
NIN - Broken
Prodigy - Experience
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
REM - Automatic For The People
Mudhoney - Piece of Cake
Mainstream was still going strong too. Rap was on a fucking roll in 1992 as well. It was the beginning of the end of big hair and pop music's domination of the air waves. I remember coming home from the music store with Rage Against the Machine, Sir Mix A lot - Mack Daddy, Ice Cube - The Predator, and Alice in Chains - Dirt.
During the next few years, popular music really went off the fucking rails. Record execs didn't even know what was going on anymore and signed goddamn anything that sounded different, which resulted in bands getting signed that never would have had a chance just a few years earlier. It was such an unbelievable time to be a teenager and be into music. I was 17 and was in the perfect position to help welcome in all the new music variety. By the time I sold my CD collection around 2000, I had over 800 in my collection!
RATM was too angry for my tastes back then, the more subdued angst of grunge was enough, but some of their stuff grew on me through familiarity eventually.
I shared a room with my younger brother, and one morning he blasted it on his stereo, I had to tell him to fuck off, and we got into a fistfight over it.
I shared a room with my younger brother, and one morning he blasted it on his stereo, I had to tell him to fuck off, and we got into a fistfight over it.
I believe I saw them at Lollapalooza a couple weeks before their debut album was released. I'm not sure if an act dropped out but they opened the festival on the main stage and I wasn't ready for mosh pits at 2 in the afternoon in the lawn area. It has been so long I only remember Morello's siren sounds coming from the stage. I don't how much rotation their 'Freedom' MTV video got outside of 120 Minutes and Headbanger's Ball but I remember it quite well.
They were popular but their output was slow. I recall an interview where Morello wanted to put out an album once every 6-12 months but we know that never happened. Lol
Edit-
Fun fact: SNL banned them after their first appearance on the show for protesting Steve Forbes that was hosting that night. They played with an American flag upside down.
They were popular but their output was slow. I recall an interview where Morello wanted to put out an album once every 6-12 months but we know that never happened. Lol
Edit-
Fun fact: SNL banned them after their first appearance on the show for protesting Steve Forbes that was hosting that night. They played with an American flag upside down.
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Well I am 32, and the first time I consciously recall listening to to rage was when The Battle of Los Angeles came out. I suppose I was 11/12 at the time. Guerrilla Radio was my jam. Of course the early stuff was on rotation on the Alt Rock station at the time (RIP 99.1 HFS) and we had CDs to put in the boom box.
Me and my friends rode our bikes, shot BB guns, graffiti, set stuff on fire etc all to Rage and Cypress Hill so it was good soundtrack material for those escapades. The political message did not occur to me at the time.
Still love RATM, and the Hires tracks remain on my phone at all times for impromptu listening. Also, whenever I need an example of a properly mastered album, the first album comes to mind immediately ( excepting the 20th anniversary remaster which is garbage).
Me and my friends rode our bikes, shot BB guns, graffiti, set stuff on fire etc all to Rage and Cypress Hill so it was good soundtrack material for those escapades. The political message did not occur to me at the time.
Still love RATM, and the Hires tracks remain on my phone at all times for impromptu listening. Also, whenever I need an example of a properly mastered album, the first album comes to mind immediately ( excepting the 20th anniversary remaster which is garbage).
Teenagers hear that now and think it's simply about teen angst and telling authority off because of the 'fuck you I won't do what you tell me." line. The deeper sociopolitical meaning is lost on them.
I wish theyd have connected the audience to their message more, but you can't be more on the nose than Battle of LA and its videos were or say, No Shelter condemning the very film on whose soundtrack it appears. If people can't pick up on that, then let them mosh.
I first heard them in '97 when a friend played Bullet in the Head as we waited for buses at the end of the day and he thought the album cover was awesome. None of us picked up on the message at the time, for me, that came late when I was in high school and TBOLA came out and we'd go back and listen to the lyrics not just the agression
Still moderately surprised that Tom Morello's "make crazy noises with your guitar" style hasn't been emulated more in the years since their peak. The only thing that was popular for a microsecond was his Bulls On Parade solo, which a few other bands (poorly) copied (Machine Head and Fear Factory, to name a couple)
That video could be released today and feel fresh, aside from the dated Who Wants to be a Millionaire reference. What about the video so infuriated your dad?
I kinda disagree with this given Zack has rapped alongside some of the greats and members of the band went on to work with other hip hop acts during the hiatus.
My circle of friends gave a lot of importance and significance to their message (lyrics, music videos, real life actions). I'm talking mid-late 90ies. It always amazed me that they were able to put out No Shelter on the Godilla soundtrack album:
I was 13 when their self-titled album came out and it kind of blew my mind. Still nothing that sounds like it.
Also, I am not old. Get off my lawn.
Also, I am not old. Get off my lawn.
The first song i heard from them was a bullet in the head trough a friend of mine. We used to make a radio program in our last year at our high school equivalent here in spain been a fan since them they were hughe here too
their lyrics & shit on their webpage in the day put me onto chomsky's manufacturing consent, zinn's work, leonard peltier & COINTELPRO and so much shit
have they announced more dates? beside the big festival and the ones in the southwest?
have they announced more dates? beside the big festival and the ones in the southwest?
My dad is a socially liberal/fiscally conservative type, so he was pissed off that they disrupted Wall Street. I loved it.
They knocked me on my fucking ASS and I don't think I ever really recovered.
Hugely underrated band.
Hugely underrated band.
Still recall the first time I heard Killing in the name off.
92 and in college. A friend brought in a VHS of the previous nights late show which I think was their first UK tv appearance and it blew my teenage mind.
Think the next August I saw them play their first Reading festival.
92 and in college. A friend brought in a VHS of the previous nights late show which I think was their first UK tv appearance and it blew my teenage mind.
Think the next August I saw them play their first Reading festival.
They were universally praised for the debut and clubs would play killing in the name of, with the whole crowd yelling "fuck you I won't do what you tell me", middle fingers raised
During the time that it came out, the rap/rock hybrid was something that happened here and there (like the Judgement Night soundtrack and some of the stuff Ice T was doing). It felt like the first album I had heard that did the hybrid really well. Rage arrived on the scene before the Rap/Rock thing really blew up in the late nineties, thankfully saving them from any association of the awful bands that were around at that time. Not that it would have mattered because Rage is a great band. (Deftones survived that association by the quality of their music)
As for the music itself, Tom Morello's guitar work is what really stood out to me. It just really meshed so well with Zack's vocals. I was in high school, so I wasn't sure yet where I stood on the content of the lyrics, but I enjoyed the "fuck you" aspect of the band. Also, the production on that self-titled album was pretty amazing.
As for the music itself, Tom Morello's guitar work is what really stood out to me. It just really meshed so well with Zack's vocals. I was in high school, so I wasn't sure yet where I stood on the content of the lyrics, but I enjoyed the "fuck you" aspect of the band. Also, the production on that self-titled album was pretty amazing.
They were solid. I never liked them as much as some of my friends did, but I found them intriguing.
I have flashes of memory of listening to RATM in my friend's bedroom while playing my other friend's rented copy of Body Harvest on my N64 circa 1998. Good times.
I have flashes of memory of listening to RATM in my friend's bedroom while playing my other friend's rented copy of Body Harvest on my N64 circa 1998. Good times.
I was in high school. They became fairly popular when their first album hit but they were not as big as some other bands at the time.
Some of those that work forces are the same the burn crosses.
God damn I loved these guys so much. Still have them on a few playlists after all these years.
God damn I loved these guys so much. Still have them on a few playlists after all these years.
As a side note, Tom Morello is a reminder that super bands are almost always a bad idea.
Rage: AWESOME
Soundgarden: AWESOME
Audioslave: boring ass dreck
Rage: AWESOME
Soundgarden: AWESOME
Audioslave: boring ass dreck
LMAO now there's a take. Audioslave is fucking incredible.