Rage Against The Machine

American band Rage Against The Machine drew their inspiration from a mixture of genres ranging from rock to rap. The band formed in 1991 after Tom Morello (guitarist) saw Zack De La Rocha rapping in a US club. The two then set about finding the rest of the band - Brad Wilk (drums) and Tom Commerford (bass).

The band signed to Epic Records after they had recorded a demo album of twelve tracks.

Seven songs off the twelve track demo made it onto the bands self-titled debut album, which was released in 1992. The album achieved triple platinum status, and copious amounts of radio play. To support the album the band played the Lollapalooza festival, as well as a number of dates across Europe supporting, Suicidal Tendencies.

Four years later, and with a cult following now in tow, the band released their second album, ‘Evil Empire,’ in 1996. The album went straight into number one in the US charts, solidifying the band as one of the great American-rock bands around.

Rage Against The Machine have never been afraid to express their political opinions. They have always maintained a critical stance against US foreign policy. In 1996 they’re performance on Saturday Night Live was cut short when they tried to hang inverted American flags in protest against the shows guest, Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes. The band only managed to perform, ‘Bulls On Parade,’ on the show.

The band enjoyed similar success with their third album, ‘The Battle Of Los Angeles,’ released in 1999, as they had with their previously releases. The album went straight to number one and went double platinum in America.

Rage Against The Machine disbanded in 2000 when Rocha left in protest against the release of, ‘Renegades,’ which was a covers album. Although the band briefly tried to replace Rocha, they eventually formed Audioslave, with Chris Cornell.

Although it was widely expected that Rage Against The Machine would never reform, news broke in January 2007 that the band would reform for the Coachella Festival in California in April 2007, for a one off show. Unsurprisingly their reformation has a lot to do with the USA’s current foreign policy in Iraq.