Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine was formed in 1991 by four established musicians from throughout the United States who met on the L.A. music scene: a dreadlocked vocalist, Zack de la Rocha, a native of Irvine, California; lead guitarist Tom Morello, a Harvard graduate from Libertyville, Illinois; bassist Tim Commerford but now people refer to him as Y Tim K, also from Irvine, California; and drummer Brad Wilk, from Portland, Oregon.
With a unique sound that combines rap, heavy metal, punk rock, extreme stage energy, and outspoken lyrics that are often taboo in modern music, RATM quickly won over fans throughout southern California, selling more than 5,000 copies of a self-produced cassette tape.
So far, RATM has three (3) albums out for the public to purchase. Their self-entitled debut album came out in 1992, their second album entitled "Evil Empire" came out in 1994 and their newest release called "The Battle of Los Angeles" came out in November of 1999 and they are talking about making a fourth album.
One would think that being a popular, major-label band would be incompatible with holding extreme left-wing political views. The Los Angeles-based thrash quartet Rage Against the Machine does both. In their world, big money and radical politics are not necessarily exclusive. As a fellow percussionist myself, I have taken a peculiar liking to the band's amazing and different percussion styles. I also enjoy Tom Morello's use of many different pedals that make many peculiar high-pitched sounds.
This page is Canadian made
The authentic RATM site
Another Rage site with LOTS of photos
E-mail me with questions or comments
For a discographyclick here
Pictures taken from Rollinstone
Created and last updated by Matthew on April 27th, 2000.