Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine, sometimes known as RATM or Rage, is a rock band from Los Angeles, California. Rage Against the Machine are known for mixing funk, hip-hop, metal and rock music. They are also known for their left-wing political opinions. The band members have been the same since they started in 1991. The band members are rapper Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk. Morello, Commerford and Wilk also made Audioslave with Chris Cornell.
RATM released their first album in 1992. It was called Rage Against the Machine. The album sold a lot of copies and reached number 40 on the Billboard 200 music chart. The band did not do another album until Evil Empire in 1996. The bands third album, The Battle of Los Angeles, was released in 1999. Shortly after, in 2000, the band released a covers album named Renegades.
History
1991-1993: Rage Against the Machine
In 1991, Tom Morello's band named Lock Up disbanded. He wanted to make another band, so talked to Zack de la Rocha and Tim Commerford about working on new music. After some time, Morello got drummer Brad Wilk to join the band as well. Morello knew him because Wilk had auditioned to play the drums for Lock Up, but failed. The band named themselves Rage Against the Machine. They got the name from a song that de la Rocha had written for another band.
The band made a demo tape named Rage Against the Machine. It had twelve songs on it. Seven of the twelve songs would be put on their first album. A lot of big record labels were interested in the band after they put out their demo. Rage Against the Machine joined Epic Records. Morello said they "agreed to everything [the band] asked".
The band's first album, Rage Against the Machine, was released in 1992. It sold many copies, with "Killing in the Name" being the most popular song from the album. To get more people to listen to the album, the band played at Lollapalooza in 1993.
1994-1997: Evil Empire
After their first album was successful, Rage Against the Machine made some songs for movie soundtracks, such as "Tire Me" and "Year of tha Boomerang". They released their second album, Evil Empire, in 1996. It got to the number one spot on the Billboard 200 music chart.
In April 1996, Rage Against the Machine played music on Saturday Night Live. They planned to play two songs, but their second song was cancelled. This was because they tried to put upside-down American flags over their amplifiers (upside-down flags are a sign of danger). The flags were a protest against the show having Republican Steve Forbes on the show the same night.
In 1997, Rage Against the Machine played on tour with U2. All of the money that Rage made from the concerts was given to groups they supported, such as the EZLN and Women Alive. After touring with U2, Rage started their own tour in the United States. They planned to do the tour with the Wu-Tang Clan, but replaced them with The Roots after they did not show up to a concert. The band released a compilation album of songs from their demo and live recordings named Live & Rare in 1998.
1998-2000: The Battle of Los Angeles, band breaks up
In 1999, Rage Against the Machine played music at Woodstock. The band then released an album named The Battle of Los Angeles. It sold over 450,000 copies, and hit number one on the Billboard 200. Rage's music was put on the soundtrack for movies from The Matrix series.
In January 2000, the band made a music video for "Sleep Now in the Fire" on Wall Street. Hundreds of people came to watch the band make the video. Michael Moore, the person filming the music video, only had a permit for being at the front of Federal Hall. The band was not allowed to make loud noises, but they kept playing loudly. Tom Morello said that Moore told the band that "no matter what happens, don't stop playing". When the band went away from the front of the Hall, police officers handcuffed Moore. Moore told the band to "take the New York Stock Exchange", and many people starting running into the building. The Stock Exchange shut down, and nobody could trade for some time because of the band.
In September 2000, the band went to the MTV Music Awards. When Limp Bizkit got the award for Best Rock Video instead of Rage, Tim Commerford climbed up a set of scaffolding for the awards show. De la Rocha left the awards show after he did this, and Commerford went to jail for a night.
In October 2000, de la Rocha left the band. He thought that Rage had many problems that made the band members not work together well. At the end of the year, the band released Renegades, an album of covers. It had songs originally made by many bands, such as Devo, the Rolling Stones, Cypress Hill, and Bob Dylan. It was certified platinum by the RIAA.
2001-2006: Other projects
After de la Rocha left the band, Morello, Commerford and Wilk wanted to keep making music. They decided to find someone else to sing, and make a new band. Rick Rubin, a music producer, told them that they should play with Chris Cornell from Soundgarden. Cornell agreed to sing, and they made the band Audioslave. In November 2002, the band released their first album. It was also named Audioslave. Many people liked the album. Compared to Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave was not very political. The band made two more albums, named Out of Exile and Revelations. In February 2007, Audioslave broke up after Cornell left the band.