Rage Against the Machine

I'll Rage Against YOUR Machine!

"Bring that shit in! Uggh!

Yeah the movement's in motion with mass militant poetry

Now check this out...uggh!"

These are the opening lyrics to one of Rage Against the Machine's most popular songs. All of their lyrics were written by their vocalist, Zack de la Rocha, an angry Chicano American from Orange County. He was born on January 12, 1970 in Long Beach, California to Beto and Olivia de la Rocha. When Zack was barely a year old, Olivia separated from Beto because of their differences in religious ideals. Olivia moved away from Beto in Long Beach to study for her PhD in Anthropology at The University of California's campus in Irvine. Beto was a well known Chicano artist, and a founding member of the political art group the "Los Four", who were most well known for their work on the early Chicano mural movement, which included the blunt slogan at the bottom of each of their works "Chicano art existe!" or "here we are!" (ZDR Network).

During grade school in Irvine, he met Tim Commerford, Rage Against the Machine's future bassist. They became friends after Tim taught Zack how to steal food from the school's cafeteria.

In high school he became involved in the punk and hardcore scene and played guitar and sang for a straight edge band called Hardstance. His interest in bands like the Sex Pistols and Bad Religion turned into an appreciation for other bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains and The Teen Idles (Wikipedia). He later formed a band called Inside Out in August of 1988, with de la Rocha as the lead vocalist. They gained popularity in the pubs they played at and eventually released a record, "No Spiritual Surrender," in 1991 with Revelation Records and went on a small tour with two other bands.

"...was about completely detaching ourselves from society to see ourselves as... as spirits, and not bowing down to a system that sees you as just another pebble on a beach. I channeled all my anger out through that band"

- Zack de la Rocha talking about Inside Out

Tom, a Harvard graduate from Illinois, met Zack in one of the clubs he was free-styling at; he also met Brad Wilk, the drummer, at the club scene. Zack called up Tim and together they formed Rage Against the Machine (named after one of Inside Out's songs) in October and November of 1991 (ZDR Network). They later signed with Epic Records, which is part of media conglomerate Sony. And Zack, writing songs like "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Testify", then became one of the most influential lyricists of the decade.

Rage's music has such an innovative sound, combining rap and rock together and making "Rapcore". Rapcore developed in the mid to late 1980s alongside similar crossover music genre funk metal. The roots of the style can be found in albums by bands such as Anthrax, Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 311 and Faith No More, but the first dedicated rapcore band was probably the little-known Dutch group Urban Dance Squad who inspired the founders of Rage Against the Machine ("RATM" Wikipedia).

When Zack was thirteen, his father Beto suffered a nervous breakdown, which resulted in him becoming a fanatical Christian. Strict Biblical teachings became an everyday aspect of Beto's life. From the commandments, "Thou shalt not make engraven image," Beto interpreted it as a reason to stop painting. On Friday when he visited, Zack would eat and then fast for the weekend until going back to his mother's place in Irvine. He also forced Zack to sit in a room, with curtains closed and door locked, and sometimes helps destroy his paintings. The artwork that Zack helped destroy brought upon him a culture shock and identity crisis. Zack's Chicano heritage always separated him from the rich white kids that surrounded him. Although he was never economically deprived like his Chicano brothers and sisters, he felt the tension and rejection (MFC).

Through RATM, Zack lashes out at the government in which he lives under, calling it deceiving and corrupt. RATM's beliefs are on the far left side of the political spectrum, and tries to "open America's ignorant eyes" through their words. They also send for a call-to-arms and for the people to take action for what they believe in, instead of just being complacent and obeying the rules.

Tom Morello describes exactly what "machine" they are raging against: "The machine can be anything from the police in the streets in Los Angeles who can tear motorists from their car and beat them to a pulp and get away from it, to the overall international state capitalist machinery that tries to make you just a mindless cog, and not to think critically and never confront the system, and to just sort of "behave" and look forward to the next weekend and next six pack of beer." (MFC)

With Zack's powerful lyrics and Tom's inventive guitar riffs, they quickly became an extremely popular band in the 90's and still are today.

One song that I think conveys their message most clearly is "Take the Power Back" from their debut album, which is self-titled.

So called facts are fraud

They want us to allege and pledge

And bow down to their God

Lost the culture, the culture lost

Spun our minds and through