History Music / RageAgainstTheMachine

The band is well known for the political activism, and the liner notes usually include contact information to various organizations the band supports. They have also played at large protests, and once, when playing on ''SaturdayNightLive'' (in an episode hosted by buttoned-down Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes), displayed the American Flag upside down, until stagehands came and pulled them down.

->''Some of those that work forces''

->''Are the same that hold office''

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rageagainstthemachinepic.jpg

: LoudnessWar: ''Renegades'' is turned up so loud it audibly distorts through most of the record.

** {{Justified}}. Morello:
-->When you live in a capitalistic society, the currency of the dissemination of information goes through capitalistic channels. Would Noam Chomsky object to his works being sold at Barnes & Noble? No, because that's where people buy their books. We're not interested in preaching to just the converted. It's great to play abandoned squats run by anarchists, but it's also great to be able to reach people with a revolutionary message, people from Granada Hills to Stuttgart.

Band members:

* ShoutOut -- Several, perhaps most obviously to Creator/GeorgeOrwell. "Testify", for example, lifts the famous quote "Who controls the past now controls the future; who controls the present now controls the past" from ''NineteenEightyFour''.

* OneOfUs - Tom Morello is a fan of ''StarTrek'' and even made a cameo appearance in an episode of ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]''. And again in ''IronMan'' when he raged against Stark's Mark 1 suit. He's also an avid DungeonsAndDragons player.

The band is well known for the political activism, and the liner notes usually include contact information to various organizations the band supports. They have also played at large protests, and once, when playing on ''SaturdayNightLive'' (in an episode hosted by buttoned-down Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes), displayed the American Flag upside down, until stagehands came and pulled them down.

* {{Angrish}} -- The language most songs are performed in.
* AudienceParticipationSong -- Arguably "Killing in the Name".

* CursedWithAwesome -- One of the reasons that their music is so good is because of how seriously they take it, and how seriously they took their music was one of the things that caused their breakup.

* ShoutOut -- Several, perhaps most obviously to GeorgeOrwell. "Testify", for example, lifts the famous quote "Who controls the past now controls the future; who controls the present now controls the past" from ''NineteenEightyFour''.
* SpellingSong -- "Know Your Enemy", "Mic Check". Also arguably "Microphone Fiend", however this is a cover song so it doesn't truly count.
* SpokenWordInMusic -- "Settle for Nothing", "Born of a Broken Man".

** {{Justified}}, [[{{YMMV}} arguably]]. Morello:

* IsntItIronic -- "No Shelter" was used on the Godzilla soundtrack because Sony noticed that they mention the great lizard by name. What Sony failed to notice is that they call it "pure motherfucking filler" and that the whole song was about slick American advertising disguising real suffering. Furthermore, "No Shelter" has the line "Make you think what you need is what they sellin'/Make you think that buyin' is rebellin'"\\
\\
Also, in the 2009 U.K Xmas No.1 race, when Rage's "Killing In The Name" went up against ''The X Factor'''s Joe's, "The Climb", there was qute a bit of {{Irony}} as there was a successful internet campaign instructing anti-''X Factor'' fans to buy the song. In addition to the above anti-consumerism lyric from "No Shelter", "Killing In The Name" clearly has the lyrics, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!"

* TwoFacedAside - Morello performing on Puff Daddy's "Come With Me" (that song from Film/{{Godzilla}} often noted as the "[[Music/LedZeppelin Puff Daddy/Jimmy Page collaboration]]") doesn't really help present himself as the Marxist he seems to think he is. Also, fans of RATM that hate Music/LimpBizkit completely overlooked the fact that RATM logically should have refused to appear at the MTV Awards, considering their political stances, and instead claimed that [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIu0LpdS4XE Tim Commerford climbing the set when Limp accepted their award for the "Break Stuff" video]] (after Rage lost for their "Sleep Now In The Fire" video) was a brilliant protest move. Ignoring the fact that true Marxists wouldn't even appear at such an event (let alone be signed to a corporate label in the first place), it still comes across as kind of a dick move, even if you hate Limp Bizkit.

'''Rage Against The Machine''' is a staunchly left-wing RapMetal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1991. Despite the band's anti-corporate viewpoint, they are [[TheManIsStickingItToTheMan signed to Epic Records]], a major label owned by Sony. According to the band, it was a way to get the message out to a larger audience. Of course, considering the band's wide variety of appearances in corporate media, [[TwoFacedAside like the MTV Awards, and collaborations with]] [[GlamRap Glam Rappers]], it doesn't really help their case very much.

* AlternativeMetal

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness -- 7

* RapRock / RapMetal / PunkRap

-->''Motherfuckaaaaaaaaa!!!''

* CoverVersion - An entire album of them. ''Renegades'' is a collection of covers. They have also covered [[{{ptitlepr8pusaj}} "Fuck tha Police"]], [[PublicEnemy "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"]] and [[BruceSpringsteen "The Ghost of Tom Joad"]]. At live shows they sometimes play White Riot by TheClash.

'''Rage Against The Machine''' is a staunchly left-wing RapMetal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1991. Despite the band's anti-corporate viewpoint, they are [[TheManIsStickingItToTheMan signed to Epic Records]], a major label owned by Sony. According to the band, it was a way to get the message out to a larger audience. Of course, considering the band's wide variety of appearances in corporate media, [[TwoFacedAside like the MTV Awards and collaborations with]] [[GlamRap Glam Rappers]], it doesn't really help their case very much.

* TwoFacedAside - Morello performing on Puff Daddy's "Come With Me" (that song from Film/{{Godzilla}} often noted as the "[[Music/LedZeppelin Puff Daddy/Jimmy Page collaboration]]") doesn't really help present himself as the Marxist he seems to think he is.

'''Rage Against The Machine''' is a staunchly left-wing RapMetal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1991. Despite the band's anti-corporate viewpoint, they are [[TheManIsStickingItToTheMan signed to Epic Records]], a major label owned by Sony. According to the band, it was a way to get the message out to a larger audience.

* IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney -- Tom Morello once supported himself by dancing. [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean Exotically.]]

Rage Against The Machine is a staunchly left-wing RapMetal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1991. Despite the band's anti-corporate viewpoint, they are [[TheManIsStickingItToTheMan signed to Epic Records]], a major label owned by Sony. According to the band, it was a way to get the message out to a larger audience.

The band was on hiatus from 2000 to 2007, during which time the band members sans singer Zack De La Rocha formed the band Music/{{Audioslave}} with the {{Soundgarden}} vocalist Chris Cornell. Audioslave disbanded in 2007, and RATM reunited for a show in Coachella festival, and have since toured to some extent.

* OneOfUs - Tom Morello is a fan of ''StarTrek'' and even made a cameo appearance in an episode of ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]''. And again in ''IronMan'' when he raged against Stark's Mark 1 suit. He's also an avid DunegonsAndDragons player.

* OneOfUs - Tom Morello is a fan of ''StarTrek'' and even made a cameo appearance in an episode of ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]''. And again in ''IronMan'' when he raged against Stark's Mark 1 suit.

* ProtestSong -- The whole discography.