Rage Against the Machine – American rock group
Rage Against the Machine appeared in Los Angeles in 1991. The lineup includes a vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and back vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello, and drummer Brad Wilk.
In 1991, after the disbanding of the group Lock Up, one of the members of which was Tom Morello, the drummer Jon Knox suggested that Tim Commerford and Zack de la Rocha perform together. Later, Tom asked Brad Wilk, who auditioned for Lock Up a while earlier, to join them. The name of the band came from one of Zack’s songs, which he wrote before becoming part of the group.
For the first time, the group performed in October 1991 at California State University. Back then, they already had sufficient material to record a studio album. They decided to do it independently. Later the 12 songs became part of a two-sided LP, which was released with the assistance of Epic Records.
The LP Rage Against the Machine appeared in 1992. The LP reached the 45th spot of Billboard 200. In 1993, the group became popular all over the world. The album appeared in the charts of the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and many more. The singles "Bombtrack", "Bullet in the Head", "Killing in the Name", and "Freedom" became hits. The album itself earned a variety of platinum certification in many countries. At that time, organizers tried hard to book Rage Against the Machine for private events, but the artists were usually too busy to accept such offers.