Day 301: Rage Against The Machine – Rage Against The Machine

Today I had another moment that I hate when writing this blog: I finished listening to an album, started writing about it, read such horrific things about the artist that I just don’t want to give them the time of day anymore. To cut a long story short, Smokey Robinson is a terrible person, so I thought I’d pivot to something completely different. I haven’t listened to Rage Against the Machine in years, but if there ever was a time in my life to rage against the machine, it’s probably now – let’s listen to their debut.

Album cover courtesy of Epic Records

Rage Against the Machine was formed in 1991 in Los Angeles by vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk. They kept going with the original line-up until 2000 when Zack de la Rocha announced that he’s leaving the band, saying that there’s been a breakdown in their decision-making process. The remaining band members then went on to form Audioslave.

At the time of his exit, Tom Morello said somewhat diplomatically that “There’s been a constant tension that’s been an enormous challenge for us all over the years. Zack did what he had to do.” He elaborated later about the tensions within the band:

There was so much squabbling over everything, and I mean everything. We would even have fistfights over whether our T-shirts should be mauve or camouflaged! It was ridiculous. We were patently political, internally combustible. It was ugly for a long time.

Sounds like a rancid time for all involved. But all I’m saying is, come on guys, it’s been years now – there’s never been a better time for another comeback. Barring that, I just wish we’d get protest music that’s as good as what we need right now, and listening to their self-titled makes me remember just how good it can be.

I think the main consequence of living in a time like this where you’re constantly witnessing wars and genocides and democracy erode around the world in real time, it makes you feel powerless. Music like this empowers you and almost kicks you in the face with the notion that you as an individual can and should feel empowered to try to make a positive change in the world. Frankly I don’t know how we got so suckered into believing that we don’t matter and it’s not worth doing anything — I think if there was a bit of a protest music renaissance, people would become politically active again.

Rage Against The Machine is a masterful blend of righteous anger, metal, rap and funk that is still galvanising to listen to. Songs like “Wake Up” and "Take the Power Back" are just as strong as ever, and you can’t help but to feel a little bit more awake and alive after listening to them. I wrote about it early in the project on day 2, but I never really put together how jarring the change was that the band broke apart and birthed Audioslave and started making essentially the most inoffensive apolitical car commercial rock. I could imagine it was like a nice little oasis of calm for them, but still.

It’s always nice when something you’d heard from your youth is just as good as you remembered, except this album has probably only ever grown more relevant. Great choice in 2026 and a classic for a reason, I’m giving it a 10/10.