Biography of Rage Against the Machine

On the strength of their fiercely political debut album, Rage Against The Machine became an alternative rock sensation in 1993. Combining a technically advanced post-punk guitar roar with an amateurish stab at hip-hop, the band's sound is polarizing: you believe either they're the most uncompromising rockers on earth or they're whining, simplistic hypocrites (after all, how many revolutionaries sign to Sony). Either way, with their fiery, militant rock, the band managed to gain more fans than most stridently political bands, as well as earning a considerable amount of critical acclaim for their abrasive sound. After nearly three years of delays, Rage Against the Machine's second album, Evil Empire, was released in the spring of 1996. It entered the US charts at number one and quickly went platinum. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine