Rage Against The Machine (self-titled)

Let's be clear: This particular pick is NOT everyone's cup of tea, and I respect that; however, since my goal of this blog is to promote albums that I feel EVERYONE should hear, I'd be derelict in my duty if I excluded it based on popular tastes. Whether you appreciate music as loud and vulgar at times as Rage Against the Machine, the fact remains that this band (with this album) changed what was happening in music at that time (1992). Unlike most musical trends and emerging genres, there weren't a lot of Rage Against the Machine copycat bands that followed, leaving the band in a class all their own. Blending and bending genres ranging from metal to funk to rap, rock, reggae and everything else in between, RATM wasn't just taking on the American government, they were taking on the American music culture. Incorporating politically-charged lyrics with grunge-rock grooves and earth-pounding percussion, this band boldly went were no band had gone before, and achieved a level of success that few bands this heavy ever will. Don't make the mistake of lumping this band together with the lump-headedness of most 90s metal meatheads! RATM contains some of the most intellectual and creative lyrics I've ever heard. This isn't just a band full of rage, they're a band full of righteousness. In a genre filled with angry mama's boys and misfits, RATM members Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk were the "real deal"; Morello was himself a Harvard grad who worked as an aide to Democratic Senator Alan Cranston prior to joining the band. They talked the talk louder than anyone else out there, but they also walked the walk, even if that meant getting arrested for inciting riots now and again. RATM was one of the few bands since the sixties that led a charge of change and actually had a chance of achieving it. I first heard these guys play as the first band on the bill at Lollapalooza 93 in New Orleans. The show opened with an elderly woman raising her middle finger to the crowd and asking us to join her in chanting "F... the New Orleans Police Department". As an angst-ridden teenager, I was instantly hooked. As I review the album some 18 years later, I realize that as a teenager I hadn't even begun to understand the true power this band possessed. For anyone who's ever felt fearful that America is just an "old boy's club" disguised by democracy, this band's for you.

Highlights: "Wake Up" and "Freedom"