If you haven't heard of Rage Against The Machine, you must be living in a cave. They were basically the first band to fuse rap and metal together. Other groups and rappers had previously collaborated for singles, but never for a whole album. Even though I didn't hear their first album until years after it had been released, it still hit me as a new and original sound. Rage is driven by a number of elements, the foremost, (in my book anyway,)being the unique riffs and solos produced by guitarist Tom Morello. His non-traditional stylings make for unique songs, and always leave you waiting to see what kind of bizarre sounds he can produce next. Fronting the energizing rhythms produced by Morello and company, are the politically charged lyrics of Zack de la Rocha, which reflect the opinions shared by he and Morello (a self-proclaimed communist.) Bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk admit they're just in it for the music, and don't have the political zeal of their bandmates, but are necessary nonetheless. Every band needs at least one member with some crazy tatoos. I finally got to see Rage on Dec. 2 at the Baltimore Arena. I was really impressed. They played lots of songs from each of their three albums, and also did "No Shelter" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad." There was no crowd interaction at all, although Tom said a few words to the everyone before the show started.

RATM.com
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