Three 65, Day 23
Rage Against The Machine, Rage Against The Machine

I have a problem with Rage Against The Machine, specifically the fact that when we needed them most - when George W. Bush stole the White House and obliterated Iraq for no good reason - they were nowhere to be found. Vocalist/firebrand Zack de la Rocha was off recording his never-ending solo album, and the rest of the band was playing as the embarrassing Audioslave with Chris Cornell on vocals. (WTF?) Yeah, they reformed near the end of Bush's reign of "terra" to ostensibly deliver the "knockout blow" to his regime, but it was too little too late, as far as I'm concerned.

That having been said, every one of their four albums is solid gold. Rage managed to cohere rap with heavy metal in a way no band had before, or has since. Part of that was de la Rocha's rapid-fire flow and anthemic rhymes, and part of that was the Public Enemy-style scratching and squealing that came out of Tom Morello's guitar. (I still don't know how he managed to make half of the sounds he did. Not for nothing do the liner notes read, "no samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in the making of this record.")

Their self-titled album starts off strong with the rapidly building "Bombtrack," and then blows right into its best number, "Killing In The Name," which features the immortal couplet "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!" And it features it over and over again. In any other band's hands, such a gimmick would be instantly tiresome; in Rage's arsenal, it's galvanizing.

"Settle For Nothing" slows the album down nicely at the fourth track position, a slow burner that gradually builds in intensity until nothing is left in its path. "Know Your Enemy" features Tool compatriot Maynard James Keenan, and "Wake Up" calls to task the government for its (possible) role in the death of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. The album closes well, with the ecstatic "Freedom": "Freedom... yeah, right!"

Rage Against The Machine has returned for a lot of live dates, but they have yet to release another album that matches this one. However, the other three records (Renegades, Evil Empire, and The Battle Of Los Angeles) are required listening for the young malcontent.