"We're not going to play to the mainstream. We're going to hijack it."

Rage Against the Machine was

VOCALS: Zack de la Rocha
BORN: Long Beach, California in 1970

LEAD GUITARIST: Tom Morello
BORN: New York City in 1964

BASSIST: Tim Commerford
BORN: Irvine, California IN 1968

PERCUSSIONIST: Brad Wilk
BORN: Portland, Oregon IN 1968

Rage Against the Machine was a band that combined rock, hip hop, punk, jaz and Left-wing politics. Rage was about generating social consciousness unfortunately, Zack de la Rocha left the band in late 2000.

• Discography
  • Rage Against the Machine 1992
  • Evil Empire 1996
  • The Battle of Los Angeles 1999
  • Renegades 2000

   

Crank the music up

Bring that shit in Uggh
Yeah, the movement's in motion with mass militant poetry
Now check this out...uggh
In the right light, study becomes insight
But the system that dissed us
Teaches us to read and right

So called facts are fraud
They want us to allege and pledge
And bow down to their God
Lost the culture, the culture lost
Spun our minds and through time
Ignorance has taken over
Yo, we gotta take the power back
Bam! Here's the plan
Motherfuck Uncle Sam
Step back, I know who I am
Raise up your ear, I'll drop the style and clear
It's the beats and the lyrics they fear
The rage is relentless
We need a movement with a quickness
You are the witness of change
And to counteract
We gotta take the power back

Yeah, we gotta take the power back
Come on, come on
We gotta take the power back

The present curriculum
I put my fist in 'em
Eurocentric every last one of 'em
See right through the red, white and blue disguise
With lecture I puncture the structure of lies
Installed in our minds and attempting
To hold us back
We've got to take it back
'Cause holes in our spirit causin' tears and fears
One-sided stories for years and years and years
I'm inferior? Who's inferior?
Yea, we need to check the interior
Of the system that cares about only one culture
And that is why
We gotta take the power back

Yeah, we gotta take the power back
Come on, come on!
We gotta take the power back

Hey yo check, we're gonna have to break it, break it, break it down
Awww shit
Uggh
And like this...uggh
Come on, yeah! Bring it back the other way
The teacher stands in front of the class
But the lesson plan he can't recall
The student's eyes don't perceive the lies
Bouncing off every fucking wall
His composure is well kept
I guess he fears playing the fool
The complacent students sit and listen to some of that
Bullshit that he learned in school

Europe ain't my rope to swing on
Can't learn a thing from it
Yet we hang from it
Gotta get it, gotta get it together then
Like the motherfuckin' weathermen
To expose and close the doors on those who try
To strangle and mangle the truth
'Cause the circle of hatred continues unless we react
We gotta take the power back

Yeah, we gotta take the power back
Come on, come on!
We gotta take the power back

No more lies
Uggh
Yeah
Take it back Joe
Take it back, a-take it back
A-take it back Joe, come on
Take it back Joe
Take it back, a-take it back
A-take it back Joe, come on
Uggh
Yeah

Rage Against The Machine (1992)