Rage Against the Machine is a band who formed in 1991 in Los Angeles. Their first performance was at a friend of Tim's living room party, and they decided they had something. They took their name from the title of Zack's previous band's unreleased second album. They played a few shows, and were almost immediately contacted by several labels. However, they all seemed to think the politics were a gimmick, and Rage didn't bother with them. Their earliest demos were recorded "before ever playing live" and were for sale at their shows, and they made and sold about 5000 copies. They signed with Epic after a short time, and their self-titled debut album on Epic (a division of Sony) was released in November, 1992. They toured in support of various bands and gained more and more recognition; their debut album went platinum; the rest is history.
"'Rage' by definition is violent uncontrolled anger. Rage is being fed up with the Machine to the point of taking action.
"The Machine is what we have come to know of as our governments, our politics, our economies, the people and corporate conglomerates that have come to dominate our society in this day and age. The Machine is the oppression of people everywhere, from Mexico to China to the United States.
"The Machine is the politics that keep the people out of power; keep the poor in their place and the rich in the lap of luxury. The polluting fuel that runs the Machine is money. The Machine has brainwashed the people with the media that they control, and now the people have begun to believe that the Machine is the only way to survive.
"Rage Against The Machine is a people's movement everywhere to try and push back the corporations, the governments, the empowered moralists from controlling our lives.
"Rage Against the Machine is about enlightening people, and changing minds and attitudes towards a brighter future for all the people of the world."
