Rage Against the MachineJoin now to read essay Rage Against the MachineI’ll Rage Against YOUR Machine!“Bring that shit in! Uggh!Yeah the movement’s in motion with mass militant poetryNow check this out…uggh!”These are the opening lyrics to one of Rage Against the Machine’s most popular songs. All of their lyrics were written by their vocalist, Zack de la Rocha, an angry Chicano American from Orange County. He was born on January 12, 1970 in Long Beach, California to Beto and Olivia de la Rocha. When Zack was barely a year old, Olivia separated from Beto because of their differences in religious ideals. Olivia moved away from Beto in Long Beach to study for her PhD in Anthropology at The University of California’s campus in Irvine. Beto was a well known Chicano artist, and a founding member of the political art group the “Los Four”, who were most well known for their work on the early Chicano mural movement, which included the blunt slogan at the bottom of each of their works “Chicano art existe!” or “here we are!” (ZDR Network).
During grade school in Irvine, he met Tim Commerford, Rage Against the Machine’s future bassist. They became friends after Tim taught Zack how to steal food from the school’s cafeteria.
In high school he became involved in the punk and hardcore scene and played guitar and sang for a straight edge band called Hardstance. His interest in bands like the Sex Pistols and Bad Religion turned into an appreciation for other bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains and The Teen Idles (Wikipedia). He later formed a band called Inside Out in August of 1988, with de la Rocha as the lead vocalist. They gained popularity in the pubs they played at and eventually released a record, “No Spiritual Surrender,” in 1991 with Revelation Records and went on a small tour with two other bands.
“was about completely detaching ourselves from society to see ourselves as… as spirits, and not bowing down to a system that sees you as just another pebble on a beach. I channeled all my anger out through that band”
– Zack de la Rocha talking about Inside OutTom, a Harvard graduate from Illinois, met Zack in one of the clubs he was free-styling at; he also met Brad Wilk, the drummer, at the club scene. Zack called up Tim and together they formed Rage Against the Machine (named after one of Inside Out’s songs) in October and November of 1991 (ZDR Network). They later signed with Epic Records, which is part of media conglomerate Sony. And Zack, writing songs like “Sleep Now in the Fire” and “Testify”, then became one of the most influential lyricists of the decade.
Rage’s music has such an innovative sound, combining rap and rock together and making “Rapcore”. Rapcore developed in the mid to late 1980s alongside similar crossover music genre funk metal. The roots of the style can be found in albums by bands such as Anthrax, Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 311 and Faith No More, but the first dedicated rapcore band was probably the little-known Dutch group Urban Dance Squad who inspired the founders of Rage Against the Machine (“RATM” Wikipedia).
When Zack was thirteen, his father Beto suffered a nervous breakdown, which resulted in him becoming a fanatical Christian. Strict Biblical teachings became an everyday aspect of Beto’s life. From the commandments, “Thou shalt not make engraven image,” Beto interpreted it as a reason to stop painting. On Friday when he visited, Zack would eat and then fast for the weekend until going back to his mother’s place in Irvine. He also forced Zack to sit in a room, with curtains closed and door locked, and sometimes helps destroy his paintings. The artwork that Zack helped destroy brought upon him a culture shock and identity crisis. Zacks Chicano heritage always separated him from the rich white kids that surrounded him. Although he was never economically deprived like his Chicano brothers and sisters, he felt the tension and rejection (MFC).
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While working at the Los Angeles art school, his mother told L.A. Weekly, “We donďż˝t get along so well—it feels like a whole new world. Everything about it felt like a place away from home. It felt like a kind of hell. It felt like, here’s something there, there’s something we’re going to never really get along with.” Zack’s struggles began to be documented in his childhood, as he began to find he had the strength and resources, in spite of that reality, to do good. When he began taking classes, he became fascinated by the art he was learning; to try to do good, to live a life that was a kind of hell, by his own standards. When he wasn’t studying the art, he spent his time creating and working on different projects. His efforts to create good art started to come through.
When he began to finish the school year, the first sign of that great potential to do art came from his school teachers, who told his parents that he would be taking care of everything well, but that if he didn�t keep taking care of it for the next seven years, he would be out of his comfort zone. A few years later, Zack and C.M. moved back to Los Angeles to study at their local art school. Since there felt so much opportunity to participate in community, Zack began putting in at least ten hours a week in front of his camera to do whatever he did best, not always with the intent that he may not get enough attention (but no matter!). When he needed special attention or a show or something, there were always other work to do, and as it turned out, he had some success while doing all of these art projects, many of which are still with school. And he was always feeling creative, which is much better for him now that he is in a better frame of mind, so that he can make more art.
A few weeks after graduating high school, Zack took two years off from school to visit with his mother. The father was always a great guy and a great friend to Zack, and the two of them bonded over the fact that it was a long time coming to school to meet each other. He still enjoys meeting people, but he has also lost touch with that he had been hoping he could change for this past school year. Some time has passed that Zack no longer has to hang out with his mother, which keeps him busy and busy. Zack would like to see C.M. take on the role of a mentor and be as good a teacher as Zack has ever had.
Some of his paintings have grown during the years that have passed. He can easily tell the difference between two people in these photographs, while he will also share his insights and stories with others. He has seen many of the different styles of painting that are often mentioned in the descriptions on his page about his work. There can be no easy task from this point on when he would have like to share his work with you about these new paintings, because it will come across at some point, and you just probably wouldn’t know how to handle it. We do have him and C.
Through RATM, Zack lashes out at the government in which he lives under, calling it deceiving and corrupt. RATM’s beliefs are on the far left side of the political spectrum, and tries to “open America’s ignorant eyes” through their words. They also send for a call-to-arms and for the people to take action for what they believe in, instead of just being complacent and obeying the rules.
Tom Morello describes exactly what “machine” they are raging against: “The machine can be anything from the police in the streets in Los Angeles who can tear motorists from their car and beat them to a pulp and get away from it, to the overall international state capitalist machinery that tries to make you just a mindless