Rage Against The Machine Issue Statement on Rock Hall Induction

After 5 Years of Nominations, Rage Are In

Since 1991 Rage Against The Machine have been a hard rocking symbol of everything held with a steel fist and more. Now, after being nominated in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 the band will rightfully claim their place in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Original and still running strong members Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford and Zack de la Rocha will attend the awards ceremony on November 3rd this year at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn. They’ll be joined by fellow inductees Kate Bush, George Michael, Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, and the Spinners. In a joint statement Rage speak about their journey as a band who are defined by their stance as much as their music.

 

“It is a surprising trajectory for us to be welcomed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1991, four people in Los Angeles formed a musical group to stand where sound and solidarity intersect. We called ourselves Rage Against the Machine. A band who is as well known for our albums as we are for our fierce opposition to the US war machine, white supremacy and exploitation. A band whose songs drove alternative radio to new heights while right wing media companies tried to purge every song we ever wrote from the airwaves. A band who shut down the N.Y. Stock Exchange for the first time in its history. A band who was targeted by police organizations who attempted to ban us from sold-out arenas for raising our voices to free Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier and other political prisoners.

A band who sued the U.S. State Department for their fascist practice of using our music to torture innocent men in Guantanamo Bay. A band who wrote rebel songs in an abandoned, industrial warehouse in the valley that would later dethrone Simon Cowell ‘s X Factor pop monopoly to occupy the Number One spot on the U.K. charts and have the most downloaded song in U.K. history. A band who funded and organized delegations to stand with Mexican rebel Zapatista communities to expose the Mexican government’s war on indigenous people. A band whose experimentation in fusing punk, rock, and hip hop became a genre of its own. Many thanks to the Hall of Fame for recognizing the music and the mission of Rage Against the Machine. We are grateful to all of the passionate fans, the many talented co-conspirators we’ve worked with and all the activists, organizers, rebels and revolutionaries past, present and future who have inspired our art.”