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 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 NY 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 US 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 1 spot on the UK charts and have the most downloaded song in UK 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.
-Brad, Tim, Tom, & Zack