Zack de la Rocha
With one of the most outspoken and fierce voices in the music industry, Zack de la Rocha established himself as the vocalist of Rage Against The Machine and a voice of the people. He became a driving voice in politically charged music with lyrics fused with an alternative-funk-rap metal sound led by Tom Morello and his innovative guitar techniques, Tim Commerford an his deep and funk infused bass lines, and Brad Wilk's hip-hop and hardcore drumming, RATM became a household name, whether you liked them or not.
Zack de la Rocha was born in Long Beach, California and his family and heritage played a major influence on his life which he used in his lyrics. His father Roberto de la Rocha was a driving force in bringing Chicano art to the mainstream, his grandfather was a Mexican revoltionary who was a member of the EZLN, and his mother was an Anthropoligist who reloacated Zack to Irvine, CA where he would experience racism first hand and would meet future bandmate Tim Commerford.
Zack's musical influences drew from punk acts like The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and Bad Religion and would become part of the band Inside Out which gained notoriety in the underground. After Inside Out broke up he would meet Brad Wilk and Tom Morello, who were in the band Electric Sheep and invited his friend Tim Commerford to come play with them, thus Rage Against The Machine was born.
Rage Against The Machine released their 1991 demo "Rage Against The Machine" and it inked them a deal with Epic Records and released their debut album of the same name in 1992. Led by the songs "Killing In The Name" (noted for its use of the word ****) and "Know Your Enemy" (Maynard James Keenan sings during the bridge) RATM took music to a whole 'nother level and stamped their influence on music.
RATM relased "Evil Empire" in 1996 and noted for their hit song "Bulls On Parade" which showcased one of Tom Morello's techniques in using the killswitch it is also layered with other great songs like "Tire Me," "Vietnow," and "Revolver" (one of my favorites). The group continued strong and Zack voiced his opinions even more and became evem mor involved in fixing social issues.
Eventually RATM relased two subsequent albums, "The Battle of Los Angeles" (1999) and "Renegades" (a cover album released in 2000). The band would dissolve due to creative differences and Zack left to do solo work. After collabarating with other artists and supposedly working on a solo album RATM reunited in 2007 at Coachella and played in North America, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Europe. He also released a 5 song EP with Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta) under the name One Day As A Lion in July of 2008.
Zack lyrics has always struck me from the simpleness of "Killing In The Name" in which he repeats "**** you I won't do what you tell me!" to the haunting narrative "Maria" where he sings "Of Yanqui guns for blood debts on the loan/Of smoldering fields, rape, rubble and bones/Of graves hidden trapped up in visions of war/Of nothing, no one, nobody, no more." Zack has always approached music in a straightforward way to send across his message. Although, I don't write any politically charged music myself his lyrics are still impressive and is one of the few musicians who don't just speak, but do.
What to listen to:
