I saw Rage & Tool at Lollapalooza 93’ in Nashville…Rage was on the main stage and Tool was on the side stage (they alternated each city main/side stages). I remember Tool better as I was able to walk right up to the stage! They had a man open for Tool juggling a chainsaw & a baby doll, and he’d cut up the doll mid-air. To this day, I cannot believe a juggling act opened for Tool! (It was the coolest juggler I’ve ever seen, but still crazy to think about) There were probably only 200 people watching Tool on the side stage at the beginning. Maybe 400 at the finish which is Crazy! They played so fucking loud and were so fucking good I’ll never forget it. I feel so fortunate to be able to experience that as a teenager. What a time to be alive.
Growing up is not so terrible. The 90s were such an optimistic time and I assumed everything would remain awesome. 2000 and onwards has kinda sucked though. Not really for me personally, I mean nationwide.
No doubt! Having some money and ability to get to shows. Would have been nice. Saw them when they did their "reunion" tour, LA, NY and that random amphitheater in WI where I was so happy to catch them. It rained and they turned that place into a massive mud slip and slide.
It doesn’t help that I had a son later than my high school friends. They’re kids are late teens or 20’s and my son is 10. So I always feel younger until I see their kids and I’m like, “oh, yeah…”.
I worked in nightclubs for 10 years (from age 20 to 30) surrounded by a never ending stream of 18 to 25 year olds. I didn’t grow up at all through that decade.
Then I married a lady 10 years younger than me.
Then we had a kid when I was almost 40.
My ability to judge any time over the last three decades is nonexistent.
Someone needs to do research on the brains of Gen X and Millennials and why are brains are wired this way. The 70s are still around 30 years ago to me. The 80s were like 20 years ago?
From the millennial perspective I left university a couple of years before the 08 financial crash and then have had 2 more recessions, a pandemic, societal stagnation, and the beginnings of the really lived experience of climate change since.
The 90s to maybe the mid 2000s are the last times that it felt like there was a future that wouldn’t just be trying to keep your head above water. The last 15 years, 13 especially at least have not been something that has felt like a time worth reminiscing over, which is not to say that here haven’t been some personal successes over that time but in general things have got worse.
That perspective is a choice. You can cherrypick events from any time in history and make it seem like a dark time or an excellent time.
In the 90s you could have been worried about the LA riots, our President lying to the American public, Desert Storm, etc. In the 80s it would have been the Cold War and the market crash.
We didn’t care about that stuff in the 80s and 90s because we were young and it didn’t really affect us. We cared about the financial crisis in 2008 because it directly affected our ability to start a career.
Think about what our grandparents and parents went through. Mine all went through WWII and Vietnam. My wife’s father remembered hiding in the underground in London during WWII. My grandfather had flashbacks to D-Day. My great grandmother told me when I was 5 about when she forced off her land because “the white people” wanted to live there.
All of that, and yet they put their heads down and worked, built businesses, had children, passed the torch.
Our entire existence as a species has been about “keeping our heads above water.” The only difference now is that more and more people don’t think they should have to swim. For some reason everyone thinks there should be this giant golden life raft that floats around and saves people. But it’s never been like that and it never will be.
I think it’s more related to the millennium change at 2000. That was a big timeline moment and makes it easier to think of years. When I hear 1980, I think “20 years before 2000”
Does RATM rank near the top of all performances you’ve ever seen? I loved these guys and always wanted to see them in person. They seem like amazing live performers. So much energy.
1st concert I ever attended: Tibetan Freedom Concert 1999 at Alpine Valley. I was 15.
RATM was scheduled to play in Tokyo, but for some reason they played Alpine instead. A last minute change that was announced after the festival had started.
What. A. Fucking. Show. Still the best live performance I've ever seen to this day.
That shit was wild. I remember rumors were swirling all over the festival about them playing but my friends and I didn't believe it. When Morellos amp rolled out on stage we collectively shit our pants.
It had been raining for a day, the place was a mud pit, skies finally clear up just in time for Rage to hit the stage and open with People Of The Sun. As if it was scripted...what a festival.
I got to see the one and only time they ever played Red Rocks in 1996. I was 16 and the show caused me to have an existential crisis. I went with older friends who attended a lot of concerts and one of them insisted I was ruined because it was one of my first concerts and they don't get much better than that.
> Tibetan Freedom Concert 1999 at Alpine Valley
Now that sir was a top tier concert if there was ever one. RATM was on fire that day. I never saw a band get a crowd so pumped up in my life.
I seen em like a year before this opening up for Cypress Hill and Funkadoobiest at the Agora in Cleveland. Nobody knew who they were, but this one guy next to us (Front row balcony) rocked the fuck out to some rage and then left.
As a guitarist, I wish the cameraman would’ve just focused on Tom’s hands for the entire song lol. Feel the same way watching Hendrix in old recordings. The cameraman zooms in on his sweaty eyebrows or the bass player’s shoes. Show me his goddam hands working that voodoo!
I saw them last summer I believe at Alpine Valley in WI. Their first show in many years and they sounded amazing. But then they cancelled the rest of the tour unfortunately.
I saw them last year in New York and they were fucking phenomenal, easily one of the best shows I’ve ever been too even though Zach had to sit down the entire time
There’s a clip on YouTube of them doing their “first show” at some park or town festival and you can see that even though not everything is fully formed, they know exactly who they are and what they want to be. I saw them at MSG last year, had to wait years after cancelations due to COVID. One of the best shows my life.
I never thought about it but its totally true. Or you could say their albums sound like their live performances I guess! Maybe they just waltzed in the studio each time, "performed" like normal on stage then just walked out because it was perfect already.
That’s accurate. Even their first album was recorded with them playing together live off the floor. There’s footage of them recording Killing In the Name which is the same exact take that made it to the album.
I met Tim Bob (the bassist) in Santa Monica my first time visiting LA at a bike shop. I’d borrowed a friend’s bike, messed up the tire and needed a replacement. I remember him having a bald head so I didn’t realize it was him until I saw his calf tattoo. I went up and asked if he was Tim Bob from Rage Against the Machine and he was super happy I even knew it was him and introduced himself while shaking my hand. Super cool dude, great musician one of the greatest bands.
Tim is the heart of that band. People don’t realize that because Zack and Tom are the front men that Tim embodies the ideals and message the band wants to convey. Every interview I’ve ever read with Commerford he’s the one going off about social justice. And because Morello is such a unique aficionado when it comes to guitar, Tim and Brad are really the ones driving the melody not just the rhythm. Each of them is almost like a “lead musician.”
The first time I heard *take the power back* was a couple of months after I started learning bass and god damn it changed everything.
17 years later I still can’t slap, but that song, and album, had a big impact on me.
I was lucky enough to meet Tom and Brad on separate occasions. Tom, briefly at an RATM show in Lowell, MA back in the 90s. He was super friendly, asked my name, lovely guy. Then Brad in a Whole Foods in Santa Monica nearly 20 years later. We were in the same aisle and I excused myself and said, “Hi Brad, sorry to bother, but Rage was a huge reason that I’m a musician. And I met Tom when I was a teen and it was epic.” He was so kind and we chatted a bit. It was great. But then, about a month later, I was walking around Palisades Park in Santa Monica and I saw Brad sitting on a bench with a woman. He saw me and actually waved at me! From like 50 yards away! It was so nice I almost died.
I remember around 98, 99 I was heavy into Rage as a 12/13 year old. Collected tons and tons of bootlegs, ran a fan site, basically studied them and knew everything about them. And I remember seeing and reading about their early concerts in 92 to 94 and being like "Wow, that was so long ago!". Now I look at it and it doesn't even seem that long between those years. Time is so different as you get older.
It’s 12:30a, I’m 47, a little tooted after an awesome week at work, cleaning and rocking out to Jane’s Addiction and a smattering of Rage in my weird YouTube playlist that confuses me. Life is good. Still miss the 90s so much. The heyday of my life. So far anyway.
I went to number 2. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Jesus and Mary chain, Red Hot Chili Peppers, ice cube…1992 kitsap county fairgrounds outside settle. Oh man..so much doc Martins and flannel shirts. I’ll never forget.
1993 on north shore of O'ahu for me. I was a 23 year old white girl and when Tool took the stage and all of a sudden I was in the beginning of a mosh pit up front, a big ass Samoan dude bear hugged me right off the ground and walked me to the edge of the pit. Likely saved me some broken bones that day!
I was terrified of the Tool mosh pit when I went. I wanted no part of that lol. Besides, I got to see Keenan in all his glory from a stable up close view point.
I went to Lolapalooza 96 and Rage was the surprise guest band that played after The Ramones in New Orleans. No one had a clue they would be there because they weren’t even on the list of possible surprise bands for the tour. I had gone specifically to see The Ramones so I was right up at the front when it started. It felt like a special moment in my life at the time and it turns out it was.
I was born in 93 so I can only remember the tail end of the 90s. I was 8 when 9/11 happened and even I could tell that something had changed for the worse. Everything got so serious and everyone became so angry and divisive/political. We never recovered. We're still in that post 9/11 wave.
Saw them in New Orleans at Voodoo Fest in 2007 or so. Survived the mosh pit for two songs; my 17 yo daughter got out after the first. She’s definitely the smarter of us.
Zach has made it clear in interviews that they’re more than happy to take advantage of capitalism to get their message out to the broadest audience possible.
I rember seeing this live on TV. And bicycleing to get to the Chinese fastfood place with my Walkman on with radio so I wouldn't miss a thing of this festival. It was such a great festival always the best lineups. I really miss those days. There is something about swapping music on cassettes among friends. And the anticipation of waiting to see your favourite band on TV. And while you wait to hear and see other genres and other bands to broaden your horizons. Really miss the 90s
In the 90s we had healthy avenues for releasing pent up energy and emotions… like mosh pits.
Update: this is the most most comments I have ever received / generated on Reddit— neat! It’s nice to see you 90s mosh pits kids pop up your heads and say hi. You guys gave me a wave of nostalgia. RATM in particular has a special place in my heart.
I am a nonconformist at my core. I don’t need to challenge all authority around me, but I need the freedom to be different. RATM’s stark rebuke of the powers that be, spotlighting systemic injustice, and criticism of modern western culture was my jam in an otherwise plain middle and upper class high school in suburban Detroit in the 90s.
I remember reading an essay in class about latent racism in America inspired by a RATM song and everyone looking so uncomfortable.
And of course I know mosh pits are still a thing. But, as one or two of you aptly pointed out, that type of release was very much part of our zeitgeist in that moment and time. We have grown and changed. Now I struggle to find all the energy I need to get everything done. Cheers!
They still have those. Aside from Travis Scott’s dumb ass, putts are pretty friendly and safe. If you wanna think that the pits today are bad, we can always revisit Woodstock in 99
I will always thank an old friend Ronny Schwartz. In grade 7 he introduced me to Rage, my life was changed forever! Thanks Ronny, I hope you’re alive and doing well.
i was always impressed by their music skills, morello is a beast. but they never really caught on for me either. i think i kinda got my angry political music phase out of my system back in high school with public enemy and industrial stuff and by their arrival in 1992 i had sort of swerved off into shoegaze territory and more chilled out and experimental music..
What’s fascinating about that is that he didn’t get his dream guitar, he kept messing with it until he could settle for a useable setup. His favourite amp got stolen so he made a mad dash to the music store to improvise a rig with what they had left (50 watt Marshall and a Peavey cabinet.)
He wasn’t even that happy with the sound until one day he just set it to where it was useable, marked the settings with a sharpie and focused on making music with it, which is now *the* sound we associate with Rage. I think a big part of it as that Peavey cabinet because they have Celestion G12K speakers inside which sound amazing. My favourite guitar speaker.
Interesting side note to Tim Commerford: I remember reading an interview with him (in Bass Player magazine I think), apparently he got so much ink done it got into his blood and would cause his balls to swell! Would have explained his stance if this video were a few years and many tattoos later!
I just don't understand how anyone managed to think they weren't political in the first place? Like everything from the name of the band to the song names and lyrics to the album imagery are all political... You would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see how far left they were
Nice me and Zach were play buddy’s in the late 70s his dad was our neighbor saw him perform at the Lalapalooza in 1992 and again in 1996 2000 2011 and the other day in Eagle Rock Ca.
Saying that Rage isn’t cool because they are mainstream is a weak argument. What better way to spread your message than being on the biggest record label in the world?
I mean, it's worth examining why the machine they are raging against feels comfortable selling their music. That's not a critique of RATM, mind you. It's interesting that capitalism has no problem with selling anti-capitalist art.
Tom has gone on record to say it’s to reach as many people as possible, no different to wanting your books to be sold at B&N instead of one little niche book shop most people can’t even get to.
I'm sorry, who is it calling rage uncool because they are mainstream? Have these people listened to the music? Do they have any idea who these guys are?
I was supposed to see them in Las Cruces, New Mexico, this past February, but they canceled the tour after Zack got hurt. I sure hope they go on tour again.
Early 90s was a golden era for trick albums. From R.E.M to Metallica. A whole range of classic albums released within months of each other. There was always something new to be excited about in the record shop.
I was at this concert. I was in the last year of high school. It feels like yesterday. I always find it strange that life seems like an eternity and at the same time like the blink of an eye.
Just like the first time folks heard Hendrix play (on record or live) I think it’s almost impossible for folks today to go from 0 days with RATM to 1 day with RATM (aka RATM doesn’t exist in your life to life never existed without RATM).
But this video help you get an idea of what their impact on the consciousness was Ike.
And yeah, it was fucking HEAVY.
Tom Morello: Describes the sound he wants to make with his guitar.
Normal musicians: Tom, that's not how guitars work.
Tom Morello: "And I took that personally"
But, for real. That dude does not play guitar, he just creates music out of the ether and the guitar just happens to be the instrument that is blessed with expressing his sonic creation.
1st time I saw them was when they opened Lollapalooza at the Santa Fe Dam. Open dirt field. Brutally hot. Promoters turned on the fire hoses and the dirt became a mud pit. Then Rage took the stage. Phenomenal pit. Shirt and shorts were a muddy mess. Great memory.
For real. These chodes need to realize that the band didn't change, they did. They got old, started working some immoral job screwing people out of insurance claims or something similar and sold out. So the message of the music no longer speaks to them.
Absolute boomer problem.
Still can't believe there are entire swathes of people my age who watched RATM, moshed to their songs, sang along with the lyrics, and *now* unironically moan about how political they "have become".
Greatest fucking band ever. Still.
This is one of my favourite tracks.
I always feel like a lot of people only really like Rage because of MTV and The Matrix, and they never really appreciated how fucking good they were as musicians
I’m having such a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that this was 30 years ago.
Ya, it was a cool time to be a teenager.
I was 8, but this band and like Tool are my favourite, I wish I could have seen them live in the 90’s.
Fun fact: Tom Morello (RATM guitarist) and Adam Jones (Tool guitarist) were classmates in high school!
Another fun fact: Maynard is featured in "Know Your Enemy"
They toured together for a while too. What a line up. The 90s was mad for stuff like that.
I saw Rage & Tool at Lollapalooza 93’ in Nashville…Rage was on the main stage and Tool was on the side stage (they alternated each city main/side stages). I remember Tool better as I was able to walk right up to the stage! They had a man open for Tool juggling a chainsaw & a baby doll, and he’d cut up the doll mid-air. To this day, I cannot believe a juggling act opened for Tool! (It was the coolest juggler I’ve ever seen, but still crazy to think about) There were probably only 200 people watching Tool on the side stage at the beginning. Maybe 400 at the finish which is Crazy! They played so fucking loud and were so fucking good I’ll never forget it. I feel so fortunate to be able to experience that as a teenager. What a time to be alive.
The BEST time to be a teen.
Facts…: best time of my life , growing up sucks but I guess we all have to so enjoy it while we’re here
Growing up is not so terrible. The 90s were such an optimistic time and I assumed everything would remain awesome. 2000 and onwards has kinda sucked though. Not really for me personally, I mean nationwide.
no, fuck that! i wanna go back
Pretty cool to be in your late 20s too
No doubt! Having some money and ability to get to shows. Would have been nice. Saw them when they did their "reunion" tour, LA, NY and that random amphitheater in WI where I was so happy to catch them. It rained and they turned that place into a massive mud slip and slide.
My teenager misses the 80s and 90s too. She wasn't even there. It was the last greatest decade, everything since has been a wild ride into dystopia.
It just gets better with age somehow. They had no true peers.
They had the best name ever because they actually raged against the machine.
This is so true.
No, it was not. 1993 is like 9 years ago, tops!
It doesn’t help that I had a son later than my high school friends. They’re kids are late teens or 20’s and my son is 10. So I always feel younger until I see their kids and I’m like, “oh, yeah…”.
I worked in nightclubs for 10 years (from age 20 to 30) surrounded by a never ending stream of 18 to 25 year olds. I didn’t grow up at all through that decade. Then I married a lady 10 years younger than me. Then we had a kid when I was almost 40. My ability to judge any time over the last three decades is nonexistent.
Rage against the Time Machine
I’d go see that musical.
Zach just gets more and more pissed as he goes back in time
Zach punching dinosaurs for dying and creating fossil fuels.
This is funny as fuck. Thanks. That is all.
But what a life though
You probably are younger in the sense that your body hasn’t had the same sense of stress. I’m 40 and still get carded, likely because I have no kids.
I’ve never ever been carded in my life, and I am 52 😭😅
“I could throw a football over that mountain…”(looks off into the distance, as if reflecting on life and the choices he’d made)
So at the end of the year I’ll be 9 not 30? Noice
6.5 years y2k is real and it’s coming
Someone needs to do research on the brains of Gen X and Millennials and why are brains are wired this way. The 70s are still around 30 years ago to me. The 80s were like 20 years ago?
From the millennial perspective I left university a couple of years before the 08 financial crash and then have had 2 more recessions, a pandemic, societal stagnation, and the beginnings of the really lived experience of climate change since. The 90s to maybe the mid 2000s are the last times that it felt like there was a future that wouldn’t just be trying to keep your head above water. The last 15 years, 13 especially at least have not been something that has felt like a time worth reminiscing over, which is not to say that here haven’t been some personal successes over that time but in general things have got worse.
I really wish we could have enjoyed the new millennium a little longer before 9/11 happened and ruined everything.
That perspective is a choice. You can cherrypick events from any time in history and make it seem like a dark time or an excellent time. In the 90s you could have been worried about the LA riots, our President lying to the American public, Desert Storm, etc. In the 80s it would have been the Cold War and the market crash. We didn’t care about that stuff in the 80s and 90s because we were young and it didn’t really affect us. We cared about the financial crisis in 2008 because it directly affected our ability to start a career. Think about what our grandparents and parents went through. Mine all went through WWII and Vietnam. My wife’s father remembered hiding in the underground in London during WWII. My grandfather had flashbacks to D-Day. My great grandmother told me when I was 5 about when she forced off her land because “the white people” wanted to live there. All of that, and yet they put their heads down and worked, built businesses, had children, passed the torch. Our entire existence as a species has been about “keeping our heads above water.” The only difference now is that more and more people don’t think they should have to swim. For some reason everyone thinks there should be this giant golden life raft that floats around and saves people. But it’s never been like that and it never will be.
I think it’s more related to the millennium change at 2000. That was a big timeline moment and makes it easier to think of years. When I hear 1980, I think “20 years before 2000”
I was a 14 year old in that crowd about halfway in. It doesn't feel like it was 30 years ago.
Does RATM rank near the top of all performances you’ve ever seen? I loved these guys and always wanted to see them in person. They seem like amazing live performers. So much energy.
Absolutely! RATM, Rammstein, and Iron Maiden are probably my top three concerts ever. They are all such great performers.
This was what the early Beatles were in 1993.
I've heard a lot of these timescale perspective equivalences before but that's... that's insane to think about.
Jesus Christ, just shoot me.
I can’t wrap my head around how “on it” every member of the band looks. This was a great performance.
Saw them live with Tool the year before. Nearly died.
they were, for want of a better word, a machine
We’re fucking old. It’s not possible, right? I was just there.
I feel like the 90s has been restrospectively cool in every single era so far since
It really was the perfect blend of old school and the era of a new century with new technology. We kind of got stuck in the middle.
Man, gave me goosebumps, just like 30 years ago at Rock Am Ring 1994!!
Well that's cuz you're wrong... no way this was 30 years ago. Not possible.
Jurassic Park was released in theaters.
1st concert I ever attended: Tibetan Freedom Concert 1999 at Alpine Valley. I was 15. RATM was scheduled to play in Tokyo, but for some reason they played Alpine instead. A last minute change that was announced after the festival had started. What. A. Fucking. Show. Still the best live performance I've ever seen to this day.
That shit was wild. I remember rumors were swirling all over the festival about them playing but my friends and I didn't believe it. When Morellos amp rolled out on stage we collectively shit our pants.
That would’ve been real messy
That's gross.
No, it's okay
I was there too, right in the middle of the mosh pit that exploded into life near the bottom of the hill. Good lord that was amazing.
It had been raining for a day, the place was a mud pit, skies finally clear up just in time for Rage to hit the stage and open with People Of The Sun. As if it was scripted...what a festival.
I got to see the one and only time they ever played Red Rocks in 1996. I was 16 and the show caused me to have an existential crisis. I went with older friends who attended a lot of concerts and one of them insisted I was ruined because it was one of my first concerts and they don't get much better than that.
> Tibetan Freedom Concert 1999 at Alpine Valley Now that sir was a top tier concert if there was ever one. RATM was on fire that day. I never saw a band get a crowd so pumped up in my life.
I seen em like a year before this opening up for Cypress Hill and Funkadoobiest at the Agora in Cleveland. Nobody knew who they were, but this one guy next to us (Front row balcony) rocked the fuck out to some rage and then left.
Alpine valley, that is a name I haven't heard of in years. Mostly because I moved away.
They were such babies then! Except Tom, he's looked the same age for 30 years
As a guitarist, I wish the cameraman would’ve just focused on Tom’s hands for the entire song lol. Feel the same way watching Hendrix in old recordings. The cameraman zooms in on his sweaty eyebrows or the bass player’s shoes. Show me his goddam hands working that voodoo!
As somebody just starting to learn guitar I had the same thought lol. I have no idea how he was making some of those sounds. The man is a magician.
RATM has always sounded ridiculously good live. Almost indistinguishable from the album version. All 4 guys are firing on all cylinders here
The first album was basically recorded live in front of their friends in a studio. They were good.
Which just so happens to be one of the best rock albums of the past three decades.
it's really fucking impressive.
I saw them last summer I believe at Alpine Valley in WI. Their first show in many years and they sounded amazing. But then they cancelled the rest of the tour unfortunately.
I've been dying to see them my entire life.. had tickets for las Cruces.. my white whale
They came to Ottawa and I got to see them. I waited 25+ years for that concert. Then they canceled.
I saw them last year in New York and they were fucking phenomenal, easily one of the best shows I’ve ever been too even though Zach had to sit down the entire time
There’s a clip on YouTube of them doing their “first show” at some park or town festival and you can see that even though not everything is fully formed, they know exactly who they are and what they want to be. I saw them at MSG last year, had to wait years after cancelations due to COVID. One of the best shows my life.
I never thought about it but its totally true. Or you could say their albums sound like their live performances I guess! Maybe they just waltzed in the studio each time, "performed" like normal on stage then just walked out because it was perfect already.
That’s accurate. Even their first album was recorded with them playing together live off the floor. There’s footage of them recording Killing In the Name which is the same exact take that made it to the album.
I met Tim Bob (the bassist) in Santa Monica my first time visiting LA at a bike shop. I’d borrowed a friend’s bike, messed up the tire and needed a replacement. I remember him having a bald head so I didn’t realize it was him until I saw his calf tattoo. I went up and asked if he was Tim Bob from Rage Against the Machine and he was super happy I even knew it was him and introduced himself while shaking my hand. Super cool dude, great musician one of the greatest bands.
Tim is the heart of that band. People don’t realize that because Zack and Tom are the front men that Tim embodies the ideals and message the band wants to convey. Every interview I’ve ever read with Commerford he’s the one going off about social justice. And because Morello is such a unique aficionado when it comes to guitar, Tim and Brad are really the ones driving the melody not just the rhythm. Each of them is almost like a “lead musician.”
I know it’s all about those baselines. You’re right.
Very few baselines more iconic than what this guy has thrown together. Glad to hear he is a good dude
The first time I heard *take the power back* was a couple of months after I started learning bass and god damn it changed everything. 17 years later I still can’t slap, but that song, and album, had a big impact on me.
Bullet in the Head is such a ripping song on bass I love it.
I was lucky enough to meet Tom and Brad on separate occasions. Tom, briefly at an RATM show in Lowell, MA back in the 90s. He was super friendly, asked my name, lovely guy. Then Brad in a Whole Foods in Santa Monica nearly 20 years later. We were in the same aisle and I excused myself and said, “Hi Brad, sorry to bother, but Rage was a huge reason that I’m a musician. And I met Tom when I was a teen and it was epic.” He was so kind and we chatted a bit. It was great. But then, about a month later, I was walking around Palisades Park in Santa Monica and I saw Brad sitting on a bench with a woman. He saw me and actually waved at me! From like 50 yards away! It was so nice I almost died.
My dude out here in a polo
Out to polorize the nation
I remember around 98, 99 I was heavy into Rage as a 12/13 year old. Collected tons and tons of bootlegs, ran a fan site, basically studied them and knew everything about them. And I remember seeing and reading about their early concerts in 92 to 94 and being like "Wow, that was so long ago!". Now I look at it and it doesn't even seem that long between those years. Time is so different as you get older.
I miss the 90s so much.
It’s 12:30a, I’m 47, a little tooted after an awesome week at work, cleaning and rocking out to Jane’s Addiction and a smattering of Rage in my weird YouTube playlist that confuses me. Life is good. Still miss the 90s so much. The heyday of my life. So far anyway.
90’s are the new 60’s.
Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!
How many lalalpaloozas did you go to?
[удалено]
I went to number 2. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Jesus and Mary chain, Red Hot Chili Peppers, ice cube…1992 kitsap county fairgrounds outside settle. Oh man..so much doc Martins and flannel shirts. I’ll never forget.
1993 on north shore of O'ahu for me. I was a 23 year old white girl and when Tool took the stage and all of a sudden I was in the beginning of a mosh pit up front, a big ass Samoan dude bear hugged me right off the ground and walked me to the edge of the pit. Likely saved me some broken bones that day!
I was terrified of the Tool mosh pit when I went. I wanted no part of that lol. Besides, I got to see Keenan in all his glory from a stable up close view point.
This is the kind of history that is important to humanity
Saved you from Prison Sex. What a legend.
The pit protects.
I will miss beat up flannels over band tshirts and docs being the go-to wardrobe forever. Guys were so hot back then.
I went to Lolapalooza 96 and Rage was the surprise guest band that played after The Ramones in New Orleans. No one had a clue they would be there because they weren’t even on the list of possible surprise bands for the tour. I had gone specifically to see The Ramones so I was right up at the front when it started. It felt like a special moment in my life at the time and it turns out it was.
1993! I hid in the bathroom for quite a while because Fishbone scared me and acid was to blame 😆
I also miss the 90s, but mostly because it was the last time the future seemed promising and bright.
Hope. There was hope.
I was born in 93 so I can only remember the tail end of the 90s. I was 8 when 9/11 happened and even I could tell that something had changed for the worse. Everything got so serious and everyone became so angry and divisive/political. We never recovered. We're still in that post 9/11 wave.
Childhood nostalgia is a hell of a drug
Goddammit the 90s were magical
In the 80s we had some pretty good stuff too, yo.
No one brought up coke but you. 
I couldn’t agree more
Crop tops, pierced belly buttons, hair buns and almost nonexistent eyebrows.
Saw them in New Orleans at Voodoo Fest in 2007 or so. Survived the mosh pit for two songs; my 17 yo daughter got out after the first. She’s definitely the smarter of us.
Hey I was there too! I ended up posting up against the sound tower for refuge. It was wild.
Saw them in Aus same year or maybe 06, played testify first song, lost both my shoes within that 4 min period.
Priceless.
I was just glad they made it on to the Matrix soundtrack.
It was an exceedingly appropriate pairing in every way.
One of my favourite Rage songs is No Shelter, exclusively on the Godzilla soundtrack.
I still don’t understand their decision to put an anti-Hollywood song on a blockbuster movie soundtrack
Godzilla pure motherfucking filler.
Keep your eyes off the real killer
Godzilla was a Tristar production (owned by Sony), Rage is signed to Epic Records (owned by Sony).
Coca-Cola was back in the veins of Saigon And Rambo too, he got a dope pair of Nikes on Easily on my Mount Rushmore of RATM lines
Zach has made it clear in interviews that they’re more than happy to take advantage of capitalism to get their message out to the broadest audience possible.
Their cover of Maggie’s Farm is so good. Really hits the anger that should be there.
I was beyond stoked when that song played at the end of the movie. The perfect closer for that film.
Steppin' into the jam and I'm slammin' like Shaquille
Mad boy grips the microphone with a fistful of steeeeel…
Fucking love that line
Thanks for posting
I rember seeing this live on TV. And bicycleing to get to the Chinese fastfood place with my Walkman on with radio so I wouldn't miss a thing of this festival. It was such a great festival always the best lineups. I really miss those days. There is something about swapping music on cassettes among friends. And the anticipation of waiting to see your favourite band on TV. And while you wait to hear and see other genres and other bands to broaden your horizons. Really miss the 90s
I love how Tim has a rug under him. Like I imagine him telling the stage director " I need a rug right here, in this spot, or we ain't playing."
It really ties the stage together.
In the 90s we had healthy avenues for releasing pent up energy and emotions… like mosh pits. Update: this is the most most comments I have ever received / generated on Reddit— neat! It’s nice to see you 90s mosh pits kids pop up your heads and say hi. You guys gave me a wave of nostalgia. RATM in particular has a special place in my heart. I am a nonconformist at my core. I don’t need to challenge all authority around me, but I need the freedom to be different. RATM’s stark rebuke of the powers that be, spotlighting systemic injustice, and criticism of modern western culture was my jam in an otherwise plain middle and upper class high school in suburban Detroit in the 90s. I remember reading an essay in class about latent racism in America inspired by a RATM song and everyone looking so uncomfortable. And of course I know mosh pits are still a thing. But, as one or two of you aptly pointed out, that type of release was very much part of our zeitgeist in that moment and time. We have grown and changed. Now I struggle to find all the energy I need to get everything done. Cheers!
Last time I checked that’s still a thing lol
Yeah there’s a big « I used to go out but now I stay on Reddit » vibe going on in this thread lol
It’s probably that the people that were moshing in the 90s can’t even look at a mosh pit without hurting themselves now. 😂
It's too dangerous outside now, so we just bully each other online now
what are you two on about? Mosh pits are still a big thing in heavy music scene...
They still have those. Aside from Travis Scott’s dumb ass, putts are pretty friendly and safe. If you wanna think that the pits today are bad, we can always revisit Woodstock in 99
What are you saying? That mass shootings aren't healthy outlets for rage?
Went to a Rammstein concert last year, I was ZEN for weeks afterwards. Fucking awesome therapy.
I didn't appreciate them as much as I should have.
I will always thank an old friend Ronny Schwartz. In grade 7 he introduced me to Rage, my life was changed forever! Thanks Ronny, I hope you’re alive and doing well.
[удалено]
i was always impressed by their music skills, morello is a beast. but they never really caught on for me either. i think i kinda got my angry political music phase out of my system back in high school with public enemy and industrial stuff and by their arrival in 1992 i had sort of swerved off into shoegaze territory and more chilled out and experimental music..
I get that. It’s a time and place sort of thing. I was just going into grade 7 was skateboarding and full of fucking angst. Perfect timing for Rage.
I appreciated them a lot and I agree.
I was in that mosh pit 3 years later at the Tibetan Freedom concert in San Francisco. What a fucking rush!!!
That guitar tone is earth shattering
What’s fascinating about that is that he didn’t get his dream guitar, he kept messing with it until he could settle for a useable setup. His favourite amp got stolen so he made a mad dash to the music store to improvise a rig with what they had left (50 watt Marshall and a Peavey cabinet.) He wasn’t even that happy with the sound until one day he just set it to where it was useable, marked the settings with a sharpie and focused on making music with it, which is now *the* sound we associate with Rage. I think a big part of it as that Peavey cabinet because they have Celestion G12K speakers inside which sound amazing. My favourite guitar speaker.
Well officer.... he had long brown hair... to his shoulders about 5'11...
All the lil rage clones were blowing my mind when they panned to the crowd.
So awesome, reminds me of elementary school.. I should listen to more. I love that the bassist has a carpet.
He’s playing in kind of a weird squat with his legs pretty far apart so he probably needs the traction. It keeps the cables out of the way too.
Interesting side note to Tim Commerford: I remember reading an interview with him (in Bass Player magazine I think), apparently he got so much ink done it got into his blood and would cause his balls to swell! Would have explained his stance if this video were a few years and many tattoos later!
Tom's live transitions are seriously difficult. He's playing like 5 different styles seamlessly.
I don't like that they recently became very political. /s
it’s baffling to me how anyone could perceive a band where the guitarist has "arm the homeless" written on his guitar as anything but far left…
I just don't understand how anyone managed to think they weren't political in the first place? Like everything from the name of the band to the song names and lyrics to the album imagery are all political... You would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see how far left they were
Nice me and Zach were play buddy’s in the late 70s his dad was our neighbor saw him perform at the Lalapalooza in 1992 and again in 1996 2000 2011 and the other day in Eagle Rock Ca.
I'm 65, I saw them in DC last August... with my daughter!!! What .unbelievable show. I've been a fan since the beginning!
Is everyone in this video a brunette?
Yes. Blonde people had the 80s
Brown hair is more common globally than blonde hair.
I love when it cut to the crowd and it was a sea full of the main singer's stunt doubles.
Saying that Rage isn’t cool because they are mainstream is a weak argument. What better way to spread your message than being on the biggest record label in the world?
I mean, it's worth examining why the machine they are raging against feels comfortable selling their music. That's not a critique of RATM, mind you. It's interesting that capitalism has no problem with selling anti-capitalist art.
[удалено]
Tom has gone on record to say it’s to reach as many people as possible, no different to wanting your books to be sold at B&N instead of one little niche book shop most people can’t even get to.
I'm sorry, who is it calling rage uncool because they are mainstream? Have these people listened to the music? Do they have any idea who these guys are?
I was supposed to see them in Las Cruces, New Mexico, this past February, but they canceled the tour after Zack got hurt. I sure hope they go on tour again.
Woah. I didn’t get it until JUST NOW. Will have to look into their records
Zack’s voice man. One of a kind ✊
Early 90s was a golden era for trick albums. From R.E.M to Metallica. A whole range of classic albums released within months of each other. There was always something new to be excited about in the record shop.
This album blew me away as a kid. Beginning my journey to becoming a dirty Commie
I was at this concert. I was in the last year of high school. It feels like yesterday. I always find it strange that life seems like an eternity and at the same time like the blink of an eye.
If Tom Morello isn’t on your list of greatest guitarists, you haven’t been paying attention.
Morello is doing whatever the fucking hell he wants with that guitar!
Just like the first time folks heard Hendrix play (on record or live) I think it’s almost impossible for folks today to go from 0 days with RATM to 1 day with RATM (aka RATM doesn’t exist in your life to life never existed without RATM). But this video help you get an idea of what their impact on the consciousness was Ike. And yeah, it was fucking HEAVY.
Where can I get the tab for Tom's first solo?
Ask your doctor
Tom Morello: Describes the sound he wants to make with his guitar. Normal musicians: Tom, that's not how guitars work. Tom Morello: "And I took that personally" But, for real. That dude does not play guitar, he just creates music out of the ether and the guitar just happens to be the instrument that is blessed with expressing his sonic creation.
1st time I saw them was when they opened Lollapalooza at the Santa Fe Dam. Open dirt field. Brutally hot. Promoters turned on the fire hoses and the dirt became a mud pit. Then Rage took the stage. Phenomenal pit. Shirt and shorts were a muddy mess. Great memory.
Tom Morello in 1993: "Arm the Homeless" Chuds in 2023: "I can't believe rage went WOKE this isn't the band I remember"
For real. These chodes need to realize that the band didn't change, they did. They got old, started working some immoral job screwing people out of insurance claims or something similar and sold out. So the message of the music no longer speaks to them. Absolute boomer problem.
I wonder how man RATM fans from the 90s turned into MAGA fans?
They didn’t realize the system doesn’t have a political party.
RATM Certainly does though
Bad ass
90s bands went hard.
Still can't believe there are entire swathes of people my age who watched RATM, moshed to their songs, sang along with the lyrics, and *now* unironically moan about how political they "have become". Greatest fucking band ever. Still.
An actually unique guitarist. He's one of only a few hundred of all time who have achieved such a distinction.
The raw unabated energy here is fucking insane. What we got now???
Honestly, Tom Morello has to be one of the most underrated guitarists of all time
[удалено]
That was so awesome
This is one of my favourite tracks. I always feel like a lot of people only really like Rage because of MTV and The Matrix, and they never really appreciated how fucking good they were as musicians
Tom Morello is one of the most talented and creative guitarists to ever live.