RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE  :  The Battle of Los Angeles  : NEAR MINT PLAYED ONCE TO RECORD

Jump to navigationJump to sear The Battle of Los Angeles Studio album by  Rage Against the Machine Released November 2, 1999 Genre

• Rap metal[1]
• nu metal[1]
• funk metal[2]

Length 45:16 Label Epic Producer Brendan O'Brien Rage Against the Machine chronology Evil Empire
(1996) The Battle of Los Angeles
(1999) Renegades
(2000) Singles from The Battle of Los Angeles

1. "Guerrilla Radio"
   Released: October 12, 1999
2. "Sleep Now in the Fire"
   Released: November 4, 1999
3. "Testify"
   Released: June 7, 2000
4. "Calm Like a Bomb"
   Released: November 13, 2000

The Battle of Los Angeles is the third studio album by American rock band Rage Against the Machine, released on November 2, 1999 by Epic Records. The album was nominated at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album. The album was recognized by both Time and Rolling Stone magazines as the best album of 1999.

Contents

• 1Concept
• 2Release and promotion
• 3Critical reception
  • 3.1Awards
• 4Track listing
• 5Personnel
• 6Charts
  • 6.1Album
  • 6.2Singles
• 7Certifications
• 8References
• 9External links

Concept[edit]

"Voice of the Voiceless", a song referring to Mumia Abu Jamal, references a letter written by Mao Zedong, called "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire."[3][4] Another Rage-Mumia-Mao connection can be seen in Mumia's paraphrased words from Mao's "power grows out of the barrel of a gun" when Mumia gave his court testimony: "It is America who has seized political power from the Indian [Native American] race, not by God, not by Christianity, not by goodness, but by the barrel of a gun."[5]

Release and promotion[edit]

The song "Calm Like a Bomb" is featured in the credits of The Matrix Reloaded. The videos to "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Testify" were directed by documentarian Michael Moore, who appears in both Videos[6] [7]. Both "Testify" and "Guerrilla Radio" are also featured in the video game Rock Band 2, being on-disc and downloadable, respectively.

The album debuted at number 1 on Billboard's Top 200 selling 420,000 copies its first week during a busy CD release schedule, forcing Mariah Carey's highly anticipated album to take the number 2 spot. "Guerrilla Radio" was featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, albeit heavily edited on the Nintendo 64 version, and it is also heavily edited on Madden NFL 10. Both Time and Rolling Stone named it the Best Album of 1999. It was listed as number 53 in SPIN Magazine's 100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005.

The album cover art was an original artwork by the LA Street Phantom aka Joey Krebs aka Joel Jaramillo, a well-known Los Angeles artist who has exhibited at numerous galleries in Los Angeles, New York City and throughout the United States.[8]

Saul Williams sampled "Born of a Broken Man" for his song "Om Nia Merican", which appeared on his 2001 album Amethyst Rock Star.

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating AllMusic [1] Christgau's Consumer Guide [9] Entertainment Weekly A[10] Houston Chronicle [11] Los Angeles Times [12] NME 7/10[2] Rolling Stone [13] The Rolling Stone Album Guide [14] Spin 9/10[15]

In 2003, The Battle of Los Angeles was ranked number 426 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2005, the album was ranked number 369 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[16]

Awards[edit]

• 1999: number 1 Time Magazine Critic Pick (The Best Music of 1999)
• 1999: number 1 Rolling Stone Critic Pick (Best Album of 1999)
• 2001: "Guerrilla Radio" – Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance

Track listing[edit]

All lyrics written by Zack de la Rocha; all music composed by Rage Against the Machine.

No. Title Length 1. "Testify" 3:30 2. "Guerrilla Radio" 3:26 3. "Calm Like a Bomb" 4:58 4. "Mic Check" 3:33 5. "Sleep Now in the Fire" 3:25 6. "Born of a Broken Man" 4:40 7. "Born as Ghosts" 3:22 8. "Maria" 3:48 9. "Voice of the Voiceless" 2:31 10. "New Millennium Homes" 3:44 11. "Ashes in the Fall" 4:37 12. "War Within a Breath" 3:36 Total length: 45:10