Rage Against the Machine Re-Enter Charts Amidst Social Unrest

Rage Against the Machine don't need to deliver different messages in each of their songs. The message is in their name, but some fans are still unaware of that. Amidst the social climate of the U.S. right now, Rage have re-entered the charts, and their last music release was 20 years ago.

The band's 1992 self-titled debut album, which peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard 200 in 1994, has made its way back onto the chart, coming in at No. 174. This may partially be due to the fact that the album houses the anthemic "Killing in the Name," which is a number written specifically about protesting police brutality, and was written following the 1992 Los Angeles riots sparked by the beating of Rodney King.

The album has climbed to No. 8 on the iTunes Top Albums chart this week as well — followed by 1996's Evil Empire at No. 35 and 1999's The Battle of Los Angeles at No. 41.

Between the lyrics of their songs and the messages written on the bottom of Tom Morello's guitar — which he often flashes to the crowd — Rage certainly don't censor their rage. However, some of their fans are seemingly frustrated by the band members voicing their political opinions.

One "fan" in particular complained to Morello in a since-deleted tweet, in which the guitarist responded, "Scott!! What music of mine were you a fan of that DIDN’T contain 'political BS'? I need to know so I can delete it from the catalog." Among some of the hilarious responses were, "What 'machine' did you think he was raging against? The dishwasher?"

Rage Against the Machine were set to embark on a highly-anticipated reunion tour this summer, which would have marked their first time onstage together since 2011. However, that was unfortunately postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus. The timing would have made for quite an energetic Rage show, but we'll have to wait until next year.