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The Battle of Los Angeles (album)

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Studio
  
(see Studios)

Label
  
Epic

Artist
  
Rage Against the Machine

Producer
  
Brendan O'Brien

Length
  
45:10

The Battle of Los Angeles (1999)
  
Renegades (2000)

Release date
  
2 November 1999

The Battle of Los Angeles (album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb5

Released
  
November 2, 1999 (1999-11-02)

Genres
  
Rap metal, Alternative metal, Funk metal

Nominations
  
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album

Similar
  
Rage Against the Machine albums, Alternative metal albums

The Battle of Los Angeles is the third studio album by the American rap metal band Rage Against the Machine, released on November 2, 1999 by Epic Records. The album was released three years after their previous studio album, Evil Empire (1996). The album is Rage Against the Machine's most recent album consisting of original material. The Battle of Los Angeles was nominated for a 2001 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album.

Contents

Concept

"Voice of the Voiceless", a song referring to Mumia Abu Jamal, contains a quotation from the writings of Mao Zedong. 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."

Release and promotion

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. 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 #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 #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 #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.

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

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.

Awards

  • 1999: #1 Time Magazine Critic Pick (The Best Music of 1999)
  • 1999: #1 Rolling Stone Critic Pick (Best Album of 1999)
  • 2000: "Guerrilla Radio" – Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance

    • Track listing

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

    Bonus promo CD/tape

    In the US, some retail stores gave a free promo CD to those who pre-ordered the CD. It contained 2 tracks: "Clear the Lane" and "Hadda Be Playing on the Juke Box". In Australia certain chains gave a promo tape to those who pre-ordered titled "New... Live... Rare" which featured "Calm Like a Bomb" and the aforementioned all on one side and repeating on side B. All versions are the same as on their proper CD releases.

    Personnel

    Rage Against the Machine

  • Zack de la Rocha – vocals
  • Tom Morello – guitars
  • Tim Commerford (credited as "YTimK") – bass
  • Brad Wilk – drums

    • Production

  • Brendan O'Brien – production, mixing
  • Rage Against the Machine – co-production
  • Nick DiDia – engineering, recording
  • Russ Fowler – additional engineering
  • Sugar D – additional engineering
  • German Villacorta – assistant engineering (at A&M Studios)
  • Roger Sommers – assistant engineering (at Royaltone Studios)
  • Kevin Lively – assistant engineering (at Silent Sound Studios)
  • Ryan Williams – engineering (at Southern Tracks)
  • Karl Egsieker – assistant engineering (at Southern Tracks)
  • Monique Mitzrahl – assistant engineering (at Sunset Sound)
  • Kevin Dean – assistant engineering (at Sunset Sound)
  • Michael Parnin – assistant engineering (at Westlake Audio)
  • "Atom" – assistant engineering (at Westlake Audio)
  • Stephen Marcussen – mastering
  • Andrew Garver – digital editing
  • Cheryl Mondello – production coordination
  • Erin Haley – production coordination

    • Artwork and design

  • Rage Against the Machine – art direction
  • Aimee Macauley – art direction
  • Joey Krebs – artwork
  • Danny Clinch – photography
  • Matt DeMello (eye cue); photography
  • Steven Tirona – additional photography

    • Studios

  • A&M Studios, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing
  • Royaltone Studios, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing
  • Silent Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA – recording, mixing
  • Southern Tracks, Atlanta, GA – recording, mixing
  • Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing
  • Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing
  • A&M Mastering Studios, Los Angeles, CA – mastering

    • Songs

    1Testify3:30
    2Guerilla Radio3:26
    3Calm Like a Bomb4:59

    References

    The Battle of Los Angeles (album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA