On a monthly basis, the Houston Press will deep-dive an album that dropped on that particular month in the '90s. Some were well-received. Others not. Some have held up. Others, far from it. Some marked an artist’s critical or commercial peak. Others simply set the table for more greatness to come. Regardless, they all helped constitute a decade that ranks among the most influential in music history.
This is “The Way it Was.”
The artist: Rage Against the Machine
The album: Evil Empire
The release date: April 16, 1996
The backstory: It wasn’t uncommon in the '90s for successful musical artists to openly opine on the perils and drawbacks of fame while simultaneously doing seemingly anything possible to stay in the limelight. Hell, the stories of Kurt Cobain (a notorious albeit brilliant curmudgeon) quietly pining for and chasing mainstream acceptance are the stuff of legend. Hypocrisy was big in the '90s, though one could argue that hasn’t really changed.
Point being, the '90s was a decade in which an artist could pursue fame and fortune while publicly rebelling against those very things.
Rage Against the Machine was very much not one of those artists.
The band slowly crept onto the scene with its self-titled release in 1992. Sales were initially slow, but thanks to word of mouth, a slot on the Lollapalooza bill and a semi-hit single in “Killing in the Name,” Rage had a hit album on its hands by the end of 1993.
Did they accelerate and capitalize on this momentum with a worldwide tour and quick-hit, cash-grab follow-up? Not exactly. The band took a hiatus from touring in 1994, recorded some tracks, broke up for a bit over creative differences and eventually reunited.
Nearly four years after its critically adored debut, Rage finally released a proper sophomore follow-up – Evil Empire.
The impact: Evil Empire is not exactly a light listen, nor was it recorded under harmonious circumstances. As would be the case for much of its up-and-down existence, Rage bandmates were at each other for the better part of the album’s recording. The result, per unofficial leader and guitarist Tom Morello, was a tense album more rooted in hip-hop and punk rock than its predecessor, a “middle ground between Public Enemy and The Clash.”
Evil Empire isn’t as good as its predecessor, which is no slight; that album ranks among the 10 best rock albums of the decade. In fact, of Rage’s three proper studio releases (not counting 2000’s Renegades, a covers album), Evil Empire, to many, ranks at the bottom of the band’s canon.
While a quality release and commercial success – it debuted at No.1 on the Billboard charts and eventually went Triple Platinum – Evil Empire very much embodies a band grappling with the perils of success. They would harness this struggle in a better way with 1999’s The Battle of Los Angeles, a tighter, cleaner album that felt a bit more palatable – inasmuch as Rage can be described as such – to the mainstream, music-buying public.
The legacy: In many ways, Evil Empire is the very embodiment of the band from which it spawned. For whatever reason – too many creative geniuses in one room, personality differences, the fact that frontman Zack de la Rocha never seemed all that comfortable with fame, and so on – Rage has been a bit of a skipping record since its inception.
There have been breakups and reconciliations galore, tours cancelled under vague circumstances, a De la Rocha solo career that never really got off the ground, talks of new albums that never came, and on and on. Earlier this year, drummer Brad Wilk finally essentially sealed the band’s fate when he posted online that Rage would neither tour nor play live again.
This is a shame, if only because Rage easily ranks among the best and most influential bands of the '90s. Their music had purpose and soul, and yet, was accessible enough to get airplay on MTV and mainstream radio, back when those things actually mattered.
Or perhaps that was the point all along. In the genre of rock music, it’s often speculated whether it’s better to burn out or fade away. Rage had no such conflicting thoughts.
Biggest track: This one hits locally, if only because your very own Houston Texans once dubbed themselves the “Bulls on Parade.” Of course, this track ranked as the band’s most commercially successful until the release of The Battle of Los Angeles, so it kinda works both ways.
Best track: “Down Rodeo.” Rage never shied away from political discourse, and in no way is this more evident than on Evil Empire’s standout track, which tackles social inequality, class warfare and the infamous 1992 Los Angeles riots. Rage didn’t do its thing for very long, but it’s hard to argue anyone did it better.
