The Battle of Los Angeles (album)

The Battle of Los Angeles
Studio album by Rage Against the Machine
Released	November 2, 1999 (1999-11-02)
Recorded	September - October 1, 1998 at A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA; Royalstone Studios, North Hollywood, CA; Royaltone Studios, Hollywood, CA; Silent Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA; Southern Tracks, Atlanta, GA; Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA; Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, CA
Genre	Rap metal, alternative metal, funk metal
Length	45:23
Label	Epic
Producer	Brendan O'Brien and Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine chronology
Evil Empire (1996) The Battle of Los Angeles (1999) Renegades (2000)

The Battle of Los Angeles is the third studio album by Rage Against the Machine. It was released on November 2, 1999, over three years after their second studio album, Evil Empire. Between Evil Empire and Los Angeles, the band released a live album, titled Live & Rare. This album is Rage Against the Machine's most recent album consisting of original material.

Album information

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. That week saw a busy CD release schedule. The album denied Mariah Carey's highly anticipated album the chance to open at #1. "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.^[1] Despite claims to the contrary, the image was not inspired by images from the 1992 street riots of LA or from images of Munich, but by the band's own music and words, and represents one in a series of images of the artist's work, which can also be seen on various street murals in Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]}

The Battle of Los Angeles was heavily influenced by the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. "Testify", "Sleep Now in the Fire", "Voice of the Voiceless", among other songs, include direct quotes from the novel, and mention key Orwellian terms in the lyrics. "Voice of the Voiceless" also contains a quotation from the writings of Mao Tse-tung.

Regarding the album's title it is worth mentioning that there was an historical event called Battle of Los Angeles which took place on February 25, 1942, involving a large-scale anti-aircraft artillery barrage against targets which subsequently remained unidentified.

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

In 2003, the album was ranked number 426 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Robert Christgau	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	(A) [4]
Rolling Stone	[5]
NME	(7/10) [6]
Spin	(9/10) [7]
Ultimate Guitar	(9.4/10) [8]
Vibe	(favorable) [9]
Yahoo! Music	(favorable) [10]

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Rage Against the Machine and all lyrics by Zack de la Rocha.

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" – 4:41
7. "Born as Ghosts" – 3:21
8. "Maria" – 3:48
9. "Voice of the Voiceless" – 2:31
10. "New Millennium Homes" – 3:44
11. "Ashes in the Fall" – 4:36
12. "War Within a Breath" – 3:36

Australian and Japanese editions

13. "No Shelter" – 4:06

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.

Singles

• Guerrilla Radio - 1999
• Sleep Now in the Fire - 2000
• Testify - 2000
• Calm Like a Bomb - 2000

Personnel - "Guilty Parties"

Rage Against the Machine – Producer, Art Direction Zack de la Rocha – vocals Tim Commerford (credited as "Y.tim.K" and "tim.com") – bass, backing vocals Brad Wilk – drums Tom Morello – guitar Kevin Dean – Assistant Engineer Nick DiDia – Engineer Russ Fowler – Engineer Kevin Lively – Assistant Engineer Stephen Marcussen – Mastering Brendan O'Brien – Producer, Mixing Aimee MacAuley – Art Direction Roger Sommers – Assistant Engineer

Danny Clinch – Photography Andrew Garver – Digital Editing Ryan Williams – Engineer Michael Parnin – Assistant Engineer Monique Mitzrahl – Assistant Engineer Tim Harkins – Assistant Engineer Karl Egsieker – Assistant Engineer Erin Haley – Production Coordination Cheryl Mondello – Production Coordination German Villacorta – Assistant Engineer Joey Krebs – Artwork Sugar D – Engineer Steven Tirona – Photography Eye Cue – Photography

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Peak position
1999	The Billboard 200[11]	#1
1999	Top Canadian Albums[11]	#1
1999	Top Internet Albums	#1
1999	UK Album Chart	#23

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Peak position
1999	"Guerrilla Radio"	Modern Rock Tracks	#6
1999	"Guerrilla Radio"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#11
1999	"Guerrilla Radio"	Canadian Singles Chart	#6
1999	"Guerrilla Radio"	UK Singles Chart	#32
2000	"Sleep Now in the Fire"	Modern Rock Tracks	#8
2000	"Sleep Now in the Fire"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#16
2000	"Sleep Now in the Fire"	UK Singles Chart	#43
2000	"Testify"	Modern Rock Tracks	#16
2000	"Testify"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#22

Awards

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

References

1. ^ "The Street Phantom - Artist's Statement at Graffiti Verite.com". Graffitiverite.com. http://www.graffitiverite.com/The_Street_Phantom/statements.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-15. 
2. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-battle-of-los-angeles-r443465/review
3. ^ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1116&name=Rage+Against+the+Machine
4. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,64329,00.html
5. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/rageagainstthemachine/albums/album/301413/review/5943050/the_battle_of_los_angeles
6. ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/artistKeyname/1506
7. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=HJbW_6l-uRUC&pg=PA213
8. ^ http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/compact_discs/rage_against_the_machine/the_battle_of_los_angeles/index.html
9. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=YCgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA248&dq=
10. ^ http://ca.music.yahoo.com/read/review/12035715
11. ^ ^{a b} http://www.billboard.com/#/album/rage-against-the-machine/the-battle-of-los-angeles/390247

External links

• Official website
• Axis of Justice Tom Morello and Serj Tankian's Activist Website "Axis Of Justice"
• Vietnow.org Rage Against The Machine news resource and forum
• The Battle of Los Angeles (album) at Allmusic

Preceded by Supernatural by Santana

Billboard 200 number-one album November 20-26, 1999

Succeeded by Breathe by Faith Hill