Today is Zack De La Rocha's Birthday!
The Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer is considered one of the most iconic frontmen of his time. With a blistering political delivery his voice has infused radical activism around the world as his plight for the powerless has made him one of the great voices of conscious that rock has ever seen. Zack bounced around the straight edge punk scene in the mid to late 80's until he teamed with Tom Morello to create Rage Against The Machine.
The band was a pipe bomb to the rock scene fusing rock and hip-hop to create a punk fueled sound that was both technical and simplistic, to galvanize and rouse up the next wave of angry youth that would not catch on thrash metal or hard core punk for the outletting of angst. Zack's militant style of rhyme made him like a reincarnated Malcolm X, ripping into the establishment and calling for social and political awareness from his fanbase.
The band would burst on the scene with their self-titled debut fueled by their underground hit "Bombtrack" and quickly garner critical praise as their sound helped revolutionize the waning metal sound into the Nu Metal craze that would encompass the 90's. "Killing In The Name" would become an anthem for them along with "Freedom" enjoying commercial success behind the buzz worthy video that played well on MTV.
After a few soundtrack appearances Rage would come back with "Evil Empire" and take point in the new social revolution of the 90's. They would become prominent figures in the festival scene as a main act for both Lollapalooza & Woodstock, and would hit the road with The Wu Tang Clan & Atari Teenage Riot in a tour that would fuze fans from all genres to their shows. The Song "Bulls On Parade" would be a chart hit and receive heavy rotation on MTV, and with the creation of Napster, their live shows would become some of the most downloaded music on the web.
Their third album The Battle of Los Angeles would cross them over into the mainstream as they would receive acknowledgement and praise from their rock peers as well as the pop hierarchy of the time. "Guerilla Radio" & Testify would get heavy radio airplay and the band would enjoy their most commercial success leading into the MTV Video Awards where they would make their final performance. De La Rocha would leave the band, as the remaining members would link with Soundgarden's Chris Cornell in the super group Audioslave. Zack would put out solo singles with DJ Shadow and Roni Size and later form a new group of his own in the form of One Day As A Lion, with Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore and Joey Karam of The Locust.
Throughout his career De La Rocha would continue his activism from being a Zapatista to the recent plight of BLM. Never unwavering in his social and political beliefs his further musical work would only come about through inspiration or the allure of working with those who's music he respected. This would get him back in the studio to record with Run The Jewels and reunite with Rage for performances.
Never a man of few words Zack De La Rocha is forever a radical and one of the most influential minds in the world of social activism.