There was a rumor that there would be a surprise guest at Tom Morello's concert for Minnesota. For a minute and a half, after he came on stage and attacked Killing in the Name of Rage Against the Machine, many hoped for a miracle. The illusion vanished when the guitarist invited people to sing in place of someone who was who knows where. I am obviously referring to Zack de la Rocha, who contributed with the others Rage Against the Machine to writing the ideal soundtrack of the moment we are living in in the 90s. Pieces like War Within a Breath And Know Your Enemy which in the 90s were extreme today seem like established truths. There was no one in the Minneapolis audience, regardless of age, who didn't scream at the top of their lungs “Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses!”.
Now, imagine a universe where Rage Against the Machine performs unannounced in Minneapolis. It would be one of the most sensational moments in the band's history. It wouldn't worry Trump or ICE agents, but it would be a great moment for citizen resistance and a sign that the story we're living in is bigger than any internal band feud. I imagine that drummer Brad Wilk and bassist Tim Commerford would have responded promptly to Rage's Bat-Signal by dropping everything to be there. But there is always someone who backs out and that one is de la Rocha.
Little flashback. After almost a decade of hiatus, in 2020 Rage Against the Machine announced an extensive reunion tour (they haven't released an album of unreleased songs since The Battle of Los Angeles of 1999). The pandemic forced them to postpone concerts for two very long years and the tour finally started on July 9, 2022 at the Alpine Valley Music Theater. I went all the way to East Troy, Wisconsin, and managed to get a front row seat, which was one of the most explosive tour premieres I've ever seen in my life. For a moment the band seemed reborn.
At the next concert, however, de la Rocha ruptured his Achilles tendon while banging himself Bullet in the Head. He managed to finish the evening in a chair, in pain, and completed the next 17 concerts singing sitting on a road houses. Fans feared that, since he was immobilized, the shows would be less powerful, but instead the exact opposite happened: they improved because the singer was able to concentrate on his voice (the concert at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland is one of the best I've seen in my life).
Due to the injury the European tour was cancelled. Not long after, Rage canceled all remaining dates. “I have a serious tear in my left Achilles tendon, only 8% remained intact,” the singer wrote, adding that it wasn't just the performances that were at stake, but the motility of the foot. It was a disappointment, but there was no one to blame. Anyone who plays sports knows that Achilles tendon rupture is no joke. It takes months of physical therapy to recover. De la Rocha proved this on October 12, 2023, over a year after canceling Rage's tour, when he made a surprise appearance at a Run the Jewels concert at the Hollywood Palladium. He was back on his feet and looked like the Zack he once was.
At that point many wondered about the future of Rage. «If we do other concerts, we will announce them. Now I have no idea. Frankly, I know as much as you do,” Morello told me when I pressed him on the topic in 2023. «Rage Against the Machine are like the ring in the Lord of the Rings: they drive men, journalists and record companies crazy. Everyone wants us, desires us and goes crazy. Whether there will be other Rage concerts or not, you will know from the band. I don't know. When there is news, you will know through a collective press release from the group. At the moment there is no news.”
And instead less than a year later the exact opposite happened, only one of them, Brad Wilk, made the communication, saying that the band had no future. «I know that many are waiting for the announcement of new dates to replace the concerts we had to cancel. I no longer want to give false hope to anyone, including myself: despite what you may have heard, Rage Against The Machine (Tim, Zack, Tom and I) will no longer perform together, neither on tour nor live. I am sincerely sorry for everyone who believed in it to the end. My hopes were yours…”.
A few weeks later, I spoke to Tim Commerford on Zoom to also figure out what the hell was going on. «I don't know, I don't deal with it. I'm just the bass player and I'm waiting for someone to tell me what to do. Brad said what he said, but he's a step above me. It's number three. I'm the least important one. That's all I can tell you. I'm the bass player and bass players are always the last to know things.”
A few months later Rage entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Morello was the only member of the group present. “As with most bands, we have differing views on many topics, including the Rock Hall,” he said. «From my point of view, this evening represents a great opportunity to celebrate the music and the mission of the band».
Zack de la Rocha hasn't given interviews for years. It is not known why he has produced very little music in the last quarter of a century, nor why he has ambivalent feelings towards one of the most important rock bands of the modern era. Maybe he's not comfortable playing Rage's political songs at places like Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, KeyBank Center and Capital One Arena (to name a few stops on his 2022 tour) and cashing checks from Live Nation. And it makes sense that he didn't want to go to the Hall of Fame to sing in a tuxedo Bulls on Parade. He is but the latest in a long line of notable absentees from the Hall of Fame.
It was exactly what was expected of him, but today we live in a different historical period, the United States is increasingly divided, violent, led in an increasingly totalitarian way. If there's a right time to put aside the bullshit and bring Rage Against the Machine back to life, even for just a few songs, even just for a single appearance, it's now. As a wise guy sang, “You have to start somewhere, you have to start somewhere. What better place than now? What better time than now?”
From Rolling Stone US.
