The Battle of Los Angeles (album)
1999 studio album by Rage Against the Machine
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The Battle of Los Angeles is the third studio album by the American rock band Rage Against the Machine, released by Epic Records on November 2, 1999. At the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Rock Album, and the song "Guerrilla Radio" won the award for Best Hard Rock Performance. In their year-end lists, Time and Rolling Stone magazines both named the album the best of 1999.[citation needed]
- Henson (Hollywood)
- Sunset Sound (Hollywood)
- Westlake (Los Angeles)
- Royaltone (Hollywood)
- Silent Sound (Atlanta)
- Southern Tracks (Atlanta)
| The Battle of Los Angeles | ||||
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| Released | November 2, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | September 1 – October 1, 1998[1] | |||
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 45:16 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Brendan O'Brien | |||
| Rage Against the Machine chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Battle of Los Angeles | ||||
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The album has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, indicating sales of at least two million units.[2] It would be the last full-length studio album of original material released by the band before their first breakup in 2000 (their next album consisted entirely of covers and was released after the breakup).
Music and concept
Musically, The Battle of Los Angeles has been described as rap metal,[3] funk metal,[4] and rap rock.[5] "Voice of the Voiceless", a song referring to American political activist and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, references a letter written by Mao Zedong, called "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire".[6]
The album's cover art was an original piece spraypainted by Joey Krebs (also known as "The Street Phantom", "The Phantom Street Artist", or Joel Jaramillo), a well-known Los Angeles graffiti artist who has exhibited at numerous galleries in Los Angeles, New York City, and throughout the United States.[7] Phantom's graffiti work regularly uses an outline profile of a human with text overlaid.[8]
Release and promotion
The Battle of Los Angeles debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling around 420,000 copies in its first week and keeping Mariah Carey's highly anticipated new album Rainbow from reaching the top of the chart.[9] It was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards.
The music videos made for "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Testify" were directed by documentarian Michael Moore, who appears in both videos.
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [10] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A[11] |
| Houston Chronicle | [12] |
| Los Angeles Times | [13] |
| NME | 7/10[4] |
| Pitchfork | 8.7/10[14] |
| Rolling Stone | [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [15] |
| Spin | 9/10[16] |
| USA Today | [17] |
In their year-end lists, Time and Rolling Stone magazines both named The Battle of Los Angeles the best album of 1999.[citation needed] Retrospectively, it was ranked No. 426 on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[citation needed] In 2005, the album was listed at No. 53 on Spin's list of the 100 greatest albums from 1985–2005,[citation needed] as well as No. 369 on Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[18] In 2021, Metal Hammer magazine named it one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999.[19]
Awards
- 1999: No. 1 Time Magazine Critic Pick (The Best Music of 1999)[citation needed]
- 1999: No. 1 Rolling Stone Critic Pick (Best Album of 1999)[citation needed]
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Zack de la Rocha; all music is composed by Rage Against the Machine (de la Rocha, Tim Commerford, Tom Morello, and Brad Wilk).
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 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" | 4:40 |
| 7. | "Born as Ghosts" | 3:22 |
| 8. | "Maria" | 3:48 |
| 9. | "Voice of the Voiceless" | 2:31 |
| 10. | "New Millennium Homes" | 3:44 |
| 11. | "Ashes in the Fall" | 4:37 |
| 12. | "War Within a Breath" | 3:36 |
| Total length: | 45:10 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "No Shelter" | 4:06 |
| Total length: | 49:16 | |
Bonus promo CD/tape
In the US, some retail stores gave a free promo CD to those who pre-ordered the album that contained the songs "Clear the Lane" (from the "Killing in the Name" single) and "Hadda Be Playing on the Jukebox" (Live) (from the "Bulls on Parade" single). In Australia, certain chains gave a promo tape titled New... Live... Rare to those who pre-ordered the album that featured "Calm Like a Bomb" and the aforementioned two songs repeated on both sides. The versions of all three songs were the same as those that had been previously released.
Personnel
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Rage Against the Machine
Production
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Artwork and design
Studios
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Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[46] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[47] | 3× Platinum | 300,000‡ |
| Japan (RIAJ)[48] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[49] | Gold | 7,500^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[50] | Gold | 100,000* |
| United States (RIAA)[2] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
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* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||