Evil Empire is the second album by rap-metal band Rage Against The Machine. It was origonally released on April 16, 1996 and spawned three retail singles, "Bulls On Parade", "People Of The Sun", and "Vietnow". It also had two other singles, "Year Of The Boomerang" origonally released in 1994 know as "Year of The Boomerang" on the soundtrack for the film Higher Learning, and "Down Rodeo", which was released as a radio-only promo. Like the bands last album, it met commercail successes.
Artwork
The cover was originally a picture by Mel Ramos originally having a young superhero with. "c" on his chest called "Crime Buster". This has been changed to "EVIL EMPIRE" and replacing the "c" with an "e" for "Evil". The young hero is changed to look like Ari Mesil. The actual booklet is a foldout with 5 pages each side, one side is the lyrics and credits, the other side has a photo full of different books from "The Anarchist's Cookbook" to "50 Ways to Fight Cencorship".
Music and Lyrics
Just like Rage's debut album, Evil Empire's music is rap-metal, while the lyrical content is political. The opening track, "People Of The Sun" is about the history of Mexico and how it was stolen by the spanish. "Bulls on Parade" is a rant on the military complex, "Vietnow" revolves on using scare tacticts in order to get others to think like you, and they use right-wing radio stations as an example. "Revolver" tells a story about a man who domestically abuses his wife, and "Snakecharmer" is about greed. "Tire Me", a song that won the 1996 "Best Metal Performance" Grammy award, celebrates the death of Ronald Ragen. "Down Rodeo" talks about Class War, and "Without a Face" involves immagration laws.
Track listing
- People Of The Sun
- Bulls On Parade
- Vietnow
- Revolver
- Snakecharmer
- Tire Me
- Down Rodeo
- Without A Face
- Wind Below
- Roll Right
- Year Of The Boomerang
Promotion
In 1994, Rage sent a free 7" vinyl to people that signed to there fan club. It was meant as an apology to people who signed up only to not get anything. The vinyl came with an alternative take on "Bombtrack" called "Bombtrack (Live at BBC)" on side a and had a live cover of N.W.A's "Fuck Tha Police" on side b. In the same year, "Year Of Tha Boomerang" appeared in the soundtrack of Higher Learning, known as "Year of the Boomerang". It was also released as a single. The first "official" single for the album was "Bulls On Parade", followed by "People Of The Sun", "Vietnow", and "Down Rodeo" as a promo single. A tour for Evil Empire started on January 12, 1996 and ended on September 21, 1997.
Personal
"Guilty Party"-
- Zach De La Rocha - Vocals
- Tom Morello - Guitar
- Tim Commerford - Bass
- Brad Wilk - Drums