The Battle of Los Angeles is the third studio album by 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.
The album has been certified double platinum by the RIAA, indicating sales of at least two million units. 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 of entirely of covers and was released after the breakup).
“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”. Another Rage–Mumia–Mao connection can be seen in Mumia’s paraphrased words from Mao’s “power grows out of the barrel of a gun” when Mumia gave testimony in his trial for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer in an altercation after a traffic stop:
“It is America who has seized political power from the Indian (Native American) race, not by God, not by Christianity, not by goodness, but by the barrel of a gun.”
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. Phantom‘s graffiti work regularly uses an outline profile of a human with text overlaid.
The Battle of Los Angeles debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 420,000 copies its first week and keeping Mariah Carey‘s highly anticipated new album Rainbow from reaching the top of the chart. 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.
Tracklist:
- Testify
- Guerrilla Radio
- Calm Like a Bomb
- Mic Check
- Sleep Now in the Fire
- Born of a Broken Man
- Born as Ghosts
- Maria
- Voice of the Voiceless
- New Millennium Homes
- Ashes in the Fall
- War Within a Breath
Australian and Japanese edition bonus track - No Shelter
Rage Against the Machine
Zack de la Rocha: vocals
Tom Morello: guitars
Tim Commerford (credited as “Y. tim K.”): bass
Brad Wilk: drums
Production
Brendan O’Brien: producer, mixing
Rage Against the Machine: co-production
Nick DiDia: engineer, recording
Russ Fowler: additional engineering
Sugar D (David Russo): additional engineering
German Villacorta: assistant engineering (at A&M Studios)
Roger Sommers: assistant engineering (at Royaltone Studios)
Kevin Lively: assistant engineering (at Silent Sound Studios)
Ryan Williams: engineering (at Southern Tracks)
Karl Egsieker: assistant engineering (at Southern Tracks)
Monique Mitzrahl: assistant engineering (at Sunset Sound)
Kevin Dean: assistant engineering (at Sunset Sound)
Michael Parnin: assistant engineering (at Westlake Audio)
“Atom”: assistant engineering (at Westlake Audio)
Stephen Marcussen: mastering
Andrew Garver: digital editing
Cheryl Mondello: production coordination
Erin Haley: production coordination
Artwork and design
Rage Against the Machine: art direction
Aimee Macauley: art direction
Joey Krebs: artwork
Danny Clinch: photography
Matt DeMello (as “eye cue”): photography
Steven Tirona: additional photography
Studios
A&M Studios, Los Angeles, CA: recording, mixing
Royaltone Studios, Los Angeles, CA: recording, mixing
Silent Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA: recording, mixing
Southern Tracks, Atlanta, GA: recording, mixing
Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, CA: recording, mixing
Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, CA: recording, mixing
A&M Mastering Studios, Los Angeles, CA: mastering
