Rage Against The Machine’s shocking fusion of hip-hop and metal and unyielding political messages (inspired by everything from the Black Panthers to IRA hunger strikes) was unlike any album released in 1992. The LA Times hailed it as “a striking, politically conscious debut.” The album peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Heatseekers chart.

Fans waited four years for a follow-up to Rage Against The Machine, and Evil Empire did not disappoint, debuting atop the Billboard 200 and featuring favorites like “Bulls On Parade” and the GRAMMY Award-winning “Tire Me.” Rage famously promoted the release with a performance on Saturday Night Live that doubled as a protest of host and then-presidential hopeful Steve Forbes.

The Battle Of Los Angeles was named the best album of 1999 by Rolling Stone and Time. “Calm Like a Bomb,” “Sleep Now In The Fire” and “Testify” (the latter two supported by videos directed by Michael Moore, with “Sleep Now In The Fire” featuring a band-led protest that closed the New York Stock Exchange) are among the most powerful political tracks of their time.

Rage’s final studio album to date, released at the end of 2000, finds the group paying tribute to musicians who influenced them, from Afrika Bambaataa (“Renegades Of Funk”) to Bruce Springsteen (“The Ghost Of Tom Joad), Cypress Hill (“How I Could Just Kill a Man”) to The MC5 (“Kick Out The Jams”). The album went platinum in a little over a month after its initial release.