020: Renegades, by Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine (USA)
Renegades (2000)
12 tracks, 51 minutes
Spotify · iTunes

Hmm, there does seem to have been quite a few angry albums in the last few days, right? I don’t think this is exactly representative of my standard levels of anger, but who am I to argue with the list (in conjunction with random.org)?

Rage Against the Machine sound quite angry, anyway. I mean, it’s right there in the name. Chill out lads. Their best known album is probably their self-titled debut from 1992 (the one with ‘Killing in the Name Of’ on. Chill out lads!!), but it’s this one that I come back to the most. I don’t really know the details, but Renegades smacks of contractual obligation: it was released months after the group split up, and it’s a full cover album, no originals at all. As far as I can tell, it had a mixed reaction from fans, but the critics seem to like it, and so do I.

It’s another one for me where one song completely dominates the rest of the album. The tracks are good quality throughout, I don’t think there’s any clangers in there, but when it gets to their version of Cypress Hill’s ‘How I Could Just Kill a Man,’ it blows everything else out of the water. It’s got a wonderful trifecta: funk, hip-hop and metal, all in equal measures and all mingling into a tasty, tasty Victoria sponge of a track. It’s gotta be a high point in rap metal. Compare it to something like Anthrax and Chuck D’s ‘Bring the Noise’: a classic, of course, but in a fun and cheesy way, with a cheeky wink – rap..and metal??! Wacky or what?! - but this one from Rage feels so sure of itself that it could have been the original. It all works so naturally in their hands.

That track’s a bomb, but as I say, the rest is definitely worth your ears too. It’s not all rap metal either. The proto-punk of the Stooges and MC5 work particularly well with Tom Morello’s electrics-soaked guitar adding interesting new flavours to ‘Down on the Street’ and ‘Kick Out the Jams,’ respectively. I reckon the most unexpected cover would have to be the last track, Bob Dylan’s ‘Maggie’s Farm,’ but they do a good job of it – and completely unlike the original, of course.

If you’ve gotta end your band’s run with a contractually-obliged album without writing a bunch of new songs, follow Rage’s example and absolutely smash it like they did with Renegades.