Evil Empire (album)

For use of the phrase by Ronald Reagan and United States' conservatives, see Evil empire.
Evil Empire
cover illustration derived from "Crimebuster"
Studio album by Rage Against the Machine
Released April 16, 1996 (1996-04-16)
Recorded March, 1995 – February, 1996
Studio Cole Rehearsal Studios, Los Angeles, CA
(see Studios)
Genre Rap metal, alternative metal
Length 46:34
Label Epic
Producer Brendan O'Brien
Rage Against the Machine chronology
Rage Against the Machine
(1992)		 Evil Empire
(1996)		 The Battle of Los Angeles
(1999)
Singles from Evil Empire
  1. "Year of tha Boomerang"
    Released: December 17, 1994
  2. "Bulls on Parade"
    Released: February 9, 1996
  3. "People of the Sun"
    Released: August 22, 1996
  4. "Down Rodeo"
    Released: November 16, 1996
  5. "Vietnow"
    Released: October 10, 1997
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [1]
Entertainment WeeklyA− [2]
IGN9.6/10 [3]
Q [4]
Robert ChristgauA− [5]
Rolling Stone [6]
Spin8/10 [4]
Yahoo! Music: J. Kordoshmixed [7]

Evil Empire is the second studio album by American rap metal band Rage Against the Machine. It was released on April 16, 1996, almost four years after the band's self-titled debut album.

Album background

The album's title is taken from the phrase "evil empire", which was used by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and many conservatives in describing the former Soviet Union.[8] The cover is the altered image by Mel Ramos and features Ari Meisel as the subject.[9] The caption "EVIL EMPIRE" and letter "e" on the boy's costume were originally "c" and "CRIME BUSTER".[10] Additional themes for the album were created by Barbara Kruger, and some of her artwork appears in the video clip for "Bulls on Parade", which became the first single for the album. As with their debut, five singles were released in total.

“ The title "Evil Empire" is taken from what Rage Against The Machine see as Ronald Reagan's slander of the Soviet Union in the eighties, which the band feels could just as easily apply to the United States. Rage is currently finishing up a European tour but they'll be back on our evil U.S. soil for a tour in late July. ”
— Zack de la Rocha, excerpt from interview[11]

The inside of the CD booklet shows a picture of a pile of various political and philosophical books including A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, Capital, Volume I by Karl Marx, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, and The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell.[12]

Evil Empire debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. The song "Tire Me" won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. The tracks "Bulls on Parade" and "People of the Sun" were both nominated for Grammys for Best Hard Rock Performance in separate years. The album was certified triple platinum on May 24, 2000.[13]

Promotional 7″

In 1995 the band sent a free 7″ record to promote the upcoming album to everyone who signed up for the Rage Against the Machine fan club promoted in the liner notes of the debut CD as an apology for never having received anything. It came in a plain cardboard colored fold-out with a black-and-white American flag on the cover and the title "Evil Empire" and the band's name all in capitals. On the back was a UPC with marker scribble on the barcode. The A-side was a reissue of the "Evening Session" version of "Bombtrack" listed as "Bombtrack (Live on the BBC)" and the B-side was the then unreleased cover of N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police" recorded live on August 13, 1995 at a benefit concert for Mumia Abu-Jamal at the Capitol Ballroom in Washington, D.C.

  1. Side A: "Bombtrack" (Live on the BBC)
  2. Side B: "Fuck tha Police"

Track listing

All lyrics written by Zack de la Rocha, all music composed by Rage Against the Machine.

No. Title Length
1. "People of the Sun"   2:30
2. "Bulls on Parade"   3:49
3. "Vietnow"   4:39
4. "Revolver"   5:30
5. "Snakecharmer"   3:56
6. "Tire Me"   3:00
7. "Down Rodeo"   5:20
8. "Without a Face"   3:36
9. "Wind Below"   5:50
10. "Roll Right"   4:22
11. "Year of tha Boomerang"   4:02
Total length:
 46:34

Credits

Personnel

Rage Against the Machine
Technical
Artwork and design

Studios

Charts

Album

Chart Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[14] 2
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15] 2
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] 6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[17] 2
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[18] 4
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[19] 5
French Albums (SNEP)[20] 26
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] 2
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[22] 3
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] 2
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 1
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 4
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 4
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[27] 1
US Billboard 200[28] 1

Singles

Single Chart Peak
position
"Bulls on Parade" Australia (ARIA)[29] 29
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[30] 31
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[31] 46
France (SNEP)[32] 27
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[33] 22
Norway (VG-lista)[34] 4
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[35] 9
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[36] 8
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[37] 11
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[38] 36
US Radio Songs (Billboard)[39] 62
"People of the Sun" UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[40] 26

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[41] Platinum 100,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[42] Gold 100,000
United States (RIAA)[43] 3× Platinum 3,000,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Thomas. Evil Empire at AllMusic. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  2. ↑ Tom Sinclair (1996-04-19). "Evil Empire Review | Music Reviews and News". EW.com. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  3. ↑ IGN Music. "Reader Review: Evil Empire - Music Feature at IGN". Uk.music.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  4. 1 2 "Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire CD Album". Cduniverse.com. 1996-04-16. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  5. ↑ "CG: rage against the machine". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  6. ↑ Jon Wiederhorn (1996-04-18). "Evil Empire | Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  7. ↑ Kordosh, John (1998-04-16). "Album Review: Evil Empire". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 2007-05-15. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  8. ↑ Staff report (May 3, 1996). Rage Builds "Evil Empire" MTV
  9. ↑ Vroom Journal (August 30, 2004) Covers: Visual Artists and the Music Industry
  10. ↑ Mark Malazarte Crime Buster by Mel Ramos 1993
  11. ↑ de la Rocha, Zacarías Manuel "Zack" (May 3, 1996). "Rage Builds "Evil Empire"". MTV. MTV.com. Retrieved 7 April 2013. The title "Evil Empire" is taken from what Rage Against The Machine see as Ronald Reagan's slander of the Soviet Union in the eighties, which the band feels could just as easily apply to the United States. Rage is currently finishing up a European tour but they'll be back on our evil U.S. soil for a tour in late July.
  12. ↑ http://www.ratm.net/book.html
  13. ↑ RIAA RIAA Certification search results Note: type “Evil Empire” (without quotation marks) in field "Title:"
  14. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". Hung Medien.
  15. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire" (in German). Hung Medien.
  16. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  17. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire" (in French). Hung Medien.
  18. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  19. ↑ "Rage Against the Machine: Evil Empire" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  20. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". Hung Medien.
  21. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  22. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". Hung Medien.
  23. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". Hung Medien.
  24. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". Hung Medien.
  25. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". Hung Medien.
  26. ↑ "Rage Against the Machine | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  27. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  28. ↑ "Rage Against the Machine – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Rage Against the Machine.
  29. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  30. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  31. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  32. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade" (in French). Les classement single.
  33. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade". Top 40 Singles.
  34. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade". VG-lista.
  35. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade". Singles Top 100.
  36. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1996-04-13" UK Singles Chart.
  37. ↑ "Rage Against the Machine – Chart history" Billboard Alternative Songs for Rage Against the Machine.
  38. ↑ "Rage Against the Machine – Chart history" Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs for Rage Against the Machine.
  39. ↑ "Rage Against the Machine – Chart history" Billboard Radio Songs for Rage Against the Machine.
  40. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1996-09-07" UK Singles Chart.
  41. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". Music Canada.
  42. ↑ "British album certifications – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Evil Empire in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  43. ↑ "American album certifications – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links

Preceded by
Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette		 Billboard 200 number-one album
May 4-May 10, 1996 		Succeeded by
Fairweather Johnson by Hootie & the Blowfish
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