10 Best Metal Albums For Non-Metal Heads
6. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
The whole idea of rap and rock co-mingling never really seemed to be taken all that seriously in the '80s. Though both were pretty intense forms of music which appealed to the younger demographic, the collaborations between acts like Run DMC and Aerosmith were treated as nothing more than a novelty act in their prime. Once Rage Against the Machine came to the forefront, all those naysayers shut the hell up pretty quickly.
Across this debut release, Rage approached rock and roll on rap's terms, making for one of the most hard-hitting assaults on the senses that was to come in the '90s. Whether it was the police brutality protesting going on in Killing in the Name to the takedowns of societal norms on tracks like Freedom and Settle For Nothing, Zack de la Rocha's words are the epitome of anger, looking to get a rise out of the listener at every turn.
On the other hand, regular rock fans will still be surprised by Tom Morello's guitar, which toes the line between shredding solos on Take the Power Back and downright weird effects going on in tracks like Know Your Enemy. Before this record, hip hop tinged rock and roll didn't really have a prayer of lasting more than a few weeks. After we got a taste of the Rage though, the revolution was now firmly underway.