10 Perfect Albums That Will Make You Love Metal

Just as it had in the '80s, the overarching stench of the Sunset Strip scene was starting to wear out its welcome by the end of the decade. With lesser acts like Bang Tango and Dangerous Toys trying to get their big break out of LA, things were in dire need of a shakeup once the grunge movement kicked in from up north in Seattle. Around the same time that Winger and Ratt were crushing venues on the Strip though, there was a band off to the side creating some of the most hard edged music imaginable.

Taking their cues from every aggressive form of music they have ever heard, it's hard to even put Rage Against the Machine's debut record into a single category. While it does have the hard as steel riffs from Tom Morello, the style of Zack de la Rocha is a mix of spoken word, a little bit of hip hop, and just the slightest traces of hardcore punk sprinkled in for good measure. When you actually took a look at what they were saying too, they really needed the sonic punch to deliver these messages.

Calling out injustice left and right, this is the kind of lightning in a bottle that most people hadn't realized was possible just a few years ago, bringing the same groove aspect of metal to the sounds of hip hop and somehow finding a middle ground, all while Morello's sonic chaos kept everything going. Even though it would be a few more years before Korn would start to form the basis of nu metal, this really is ground zero for that sort of world.