37. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine - 1992
This could well be the most angry and hateful sounding inclusion on this list. RATM's extreme, leftist views are enduring and, as relevant today, as they ever were. In 1992 the world felt like it was on the edge of a meltdown, constantly. A president that was as out of touch as Reagan and seemingly hovering over "the red button". Racial tension was so high, you could feel it, especially in the wake of the Rodney King v LAPD debacle, and the ensuing L.A. riots. The world recession was in full effect, with the gulf between classes, ever widening. This album didn't just blanket over all these frustrations, but with each track, intelligently and specifically targets individual cases of oppression, war mongering and racism at their very worst. Vocalist/Rapper Zack De La Rocha, is audibly full of, well, rage, for want of a better description. His raps spit bile and venom toward the forces that be. On the albums calling card, 'Killing in the Name of', he aims his hostility towards those in law enforcement who are openly racist and, in some extreme cases, members of the Ku-Klux Klan. He questions why we should respect and be enforced by people who have such a warped mindset. 'Township Rebellion' addresses that a fundamental right, such as freedom, is still absent. The example used in the track is the apartheid that was still prevalent in South Africa. Musically speaking, the band are highly colorful, with elements of Black Sabbath's weight, groove and swing fused together with Hip Hop and funk to create infectious, bouncy, mosh pit friendly anthems. Tim Commerford's bass playing locks right in with Brad Wilk's no-nonsense drumming to create the base for Tom Morello's one-of-a-kind guitar playing that often acts like a record being scratched to bring extra flavour. His riffs owe heavily to his love for Metal, blended with funk acts like Parliament and James Brown. Using unorthodox use of his guitar pickups and a killswitch, he manages to create solo's that the likes of, have never been heard before. Good and bad resulted from this album. The good, was that urged an entire generation to question the world that surrounded them, and who was making the important decisions that affected their lives. The bad? Well, RATM can't take sole responsibility, as Faith No More are also to blame as well as Anthrax's collaboration with Public Enemy, but Nu-Metal definitely would not exist were it not for this fantastic debut.