"Bombtrack" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerfor ...

. It is the opening track on their self-titled debut album. Like most of Rage Against the Machine's songs, the song's lyrics discuss

social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...

, proclaiming that "

landlords A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the te ...

and power whores" were going to "burn". The riffs were composed by Rage Against the Machine bassist

Tim Commerford Tim Commerford (born February 26, 1968) is an American musician, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist for rock band Rage Against the Machine, and supergroups Audioslave and Prophets of Rage. Since 2013 and 2015, he has also been the l ...

. The song is one of three on the album in the key of F along with " Know Your Enemy" and "Fistful of Steel". A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was released, depicting support for the Peruvian

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

revolutionary organization,

Sendero Luminoso The Shining Path ( es, Sendero Luminoso), officially the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a communist guerrilla group in Peru following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. Academics often refer to the group as the Communis ...

and its leader Abimael Guzman. The video clip did not appear on the group's first home video, citing Rage's first altered political opinion. In 2003, the video finally appeared as bonus material on their ''

Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium ''Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium'' is the second live album by the American rock band Rage Against the Machine, released on November 25, 2003, by Epic Records. It is a recording of two shows Rage played at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in th ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

. The single artwork features

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

Alberto Korda Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, better known as Alberto Korda or simply Korda (September 14, 1928 – May 25, 2001), was a Cuban photographer, remembered for his famous image ''Guerrillero Heroico'' of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. ...

's famous image of

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...

, ''

Guerrillero Heroico ''Guerrillero Heroico'' ( en, "Heroic Guerrilla Fighter") is an iconic photograph of Marxism, Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara taken by Alberto Korda. It was captured on March 5, 1960, in Havana, Cuba, at a memorial service for victims of the ...

''. A mirrored version of the iconic two-tone portrait by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick (T-shirt version). Perhaps the song's most notable appearance outside of the music industry would be its appearance in

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

's controversial film ''

Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American crime film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims of traumatic childho ...

'', when Mickey breaks out of his prison cell in search of Mallory.

Live performances

The song made its live debut on March 8, 1992, in San Luis Obispo, California. The acoustic version of the song was only played live once. This was at the KROQ Acoustic Christmas on December 12, 1993. The lyrics, "Hardline, hardline after hardline!" are, on occasion, changed to "Hardline after muthafuckin' hardline!" as well as the line during the chorus, "Burn! Burn, yes ya gonna burn!" are occasionally changed to, "Burn! Motherfucker, burn!" When first recorded in the studio, and during live performances, bassist

sings the chorus with de la Rocha.

Track listing

CD #"Bombtrack" #"Bombtrack vening Session version #"Bombtrack ive version *The 'Evening Session' version was recorded on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

during

Mark Goodier Mark Goodier (born 9 June 1961) is a British radio disc jockey best known for his time on BBC Radio 1 between 1987 and 2002. He had two spells presenting the station's Top 40 singles chart, from 1990 to 1992 and from 1995 until 2002. He also h ...

Evening Session BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. 7" # "Bombtrack" – 4:03 # "Bombtrack" (live) – 6:00

Special Pinkpop edition

On June 24, 1994, a special edition of the "Bombtrack" CD single was released for the

Pinkpop The Pinkpop Festival is an annual music festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (''Pinksteren'' in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. ...

Music Festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

's 25th birthday. This version contains an alternative track listing. #"Bombtrack" #"Freedom" (live) #"Settle for Nothing" (live) #"Bombtrack" vening Session version#"Bullet in the Head" emix#"Take the Power Back" (live) #"Darkness of Greed" #"Bullet in the Head" (live) #"Bombtrack" (live) Tracks three and eight recorded live at

Melkweg Melkweg (Dutch for "Milky Way") is a popular music venue and cultural centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is located on Lijnbaansgracht, near Leidseplein, a prime nightlife square of Amsterdam. It is housed in a former dairy and is divided into ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, February 7, 1993. Track six recorded live in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada, April 11, 1993. Track nine recorded live in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, United States, April 5, 1993. Track five remix by

Sir Jinx Anthony Wheaton, professionally known by his stage name Sir Jinx, is an American hip hop producer and rapper from Los Angeles. He is a cousin of multi-platinum producer Dr. Dre. He began his career as a member of the C.I.A. in the mid-80s with ...

. The Evening Session version of "Bombtrack" is a completely reworked, slower "swing" version of the song with altered lyrics, which later appeared on '' Evil Empire''s "Without a Face".

In popular culture

The song was made available for download on May 8, 2012 to play in ''

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...

'' Basic and PRO mode utilizing real guitar / bass guitar, and MIDI compatible electronic drum kits. In 2017,

Stone Sour Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand ...

covered the song as part of

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

's ''Metal Hammer Goes '90s'' compilation album, and appears on the deluxe edition of their 2017 album ''

Hydrograd ''Hydrograd'' is the sixth and most recent studio album by American rock band Stone Sour. Recorded at Sphere Studios in Los Angeles, it is the follow-up to the band's 2012–2013 double concept album, ''House of Gold & Bones'' Part 1 and 2. It ...

''.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1992 songs 1993 singles Epic Records singles Rage Against the Machine songs Song recordings produced by Garth Richardson Songs written by Tom Morello Songs written by Brad Wilk Songs written by Tim Commerford Songs written by Zack de la Rocha