"People of the Sun" is the second single 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 ...

for their 1996 album '' Evil Empire''. Written in 1992, the song is about the Zapatista revolution. Lead vocalist

Zack de la Rocha Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, and political activist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Rage Against the Machine. Through both Rage Against ...

wrote the song after a visit to

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

in southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. "People of the Sun" also has 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 ...

. It was nominated for a

Best Hard Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011. The academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time at the 31st Grammy Awards (1989). The category was ori ...

Grammy in 1998, but it lost to

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamb ...

' "

The End Is the Beginning Is the End "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" is a Grammy Award-winning song by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. Released as a single by the Smashing Pumpkins in the aftermath of their 1995 album ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite S ...

". The song has a wide variety of references, most notably the destruction of the

Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua peoples, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled ...

by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

(see the article

Five suns In the context of creation myths, the term Five Suns describes the doctrine of the Aztec and other Nahua peoples in which the present world was preceded by four other cycles of creation and destruction. It is primarily derived from the mythologic ...

) and the

Zoot Suit Riots The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots that took place from June 3–8, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, involving American servicemen stationed in Southern California and young Latino and Mexican American city resident ...

of Los Angeles in 1943. De La Rocha also refers to the last Aztecan Emperor

Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler (''tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, making him the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle" ...

, who was tortured and eventually executed by the Spaniards. The single artwork of the

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock, ei ...

and

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is a 1927 photograph taken by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 ...

Tina Modotti Tina Modotti (born Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini, August 16/17, 1896 – January 5, 1942) was an Italian American photographer, model, actor, and revolutionary political activist for the Comintern. She left Italy in 1913 and moved to ...

in Mexico. http://www.comitatotinamodotti.it/ctm.htm comitatotinamodotti.it The final version of the song made its live debut on May 9, 1996, in Paris, France.

Origin

The band were known to perform this song live as early as 1992, the only difference being Zack's lyrics. A studio version was also recorded and has circulated on the internet. The original lyrics contained verses from their song "Fistful of Steel". This version was first played on September 28, 1992, at the Club With No Name in

West Hollywood, California West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...

Music video

The video, directed by

Peter Christopherson Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy, 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, and former member of British design agency Hipgnosis. He also found ...

and produced by Fiz Oliver at Squeak Pictures, opens with shots of a dead

indigenous Mexican Indigenous peoples of Mexico ( es, gente indígena de México, pueblos indígenas de México), Native Mexicans ( es, nativos mexicanos) or Mexican Native Americans ( es, pueblos originarios de México, lit=Original peoples of Mexico), are those ...

girl (IMDB Melissa Herrera); her arm starts bleeding and the blood shows the words "Trickle down". Statistics illustrating the plight of the

Zapatista Army of National Liberation The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas (Mexican ), is a far-left political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. Sin ...

are shown from a film projector being run in a morgue. Military footage of

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

arms arriving in Mexico and the Zapatistas themselves are interspersed with this and shots of the band playing in front of a brick wall in about a 10 by 10 space. The version seen on MTV is the edited version; scenes of an indigenous worker being buried alive and trampled, and dead teenagers in the morgue, have been removed and replaced with military footage. The black and white documentary-style scenes of the laborer and the vaqueros are from the movie '' ¡Qué viva México!'' by

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenw ...

, from the 1930s.

Track listing single

#"People of the Sun" #"Zapata's Blood (Live)" #"Without a Face (Live)"

EP version

In 1997 Rage Against The Machine released the "People Of The Sun" EP on 10-inch vinyl. It was distributed by

Revelation Records Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side, Chain of Strength, Shelte ...

, who had signed De La Rocha's previous band

Inside Out Inside Out may refer to: *Backwards (disambiguation) or inverse Books * '' Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason * ''Inside Out'', Christian book by Larry Crabb * ''Inside Out'', novel by Barry Eisler ...

before they split in 1990. The vinyl was shipped with a card containing information on the Zapatista movement in the Chiapas region of Mexico. In 2008, the vinyl was re-issued by Revelation Records. The ''Rage Against The Machine'' logo is off-center and vertically distorted on both the original and re-issue pressings. A-Side #People of The Sun - 2:30 #Without a Face (live)- 4:07 #Intro (Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos) (live)- 3:37 #Zapata's Blood (live) - 3:47 B-Side #Bulls on Parade - 3:48 #Hadda Be Playing on the Jukebox (live)- 8:09 ''Intro, Zapata's Blood, and Without a Face recorded live at the Pink Pop, May 27, 1996''
''Hadda Be Playing on the Jukebox recorded live at Milan Dragway, Detroit, July 9, 1993''
''Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos (H. Shocklee/C. Ridenhour/E. Sadler/W. Drayton)''
''All other songs written and arranged by Rage Against the Machine.''

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:People Of The Sun Rage Against the Machine songs 1996 singles Songs written by Tom Morello Songs written by Brad Wilk Songs written by Tim Commerford Songs written by Zack de la Rocha Songs about Mexico 1992 songs Songs about indigenous peoples el:People of the Sun