This is one of the more peculiar things I have in my archive of live recordings. 24 years ago today in Philadelphia, rage against the machine stood completely naked on stage at Lollapalooza in protest of PMRC (Parent Music Resource Center) which was heavily engaged in censoring music (you know those parental advisory stickers?) With the letters P,M,R,C scrawled on their chests and feedback blaring through the PA, they stood in silence with duct tape over their mouths for around 14 minutes before leaving the stage. There's a famous photo floating around of this incident. Brad would later go on to say Zack blew out his voice earlier in the day and they couldn't have played anyway.

I somehow acquired this audio recording over the years and don't know the source. What I find most amusing is the audible shift in audience reaction to what's happening before them. Applause and laughter turns into silence, silence turns into confusion, confusion turns into anger. Some key highlights: 

6:45 "exactly how long are they going to keep this up?"
7:08 "probably gonna stand there for an hour and walk off"
7:34 "cmon what the fuck"
10:20 <fuck you chant>
12:54 friend to another: "I've been paying you back for WEEKS for THIS?!"
13:06 <feedback stops, crowd applauds>
13:37 "alright lets go!"
<band walks off stage>
13:52 "that was it?"

rage against the machine - july 18, 1993

A newly surfaced recording of one of Inside Out's last shows from 1991 in CA. Download directly from http://hate5six.com/tape5six.php

Popular tracks by hate5six