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The Battle of Los Angeles is the third studio album by Rage Against the Machine. It was released on November 2, 1999, and over three years after their second studio album, Evil Empire. Between Evil Empire and Los Angeles, the band released a live album, titled Live & Rare.

The song "Calm Like a Bomb" is featured in the credits of The Matrix Reloaded. The videos to "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Testify" were directed by documentarian Michael Moore. Both "Testify" and "Guerrilla Radio" are also featured in the video game Rock Band 2, being on-disc and downloadable, respectively.

The album debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 selling 420,000 copies its first week. That week saw a busy CD release schedule. The album denied Mariah Carey's highly anticipated album the chance to open at #1. "Guerrilla Radio" was featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, albeit heavily edited on the Nintendo 64 version, and it is also heavily edited on "Madden NFL 10". Both Time and Rolling Stone named it the Best Album of 1999. It was listed as #53 in SPIN Magazine's 100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005.

The album cover art was an original artwork by the LA Street Phantom aka Joey Krebs aka Joel Jaramillo, a well-known Los Angeles artist who has exhibited at numerous galleries in Los Angeles, New York City and throughout the United States. Despite claims to the contrary, the image was not inspired by images from the 1992 street riots of LA or from images of Munich, but by the band's own music and words, and represents one in a series of images of the artist's work, which can also be seen on various street murals in Los Angeles.

The Battle of Los Angeles was heavily influenced by the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. "Testify", "Sleep Now in the Fire", "Voice of the Voiceless", among other songs, include direct quotes from the novel, and mention key Orwellian terms in the lyrics.

Saul Williams sampled "Born of a Broken Man" for his song "Om Nia Merican", which appeared on his 2001 album Amethyst Rock Star.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 426 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Rage Against the Machine and all lyrics by Zack de la Rocha.

Side A

"Testify" – 3:30
"Guerrilla Radio" – 3:26
"Calm Like a Bomb" – 4:58
"Mic Check" – 3:33
"Sleep Now in the Fire" – 3:25
"Born of a Broken Man" – 4:41


Side B

"Born as Ghosts" – 3:21
"Maria" – 3:48
"Voice of the Voiceless" – 2:31
"New Millennium Homes" – 3:44
"Ashes in the Fall" – 4:36
"War Within a Breath" – 3:36



Personnel - "Guilty Parties"

Rage Against the Machine – Producer, Art Direction
Zack de la Rocha – Vocals
Tim Commerford (credited as "Y.tim.K" and "tim.com") – Bass
Brad Wilk – Drums
Tom Morello - Guitars


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