Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine (also known as American Composite) is the original demo tape by American rock band Rage Against the Machine, released in December 1991. The 12-track tape was recorded at Sunburst Studio in Los Angeles after drummer Brad Wilk joined the band but before they had played their first live show. When the band began performing live shows they sold the tape for $5, eventually selling approximately 5,000 copies. Shortly thereafter, the band was signed to a record deal with Epic Records on the strength of the demo's success. As well as being sold at early live shows, the demo tape was sent to a number of record companies to showcase the band. Atlantic Records was sent one and produced a number of copies which the label sold under its own name. The band later discovered this but decided not to take action. The Atlantic Records issued cassette tape features an entirely different cover than the band's self-released tape, with an artistic rendering of a man with a distorted and zippered face and the band's Rage Against the Machine moniker made apparently of lettering taken from different newspaper headlines. Tracks Seven of the 12 songs on the demo tape became part of the band's eponymous debut album. Of the five songs omitted—"Darkness of Greed", "Clear the Lane", "Mindset's a Threat", "Auto Logic", and "The Narrows"—the first 2 were eventually included as B-sides on the lead single from the debut album, "Killing in the Name", with all of the songs later being released on the album, "Rage Against the Machine - XX (20th Anniversary Edition Deluxe Box Set)". Several songs on the demo are nearly identical to the versions appearing on the debut album, but others have noticeable differences; the tempo of "Take the Power Back" on the demo, for example, is much slower and has a different final verse. The record is notable for the first appearance of the song "Bullet in the Head", which became a hit when reissued as a single later in the year after being transferred intact (with re-recorded vocals for the verses only) from the demo to the album. The song "Darkness of Greed" hails back to vocalist de la Rocha's previous band Inside Out, which broke up mid-1991. Inside Out performed the song on many occasions, and several RoIOs exist of those performances.