Relations between some members of Rage Against The Machine and Limp Bizkit haven’t exactly been healthy over the years. Decades ago, Tim Commerford, bassist for the above-mentioned Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame-inducted rap metal pioneers staged a bizarre live protest against Limp Bizkit during the 2000 ‘MTV Video Music Awards‘.
15 years removed from that incident, his animosity for the nü-metal kingpins remained, as he took a public jab at the band, telling Rolling Stone at the time:
“I do apologize for Limp Bizkit, I really do. I feel really bad that we inspired such bullshit. They’re gone, though. That’s the beautiful thing. There’s only one left, and that’s Rage, and as far as I’m concerned, we’re the only one that matters.”
Though less specific, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello has previously apologized for his band’s role in influencing the nü-metal scene overall. Back in 2021, he told Loudwire:
“For better or worse, Rage Against The Machine seemed to have planted the seeds for the genre that sprung up known as nü-metal My apologies. Rage Against The Machine created a genre and a total fanbase that we did not serve. We made records every four years. In that gap, labels were like, ‘How can we get a band that sounds like Rage but sang about girls and showed up for video shoots?”
Morello‘s stance seemingly softened over the years however, having served as direct support to Limp Bizkit in Belfast, Ireland as recently as last summer. For their part, Limp Bizkit themselves haven’t seemed too bothered by the matter.
The multi-platinum outfit have covered Rage Against The Machine‘s “Killing In The Name” over a 150 times live, most recently as 2024. Now, in an interesting turn of events, members of Limp Bizkit and Rage Against The Machine have been in the studio together.
Joined by recent Limp Bizkit tourmate Ecca Vandal and musician/producer Kid Not, Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland and Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk hit Rancho de la Luna together in Joshua Tree, CA to lay down some new music. Some clips of that have been shared below on their respective social media accounts.
