Today, April 13th, marks the 30th anniversary of Rage Against The Machine‘s one and only infamous performance on ‘Saturday Night Live‘. With that performance taking place just days ahead of the rap metal pioneering outfit’s highly anticipated sophomore album “Evil Empire“, many tuned in to catch the band.
However, as it would later be told to the public, the band’s political imagery onstage in the form of upside down American flags led to friction with the show’s staff, ultimately leading to the band’s performance of “Bulls On Parade” being the only footage of the group to actually air.
Of course, a backstage altercation with the family of a U.S. presidential candidate behind the scenes only escalated the matter, leading to the band being forcibly being ejected from the studios where the late night sketch comedy show was being filmed.
Tom Morello guitarist for the now Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame-inducted outfit, took to social media today, April 13th, to comment on the anniversary and reflect the chaos of that day, offering:
“Today’s the 30th anniversary of RATM’S um, ‘memorable’ performance on SNL. There was a fight onstage between our crew and SNL stage hands moments before our performance, wrestling over some upside down American flags which adorned our amps. Timmy C then attacked host/billionarie/presidential candidate Steve Forbes’ family in the dressing room with a wadded up flag. Secret Service flooded the hallways. SNL cut (censored?) our second song and kicked us out onto the sidewalk.
Evil Empire entered the Billboard Album Chart at #1.”
Released on April 16th, 1996, “Evil Empire” would go on to be certified platinum by August 01st of that year, and was last certified 3x platinum in May of 2000.
