Renegades is the fourth studio album by American rock band Rage Against the Machine (RATM), released on December 5, 2000, by Epic Records, almost two months after their first breakup. The album consists of covers of songs by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Afrika Bambaataa, Minor Threat, Eric B. & Rakim, The Stooges, MC5, The Rolling Stones, Cypress Hill, Devo, and others.
Renegades | ||||
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Studio album by Rage Against the Machine | ||||
Released | December 5, 2000 (2000-12-05) | |||
Recorded | April–September 2000 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 51:14 | |||
Label | Epic | |||
Producer |
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Rage Against the Machine chronology | ||||
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Singles from Renegades | ||||
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Renegades is RATM's only album not to be accompanied by a supporting tour. Shortly after the release of the album, three of the four band members (minus vocalist Zack de la Rocha) formed a new band, Audioslave, with former Soundgarden vocalist/guitarist Chris Cornell. RATM did, however, release the live album Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in 2003, consisting of their final two concerts before their initial break-up.
The album achieved platinum status a little over a month after its initial release.
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The album's cover art is a tribute to the pop art work LOVE by Robert Indiana, with the word "love" replaced with "rage" and the letter G at the bottom left corner slanted (in the original sculpture, the slanted letter O is at the top right corner). The album shipped with four different versions of the cover: either red lettering with black and either blue or green background, or with the red and black switched. The album's packaging also includes a poem by Josh Koppel. The artwork ends with a photograph of an American one dollar bill with the message "You are not a slave" written on the back.
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 78/100[2] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Alternative Press | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Entertainment Weekly | A−[5] |
Melody Maker | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Mojo | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
NME | 8/10[8] |
Q | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Select | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spin | 7/10[6] |
Renegades received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 78 based on 26 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[2] AllMusic critic John Bush wrote that the record "works well with just a bare few exceptions, in part because Rage Against the Machine is both smart enough to change very little and talented enough to make the songs its own."[3] Alternative Press described the record as "a tour through three decades of sonic recalcitrance" and "the genome map of seditious sound".[4] Entertainment Weekly's Rob Brunner described the record's sound as "a remarkably diverse, if not exactly surprising, mix of heavy rock, hip hop and protest music", while remarking that it "would still be a raging success even if this disc does nothing but introduce a new generation to the joys of Bob Dylan and Minor Threat."[5]
On Renegades, Mojo has remarked: "This crisp, Rick Rubin-produced outing packs away a machine that was well-oiled to the last."[7] Kitty Empire of NME labeled the record as "a brilliant archaeology" and "a sonic history lesson".[8] Rolling Stone critic Tom Moon believed that the band executed "diverse tracks" such as Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad", the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man", Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk" and Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm" with "the roaring, fearless spirit that’s been missing in action since these songs were new",[1] while Select regarded it as the band's "most satisfying record since their debut".[9]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist (date) | Length |
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1. | "Microphone Fiend" | Eric Barrier, Rakim Allah | Eric B. & Rakim (1988) | 5:01 |
2. | "Pistol Grip Pump" | Roger Troutman, Dino Hawkins, Adrian Miller, Eric Vidal, Nick Vidal | Volume 10 (1994) | 3:18 |
3. | "Kick Out the Jams" | Wayne Kramer, Fred "Sonic" Smith, Rob Tyner, Michael Davis, Dennis Thompson | MC5 (1969) | 3:11 |
4. | "Renegades of Funk" | Lance Taylor, Arthur Baker, John Miller, John Robie | Afrika Bambaataa (1983) | 4:35 |
5. | "Beautiful World" | Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale | Devo (1981) | 2:35 |
6. | "I'm Housin" | Erick Sermon, Parish Smith | EPMD (1988) | 4:56 |
7. | "In My Eyes" | Ian MacKaye, Jeff Nelson, Brian Baker, Lyle Preslar | Minor Threat (1981) | 2:54 |
8. | "How I Could Just Kill a Man" | Louis Freese, Senen Reyes, Lawrence Muggerud | Cypress Hill (1991) | 4:04 |
9. | "The Ghost of Tom Joad" | Bruce Springsteen | Bruce Springsteen (1995) | 5:38 |
10. | "Down on the Street" | Iggy Pop, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, Dave Alexander | The Stooges (1970) | 3:38 |
11. | "Street Fighting Man" | Mick Jagger, Keith Richards | The Rolling Stones (1968) | 4:42 |
12. | "Maggie's Farm" | Robert Zimmerman | Bob Dylan (1965) | 6:34 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist (date) | Length |
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13. | "Kick Out the Jams" (Live) | Kramer, Smith, Tyner, Davis, Thompson | MC5 (1969) | 4:31 |
14. | "How I Could Just Kill a Man" (Live, featuring B-Real and Sen Dog) | Freese, Reyes, Muggerud | Cypress Hill (1991) | 4:30 |
Best Buy limited edition
Limited edition albums sold at Best Buy contained a bonus disc with live recordings of "People of the Sun" and "No Shelter". The songs were later released as part of Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in 2003, as was "Kick Out the Jams (live)".
Chart (2000–2001) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA)[10] | 10 | |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] | 66 | |
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[12] | 13 | |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[13] | 25 | |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] | 47 | |
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[15] | 33 | |
Scottish Albums (OCC)[16] | 59 | |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] | 49 | |
UK Albums (OCC)[18] | 71 | |
US Billboard 200[19] | 14 |
Chart (2000) | Position |
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Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[20] | 157 |
Chart (2001) | Position |
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US Billboard 200[21] | 121 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA)[22] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[23] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[24] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Rage Against the Machine | |
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Studio albums | |
Live albums |
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Demo albums | |
Video albums | |
Singles | |
Other songs | |
Concert tours |
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