Throughout the '90s, Rage Against the Machine were an unshakable point of reference, both for the demonic notes they produced and for the deliberate alignment of their art with the political message. This electrified blend of "rap-metal-communism," as characterized by the stunned American media, had as its natural perpetrators four top musicians: Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk, whose organic ideological and artistic influences range from the Mexican Revolution, anti-imperialist struggles, and the Black Panthers, to Public Enemy, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, and pure, indestructible American hardcore.

Raised at the height of Reaganism and the impoverishment of large popular strata, the neoliberal omnipotence, and the "end of history," RATM delved into the political significances that emerged in the cracks of the empire, wrapped them in red flags, and spread them across all musical lengths and breadths of the earth, making committed art sharp and vibrant in public discourse.

Until October 2000, when the painful break occurred, they made sure to leave behind a rare legacy. Three original albums, countless historic live performances, targeted political interventions, and above all, the realization of art as a tool of dialectics between political events and the masses, and simultaneously, a challenge to Western cultural hegemony.

This book traces the three-decade journey of the band that defined the concept of committed music, while also exploring the lives and backgrounds of the "four guilty members" and the socio-political environment in which they emerged, were influenced, and acted as carriers of a revolutionary artistic avant-garde.