Tom Morello

Alternative and hard rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist Tom Morello was born on May 30, 1964, in Harlem, New York. He is best known as the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. While he was a teenager, he became involved in both politics and music. At 13, he joined his first band as a singer, while also purchasing his first guitar. By 1982, he devoted his attention to studying the guitar. Influenced by both hard rock and hip-hop, he developed his own distinct style of playing. In the mid-1990s, he formed hard rock band Lock Up. Signing to Geffen Records, the band released their debut album Something Bitchin’ This Way Comes (1989). With little commercial interest, the band split up. Shortly after, Tom Morello met singer Zack de la Rocha and decided to form a politically oriented band. This new group became Rage Against the Machine, a critically and commercially successful band and one of the of the most striking groups of the 1990s. Between 1992 and 2000, the group released four best-selling albums before vocalist Zack de la Rocha quit the band shortly before the release of their fourth album, Renegades. In 2001, the three musicians in Rage joined forces with Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell and formed Audioslave. The group released three albums before splitting up in 2007. Tom Morello pursued a solo career, releasing a series of albums under the pseudonym The Nightwatchman: One Man Revolution (2007), The Fabled City (2008), Union Town (2011), and World Wide Rebel Songs (2011). Rage Against the Machine would later reform twice – in 2007 and 2011 - for special performances while Audioslave would briefly reunite in 2017. Tom Morello formed the super-group Prophets of Rage in 2016 with Tim Commerford, Brad Wilk, rapper Chuck D, DJ Lord (Public Enemy) and MC B-Real (Cypress Hill). During his already busy career, Tom Morello has collaborated with many other musicians including Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Linkin Park, and Bruce Springsteen. Tom Morello released The Atlas Underground, the first album under his own name, in 2018. The album was a collection of collaborations with artists such as Portugal the Man, Big Boi, Vic Mensa, Steve Aoki, and many others. In 2021, Tom Morello released a cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”, a collaboration with Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder.

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