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Tom Morello Remembers When Rage Against the Machine Got Naked at Lollapalooza and the Crowd Lost Its Mind

In a recent interview, Tom Morello reflected on the band’s on-stage protest in 1993 at Lollapalooza, which didn’t go quite as planned.

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Rage Against The Machine is known as a controversial protest group. It’s truly their entire thing. Therefore, they were the perfect band to combat the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). This political pressure group was formed in 1985 by prominent Washington, D.C., politicians’ wives, such as Tipper Gore, former Senator Al Gore’s wife. This group aimed to censor music by increasing parental control over children’s access to music that included violence, sex, or any drug-related themes. They published the infamous “Filthy Fifteen,” a list of 15 songs deemed the most inappropriate for children.

Artists such as Frank Zappa, Dee Snider, and John Denver testified against the group in a set of hearings with the US Senate in September 1985. Additionally, Danzig famously penned his 1988 hit “Mother” in response to the group.

By 1993, the group had wound down quite a bit, yet it remained an active lobbying force in Washington, D.C.........

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