History
"Guerrilla Radio" was performed live on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1999. During the commercial break, "Bulls on Parade" was played and was re-joined in progress while the credits were playing. Letterman joked that "he hoped they (Rage Against the Machine) weren't neglecting their school work". The performance was controversial due to Zack de la Rocha giving the middle finger on live TV and wearing a "Free Mumia Abu-Jamal" t-shirt.
On January 28, 2000, documentary film maker Michael Moore convinced campaigning politician Alan Keyes to mosh in a truck with young teenagers listening to "Guerrilla Radio". Keyes, who was campaigning for the Republican nomination at the Iowa caucuses, agreed to join in the mosh for the endorsement of Moore's satirical television show, The Awful Truth.
The song was covered by lounge/comedy group Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, whose band name also spoofs Rage. In April 2007, Alanis Morissette covered it live. It is worth noting that Rage Against The Machine's Evil Empire bumped her album Jagged Little Pill from the number one spot on the Billboard 200 back in 1996.
On July 2007, the song's video for "Guerrilla Radio" was ranked #45 on MuchMusic's 50 Most Controversial Videos for extreme amounts of profanity. Though, it appeared in RTPNadverts in the summer of 2006, as an instrumental song.
This song is featured on the album Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran.
"Guerrilla Radio" made its live debut on September 11, 1999, at the Oxford Zodiac in England.
The song is one of 31 music files in RIAA v. Tenenbaum case, which resulted in finding the individual file-sharer guilty of copyright infringement in July 2009, demanding an award of $22,500 a song.
In December 2009, Guerilla Radio was placed #54 on Channel V's Top 1000 Noughties Music Videos of the decade, Countdown.
Read more about this topic: Guerrilla Radio
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