The Battle of Los Angeles (album)

Musically, The Battle of Los Angeles has been described as rap metal, funk metal, "Voice of the Voiceless", a song referring to American political activist and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, references a letter written by Mao Zedong, called "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire". The album's cover art was an original piece spraypainted by Joey Krebs (also known as "The Street Phantom", "The Phantom Street Artist", or Joel Jaramillo), a well-known Los Angeles graffiti artist who has exhibited at numerous galleries in Los Angeles, New York City, and throughout the United States. Phantom's graffiti work regularly uses an outline profile of a human with text overlaid. ==Release and promotion==

The Battle of Los Angeles debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling around 420,000 copies in its first week and keeping Mariah Carey's highly anticipated new album Rainbow from reaching the top of the chart. It was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The music videos made for "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Testify" were directed by documentarian Michael Moore, who appears in both videos. ==Critical reception==

In their year-end lists, Time and Rolling Stone magazines both named The Battle of Los Angeles the best album of 1999. Retrospectively, it was ranked No. 426 on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2005, the album was listed at No. 53 on Spins list of the 100 greatest albums from 1985–2005, as well as No. 369 on Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. In 2021, Metal Hammer magazine named it one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999. Awards • 1999: No. 1 Time Magazine Critic Pick (The Best Music of 1999) • 1999: No. 1 Rolling Stone Critic Pick (Best Album of 1999) ==Track listing==

Bonus promo CD/tape In the US, some retail stores gave a free promo CD to those who pre-ordered the album that contained the songs "Clear the Lane" (from the "Killing in the Name" single) and "Hadda Be Playing on the Jukebox" (Live) (from the "Bulls on Parade" single). In Australia, certain chains gave a promo tape titled New... Live... Rare to those who pre-ordered the album that featured "Calm Like a Bomb" and the aforementioned two songs repeated on both sides. The versions of all three songs were the same as those that had been previously released. ==Personnel==

Rage Against the Machine • Zack de la Rocha – vocals • Tom Morello – guitars • Y. tim K. – bass • Brad Wilk – drums Production • Brendan O'Brien – producer, mixing • Rage Against the Machine – co-production • Nick DiDia – engineer, recording • Russ Fowler – additional engineering • Sugar D (David Russo) – additional engineering • German Villacorta – assistant engineering (at A&M Studios) • Roger Sommers – assistant engineering (at Royaltone Studios) • Kevin Lively – assistant engineering (at Silent Sound Studios) • Ryan Williams – engineering (at Southern Tracks) • Karl Egsieker – assistant engineering (at Southern Tracks) • Monique Mitzrahl – assistant engineering (at Sunset Sound) • Kevin Dean – assistant engineering (at Sunset Sound) • Michael Parnin – assistant engineering (at Westlake Audio) • "Atom" – assistant engineering (at Westlake Audio) • Stephen Marcussen – mastering • Andrew Garver – digital editing • Cheryl Mondello – production coordination • Erin Haley – production coordination Artwork and design • Rage Against the Machine – art direction • Aimee Macauley – art direction • Joey Krebs, The Phantom Street Artist – original spraypainted artwork • Danny Clinch – photography • Matt DeMello (as "eye cue") – photography • Steven Tirona – additional photography Studios • A&M Studios, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing • Royaltone Studios, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing • Silent Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA – recording, mixing • Southern Tracks, Atlanta, GA – recording, mixing • Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing • Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, CA – recording, mixing • A&M Mastering Studios, Los Angeles, CA – mastering ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==

==Appearances in other media==

"Maria" was covered by Canadian-American singer Grandson in 2019. ==References==