On February 21, 1993, BBC Radio 1 DJ Bruno Brookes accidentally played the full uncensored version of the song on his Top 40 Countdown, leading to 138 complaints. The album also included the singles 'Freedom' and 'Take the Power Back'. It reached triple platinum status, driven by heavy radio play of 'Killing in the Name'. Īfter signing with Epic Records, the band released their self-titled debut album on November 12, 1992. The song received substantial airplay in Europe and drove the band's popularity outside its home country. The band's first video for 'Killing in the Name' did not receive heavy airplay in the United States due to the explicit lyrics. 'Killing in the Name' was originally released as part of a 12-song self-released cassette. The cover of the Australian version of the CD-single has the words 'killing in the name', in large, red block capitals, and a much smaller and tightly cropped version of the photograph in the bottom right-hand corner. The photograph also appears on cover of the eponymous Rage Against the Machine album. The cover of the CD single is Malcolm Browne's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation in Saigon in 1963 in protest of the murder of Buddhists by the U.S.-backed regime of Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. According to BBC News, 'Killing in the Name' rails against 'the military–industrial complex, justifying killing for the benefit of, as the song puts it, the chosen whites'. The refrain 'some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses' draws a link between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Ku Klux Klan. The lyrics were inspired by the police brutality suffered by Rodney King and the subsequent 1992 Los Angeles riots. The song builds in intensity, as de la Rocha chants the line 'Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me', building in a crescendo the next four times and angrily screaming the line the final eight times, culminating with the scream 'Motherfucker!' The song contains the word ' fuck' 16 times. The journalist Peter Buckley described it as 'a howling, expletive-driven tirade against the ills of American society'. 'Killing in the Name' has been described as alternative metal, rap metal, rap rock, and hard rock song. Morello recorded his part on a Fender Telecaster. According to Morello, 'Killing in the Name' was a collaborative effort, combining his riff with Tim Commerford's 'magmalike' bass, Brad Wilk's 'funky, brutal' drumming and vocalist Zack de la Rocha's 'conviction'. The band worked on the song the next day. Tom Morello wrote the guitar riffs while teaching a student drop D tuning he briefly paused the lesson to record the riff. 5 2009 UK Christmas number one campaign.

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