"Killing in the Name" is a song by the American rock band Rage Against the Machine, and appears on their 1992 debut album Rage Against the Machine. It features heavy drop-D guitar riffs. The lyrics protest police brutality, inspired by the beating of Rodney King and the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
"Killing in the Name" was released as the lead single from Rage Against the Machine in November 1992. It reached number 25 on the UK singles chart. In 2009, following a public campaign protesting the British talent show The X Factor, "Killing in the Name" became the UK Christmas number one.
Writing
The guitarist Tom Morello wrote the riffs while teaching a student drop-D tuning; he briefly paused the lesson to record the riff. The band worked on the song the next day. 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". and played a guitar solo with a Whammy pedal.
Music
"Killing in the Name" combines elements of hardcore punk and hip hop and has been described as rap metal, funk metal, alternative metal, rap rock, hard rock, and nu metal. The journalist Peter Buckley described it as "a howling, expletive-driven tirade against the ills of American society". 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 aggressively screaming the line the final eight times, culminating with the scream "Motherfucker!" The word "fuck" appears in the song 17 times.
The lyrics were inspired by the police brutality suffered by Rodney King and the subsequent 1992 Los Angeles riots. According to BBC News, "Killing in the Name" protests the military–industrial complex, justifying killing for "the chosen whites".
Artwork
The cover of the CD single is a Malcolm Browne 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. The photograph also appears on cover of the eponymous Rage Against the Machine album.
After signing with Epic Records, Rage Against the Machine released their self-titled debut album on November 12, 1992. It was certified triple platinum, driven by heavy radio play of "Killing in the Name".
Complaints
On February 21, 1993, the BBC Radio 1 DJ Bruno Brookes accidentally played the uncensored version of the song on his Top 40 Countdown, leading to 138 complaints. Brookes was recording an advertisement for the following week's Top 40 Countdown while the song played.
Use in political campaigns
In 2012, Morello demanded the right-wing UK Independence Party stop using "Killing in the Name" in rallies. Following the 2020 United States elections, a video of pro-Trump protesters dancing to "Killing in the Name" was widely shared on social media. Commentators saw it as a misappropriation of the song. Rage Against the Machine responded in a tweet: "They just don't GET IT do they?"
In 2022, Reuters Fact Check concluded that a viral video purportedly showing North Korea's military choir covering the song had been digitally altered. Its audio is from a video uploaded to YouTube in 2019 of an event when a thousand musicians gathered to perform the song inside Frankfurt's Waldstadion. The montage of clips of the large choir and footage of the North Korea's military arsenal such as tanks and missiles had been edited together to mislead viewers.
2009 UK Christmas number one campaign
In early December 2009, the English DJ Jon Morter and his wife Tracy launched a group on Facebook encouraging people to buy the song in the week before Christmas. They hoped to prevent the winner of The X Factor, a televised singing competition, from achieving the UK Christmas number one for the fifth year running. On December 15,<!-- DO NOT UPDATE --> the BBC reported the group had more than 750,000<!-- DO NOT UPDATE --> members.
As the X Factor song was donating some of the profits to charity, the group gained more attention and was mentioned on various UK news channels, radio stations and websites. Rage Against the Machine added their support. Morello said that achieving the Christmas number one would be "a wonderful dose of anarchy" and that he planned to donate the unexpected windfall to charity. Dave Grohl, Muse, Them Crooked Vultures, Liam Howlett and the Prodigy were among many<!-- not hyperbole, see references --> musicians and celebrities supporting the campaign.<!-- See Talk. Try to mention only most prominent supporters among many --> The campaign received support from Paul McCartney, who had appeared on The X Factor with the finalists, and the X Factor contestants Jedward. Critics noted that both The X Factor and Rage Against the Machine are signed to labels that are part of Sony BMG; Morello dismissed conspiracy claims as ridiculous. Kasabian's Tom Meighan and Sergio Pizzorno expressed their happiness at the campaign's success in an NME interview and criticized The X Factor.
Rage Against the Machine attracted controversy when they performed an uncensored rendition of the song on BBC Radio 5 Live in mid-December 2009, despite the hosts asking them to censor the expletives. During the crescendo of their performance, frontman Zack De La Rocha started out only singing "I won't do what you tell me", with a pause where he normally sings "fuck you", but after a few lines, he screamed the lyrics, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" repeatedly. Hosts Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogarty apologized afterwards.
On December 20, 2009, BBC Radio 1 revealed that the song had reached the number one spot, selling more than 500,000 copies and being the first download-only single to become the UK Christmas number one. The following week, Joe McElderry's cover of "The Climb" became the last British UK number one single of the year and the 2000s. "Killing in the Name" dropped to number two, falling 38 places to number 40 the week after, and dropping out of the top 75 the following week, falling to number 100.
The campaign spread to Ireland, where, like the UK, the Christmas number one had been dominated by X Factor finalists for five years. McElderry beat Rage Against the Machine to Christmas number one, with Rage Against the Machine reaching number two. On June 6, 2010, Rage Against the Machine performed at a free concert for 40,000 fans in Finsbury Park. On stage, Tracy and Jon Morter were handed a representative cheque in the amount of £162,713.03, representing the proceeds from donations to JustGiving and royalties from sales of the single. As a result of the campaign, the song is featured in the 2011 UK edition of the Guinness World Records under the category of 'Fastest-selling digital track (UK)', after recording 502,672 downloads in its first week.
Music video
The video, produced and directed by Peter Gideon, a guitar student of Tom Morello who had a video camera, was filmed during two shows in small Los Angeles venues, the Whisky a Go Go and the Club With No Name. Released in December 1992, the uncensored version of the video clip was shown on European MTV but was banned on American MTV because of the explicit lyrics. As a result, the video's existence was in doubt until its release on Rage Against the Machine: The Video. The video features anti-racist activist Tim Wise and contains footage of an interview with Zack de la Rocha, who says that capitalist society "should not stand. It should be challenged and questioned and overthrown."
Legacy
In July 2009, "Killing in the Name" was voted at number two in the Hottest 100 of all time countdown poll, conducted by Australian radio station Triple J. More than half a million votes were cast.
In 2002, Rolling Stone magazine listed "Killing in the Name" as the 24th in its 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time and as the 207th in its "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In March 2023, they ranked "Killing in the Name" at number 38 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list.
In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as number 12 on their list of the "Top 20 Political Songs" as voted for by the Political Studies Association.
In 2010, 2011, and 2012, The Rock radio station in New Zealand held the Rock 1,000 countdown which counts down the top 1,000 rock songs of all time, as voted by the public; in 2010 and 2011, the song was in the top five, while in 2012, the song was number seven. In 2011 and 2012, "Killing in the Name" was played uncensored, with a preceding message from the prime minister, John Key, approving the playing of the uncensored version of the song due to the large number of complaints received by MediaWorks New Zealand regarding the 2010 countdown not giving any warning that the song was uncensored. In 2017, "Killing in the Name" made it to number 1 in the Rock 1500 and was presented by long serving broadcaster Roger Farrelly.
In 2021, the UK Official Charts Company announced that "Killing in the Name" had been named as the 'UK's Favourite Christmas Number 1 of All Time' in a poll commissioned to celebrate the 70th Official Christmas Number 1 race (and as a tie-in with the book The Official Christmas No. 1 Singles Book by Michael Mulligan).
Screen Rant named it as the 9th-best nu metal track of all time, saying "One of the earliest songs released that fits into the world of nu-metal's original songs, 'Killing in the Name' [...] set an early standard. [...] The song was a revolutionary song in the movement that fused rap and metal."
Live performances
thumb|250px|[[Rage Against the Machine burning the American flag onstage while playing "Killing in the Name" during Woodstock 1999.]]
The song was performed as an extended instrumental at their first public performance at Cal State Northridge, on October 23, 1991.
Zack de la Rocha sometimes changed the lyrics in the second verse from "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses" to "Some of those that burn crosses are the same that hold office" when playing live.
As part of supergroup Audioslave, guitarist Tom Morello incorporated instrumentals from Rage Against the Machine including versions of "Killing in the Name" into their performances.
Rage Against the Machine performed the song live in 1999 at the Woodstock '99 festival, burning the American flag during the song. In this performance, de la Rocha changed the lyrics to "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn churches".
On January 30, 2026, at the Minneapolis Concert of Solidarity and Resistance to Defend Minnesota, Tom Morello performed "Killing in the Name" at First Avenue. The concert was held in solidarity with the Minneapolis, Twin Cities, and greater Minnesota communities defending their neighbors and protesting against federal immigration actions. Bruce Springsteen joined the concert with the live debut of The Streets of Minneapolis, followed by Morello joining Springsteen on "The Ghost of Tom Joad". The concert was held midday, before the protest march being held that afternoon in Minneapolis.
Track listing
"Darkness of Greed" and "Clear the Lane" were re-mastered versions of the respective demo tracks. Another version of "Darkness of Greed", titled merely "Darkness", was included on the 1994 soundtrack album for The Crow. The previously unreleased demo appeared on the XX 20th Anniversary Edition of their debut album, which was released on November 27, 2012.
Personnel
- Zack de la Rocha – vocals
- Tom Morello – guitar
- Tim Commerford – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Brad Wilk – drums, percussion
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (1993)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)
| 90
|-
!scope="row"|Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)
| 16
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (2009–2010)
!Peak<br>position
|-
!scope="row"| Euro Digital Song Sales (Billboard)
| 1
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (2013)
!Peak<br>position
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (2019)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (1993)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"| Australia (ARIA)
| 25
|-
!scope="row"| New Zealand (RIANZ)
| 32
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Single Top 100)
|78
|}
Decade-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (2000–2009)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|UK Top 100 Songs of the Decade
| 36
|}
All-time charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Chart
! Position
|-
!scope="row"| UK Download Chart (All Time)
| 79
|}