The name of the band as seen in the album cover above is Rage Against The Machine (RATM). The album shares the same name of the band and is their debut effort. The record was released on November 10th 1992, being distributed by the record label Epic. The album was received highly positively from critics and fans alike and has been certified Platinum in countries all around the world including the United States and United Kingdom.
The typography of this cover is simple, displaying the band (and therefore the album’s name) in lower case letters across the bottom of the cover. The black backgrounds on which the words are written seem to be uneven, with the black background for the word “against” being slightly out of line with the other three background labels. The album shares its title with the band name, and as implied in said title, the band’s music is very politically charged, as well as being generally having a very hard and loud musical style, and indeed the genre of the band is rap-metal, although they have also been described as alternative metal. The name “Machine” has several connotations in the context of the band, all of them similar. The “machine” could be an attack on the state or government, often seen as operating as a machine, without empathy, thought etc. It could also be an attack at society for being robotic so to speak in following the government/state. Finally the word could also be a criticism of capitalism. All of these aspects work together to heighten and get across to a prospective listener the type of music that RATM make. However the biggest indication for the genre of music of a band typically comes from the picture or artwork emblazoned on the front of the record, and this too is the case for RATM. The cover shows the world famous picture of Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist Vietnamese monk burning himself to death in protest of the authoritarian regime in his homeland, at the time South Vietnam. This perfectly illustrates the genre of music and the political content typical for RATM, especially in terms of their criticism of the American political system, as hinted through the album cover, as the oppressive South Vietnamese regime at the time was backed by the US. This was probably chosen not just for how historic and well known the picture is but as mentioned, for its political connotations as well as the fact that it relates to the band’s grievances in a very dramatic manner. The specific picture used is an extreme close up of Thich as he burnt to death to convey to the audience the horror and reality of this event.
Overall, all of these aspects come together well to convey to the reader the politically charged rap metal music of RATM, and is clearly designed to appeal to those interested in metal music, but more specifically, those who hold similar political beliefs and are interested in political music as a form of expression.
