The Rock’n’roll Activist: Nine albums by Tom Morello you should listen to... and one you should ignore

Tom Morello standing against a brick wall holding a guitar

(Image credit: Eitan Miskevich)

You tend to hear Tom Morello before you see him. One of the best compliments you could pay the inimitable guitarist is that you can’t always say whether you’re listening to someone playing a guitar, or some computerised trickery creating otherworldly sounds. His towering, iconic riffs are perfectly weighted with whammy-bar wizardry, dazzling divebombs and unmistakable lead breaks – all of it inherently Morello.

Born in Harlem, New York City in 1964, Thomas Baptist Morello is best known for his time with game-changing, politically motivated rap-rockers Rage Against The Machine, but his storied career and contributions to rock at large are huge. Together with vocalist Zack de la Rocha, drummer Brad Wilk and bass player Tim Commerford, Morello manifested his political beliefs and rock’n’roll activism in the form of the now legendary RATM. Their formidable form during the 90s made them one of the decade’s defining bands. But they weren’t built for longevity, and split for the first time in 2000.

In 2009, their 1992 single Killing In The Name, so potent in its message of defiance, inexplicably became the UK’s Christmas No.1, after a guerilla social-media campaign protesting against The X Factor’s festive dominance with crap ballads. It sold a record-breaking half a million downloads, and made a ton of money for charity.

Minus de la Rocha, Morello’s second stab at the upper echelons of rock came soon after with Audioslave, featuring ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell. Morello also featured as a boss alongside Slash in the videogame Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock. (Bravo if you managed to get past A.I Tom on expert mode.)

In recent years – without a long-term band – Morello has advanced his own brand, releasing several diverse solo albums and stamping his trademark sound on a growing number of high-profile collaborations. He was even a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band for a time. In 2023 he featured on tracks by both Måneskin and Babymetal. Last summer he released a song with Def Leppard, and this year he'll be directing the music at Black Sabbath's Back To The Beginning show.

Despite reunions, the most recent in 2019, RATM rumours have continued to percolate, although Brad Wilk suggested earlier in 2024 that the band is over for good. Now 60, whatever Tom Morello does (or doesn’t do), his legacy as a trailblazing guitar phenomenon is assured.

Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (Epic, 1992)

Explosive. Electrifying. Revolutionary. We could throw plenty more superlatives at RATM’s debut and still fall short of illustrating its generational power. It’s one of those rare, near-flawless albums that plays like a ‘greatest hits’ collection. To a backdrop of searing sociopolitical commentary, never had rap and heavy rock been merged with such purpose and intensity, the likes of Know Your Enemy, Freedom, Bombtrack and Killing In The Name all blazing with singer Zack de la Rocha’s incendiary lyrics and Morello’s giant, propulsive riffs. A once-in-a-lifetime album.

Audioslave - Audioslave (Epic/Interscope, 2002)

Timing is everything in music. By 2001, RATM and Soundgarden had split, leaving Morello, Cornell and co. in limbo. Enter Audioslave with their blockbuster self-titled debut, brilliantly blending the alchemy of both bands. Cochise, with its famously climactic opening, is rightly the band’s biggest song. Set It Off is as gloriously pissed off as Rage’s best. And it’s fascinating to hear Morello’s guitars shimmer alongside Cornell on the pensive Like A Stone. A supergroup’s DNA is almost pre-programmed to make a big noise and evaporate as quickly as they began, but Audioslave remains a powerful show of how thrilling hard rock can be.

Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire (Epic, 1996)

It isn’t an exact science, but there is truth to the notion that some of the best music is born from tension. Explaining the gap between RATM albums, Morello once revealed that it took a while for everyone to be singing from the same creative hymn sheet. The by-product is Evil Empire’s greater hip-hop influence, without losing any of the band’s fiery edge. De la Rocha is in the form of his life on Vietnow, and Bulls On Parade is a bona fide classic – Morello’s colossal, stop-start riff one of his greatest guitar parts. That dreaded second album slump didn’t exist in Rage’s universe.

Rage Against The Machine - The Battle Of Los Angeles (Epic, 1999)

RATM’s third might have lacked the gut-punching ferocity of its predecessors, but The Battle Of Los Angeles still found the band in excellent form. And although they’d established themselves as a major act, no amount of mainstream attention was about to dilute their visceral rap rock. Testify, taking aim at the media with Orwellian motifs, and Grammy-winning single Guerrilla Radio are trademark fists-in-the-sky Rage. Sleep Now In The Fire is best known for its music video. “No matter what happens, don’t stop playing,” director Michael Moore instructed. Rage on.

Audioslave - Out Of Exile (Epic/Interscope, 2005)

If detractors thought they had Audioslave sussed as ‘Rage without the rapper’, the band’s second album all but squashed such sentiment. Out Of Exile didn’t veer too much from the formula of their debut, but it did display greater dynamism and introspection, with Doesn’t Remind Me – featuring Morello’s stunning but unnecessary guitar solo – lead single Be Yourself (basically Like A Stone’s spiritual successor) and anthemic opener Your Time Has Come leaning into the masterly rhythm section that set RATM apart. A quality album, it marked Audioslave’s true introduction as a singular entity

Tom Morello - The Atlas Underground Fire (Mom + Pop Music, 2021)

Having a unique and identifiable sound like Morello’s lends itself well to collaborative work. And on this, his guest-packed, genre-hopping solo record, it’s Tom calling in the favours. The War Inside, featuring country star Chris Stapleton, is charming, with typically sparkling guitars from Morello; Bring Me The Horizon and Morello are a match made in heaven on electro stomper Let’s Get The Party Started; The Achilles List with Damian Marley goes even harder. This album has plenty of the Morello we know and love, but here he showed he could evolve and move with the times.

Audioslave - Revelations (Epic/Interscope, 2006)

Audioslave’s second album in the space of a year was also their last. Which is a shame, because they introduced fresh elements on Revelations. Morello’s “Led Zeppelin-meets-Earth, Wind And Fire” description was a stretch, but One And The Same’s irresistible, wah-wah-soaked funk-rock is quite the departure for the man who sang Jesus Christ Pose. Somedays is quintessential Audioslave, with added sonic citrus (and congas), while captivating closer Moth builds around a doomy riff. Weeks after RATM announced a reunion performance at Coachella 2007, Cornell would leave the band, citing musical and personality conflicts.

Street Sweeper Social Club - Street Sweeper Social Club (Warner Music Group, 2009)

After Audioslave’s break-up came some of Morello’s most underrated work of his career. The guitarist collaborated with activist rapper Raymond ‘Boots’ Riley on their first and only album as Street Sweeper Social Club, merging rap-rock angst and West Coast hip-hop. Snappy single Promenade could be funky Rage fronted by Pharrell Williams – routinely glorious Morello playing included. Fight! Smash! Win! and The Squeeze sound like two of the best B-sides Rage never released. There’s an obvious pattern here, but SSSC, at their best, are a playful, admirable nod to Morello’s greatest band.

Prophets Of Rage - Prophets Of Rage (Fantasy, 2017)

While the subsequent Atlas Underground albums were about Morello showcasing his dynamism, Prophets Of Rage were all about nostalgia. Morello and fellow Rage/Audioslave alumni Wilk and Commerford formed the short-lived group together with <a href="https://www.loudersound.com/features/every-public-enemy-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best">Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord, and <a href="https://www.loudersound.com/features/every-cypress-hill-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best">Cypress Hill’s B-Real. Having talked up being “the soundtrack of resistance” and “an elite task force of revolutionary musicians”, Prophets Of Rage benefited from the more combustible nature of its members’ earlier work, and the rap-rock collective’s chemistry is undeniable. This is a more-than-decent project.

...and one to avoid

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The Nightwatchman - One Man Revolution (Epic, 2007)

Really, any of the three albums Morello released as The Nightwatchman – his political folk alter ego – could have landed here, but the first, One Man Revolution, is just about the most insipid. These 13 songs are essentially Morello armed with acoustic guitar, occasional harmonica and quasi-<a href="https://www.loudersound.com/features/bob-dylan-best-albums">Bob Dylan baritone. Po-faced and overly earnest to the point of parody, pick any song at random and a Dewey Cox impression will fit in seamlessly. Lyrically, Morello takes aim at Bush’s America and all the usual Bad Guys, but with the act of protest at heart it’s more likely to send his autocratic targets to sleep.