Recall when Rage Against The Machine boycotted Limp Bizkit at an awards show

What madness was the music industry -mainly in the rock scene- still in the early 2000s. At that time, the delivery of the MTV Video Music Awards It was one of the most anticipated events by all and if things got half intense, there would be some controversy to feed the curiosity of the public and the press … This happened with Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit.

It’s time to take a nostalgic two-thousand look at that moment when the RATM bassist, Tim commerford, tried to boycott the gang led by Fred durst during the first ceremony of the new millennium, for the pure desire to remember the old days.

Rap-metal with Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit

The second half of the 90’s saw the popularity of musical genres grow is like the nu metal and rock with rap overtones within an important sector of the audiences. As he emphasizes Loudwire, the foundations had already been laid years ago Faith No More or even the Red Hot Chili Peppers themselves, but the panorama towards the then new times had to fall on other bands.

Heading into the 1999-2000 period, there were two groups that were undoubtedly breaking it: Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit. The combo led by Zack De La Rocha at that time was touring the world with the album The Battle of Los Angeles while Fred Durst’s did the same with Significant Other.

And although both groups based their proposal on the influence of rap within rock, of course, they walked on different slopes: RATM always used his music as a vehicle of protest Regarding issues of social interest and Limp Bizkit, well, they didn’t have a lyrical theme or an ideological concept that distinguished them a lot from other bands, although they liked it -especially Durst- vlook like the ‘cool bad boys’ of the scene, something that worked for them to sell and that also attracted criticism.

Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit. Photo: Getty

Anyway, a slight but interesting clash was coming on the horizon that would take place at the ceremony of the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.

You can also read: LET’S REMEMBER WHEN ZACK DE LA ROCHA PERFORMED WITH DAVE GROHL AND HIS OLD BAND

The 2000 MTV Video Music Awards

It arrived on September 7 of that year and both Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit competed in the VMAs within the category for Best Rock Video. RATM were nominated by “Sleep Now in the Fire”, clip directed by legendary filmmaker Michael Moore showing the band performing outside Wall Street, with police trying to stop them and euphoric audiences forcing security to shut down the world’s largest stock exchange building.

For their part, Limp Bizkit were in the shortlist competing with “Break Stuff”, a video where they are seen playing in a winery, with sequences of people having fun with them at a kind of party and with cameos from celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jonathan Davis from Korn, Roger Daltrey from The Who, Ba Margera and more.

Tim Commerford at the 2000 VMAs. Photo: Getty

And it was time to meet the winner. The band led by Fred Durst got the recognition, but the moment they went to collect the award, someone else came up to the stage. It was about Tim commerford, the bassist of Rage Against the Machine, who immediately climbed one of the set structures and stayed for several minutes there until he began to move it with more energy.

The tension was felt and in order not to make the moment so uncomfortable, Durst began to joke about what was happening saying things like “This guy is very rocker. He should have won the award … Is a [email protected] because it won’t jump from there “. Immediately afterwards, Commerford went downstairs, was arrested by the police and, incidentally, was detained for one night. Then we leave you the action.

What happened next with Rage Against the Machine?

A month after the delivery of those controversial Video Music Awards, Zach De La Rocha announced his departure from the group. “I feel that now it is necessary to leave Rage because our decision-making process has completely failed… It no longer fulfills the aspirations of the four collectively as a band and, from my perspective, has undermined our artistic and political ideal. “mentioned the vocalist in a release.

Could it have been the Commerford action that triggered everything? This was never revealed or confirmed, but it is known that both Zack and Tom Morello had asked Tom not to do what he did that night. Hence, various fans and the press have speculated quite a bit, of course.

For his part, the bass player has said on previous occasions that he did all this with conviction without a doubt. “It may have seemed stupid at the time … [‘Testify’ y ‘Sleep Now In The Fire’] I think they are the best rock videos ever made and they have inspired me to this day … We were up against Limp Bizkit, one of the dumbest bands in music history“Commerford mentioned in an interview for ESPN Radio. Much hostility. Or what do you think?

Rage Against The Machine. Photo: Getty