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Renegades
EMAILPRINTby Rage Against The Machine
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 28 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Epic
Release Date: 05 December 2000
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly
The group's relatively unheralded musicians (guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk) have developed into such a nimble and cohesive unit that they'd sound pretty exciting even without someone spewing rapid fire invective over their grooves.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
As could be expected, the set works best when the group focuses on material from its most recent forebears: rappers and hardcore bands.
Read Full Review >Billboard
A feisty set of primarily thrash-hop covers of socially and politically charged hip-hop, pop, rock, and punk jams.
Read Full Review >Mojo
This crisp, Rick Rubin-produced outing packs away a machine that was well-oiled to the last. [Jan. 2001, p.107]
Alternative Press
A tour through three decades of sonic recalcitrance, Renegades is the genome map of seditious sound. [#151, p.90]
Rolling Stone
Not only do Rage understand the sweep of rock and rap history, but they had bold and unusual ways of tearing that history up.
Read Full Review >Spin
It's a kick to hear them hoist the MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" as a sexy freak flag and drop an honest-to-God fresh conga break into Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk." [2/2001, p.106]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
By definition, it's not essential: Many of the originals (Minor Threat's "In My Eyes," MC5's "Kick Out The Jams," Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," and so on) were for all intents and purposes perfect, making Rage-style covers seem like little more than curiosities. It's at its best during its more radical reworkings, from hip-hop songs (Eric B & Rakim's "Microphone Fiend," Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill A Man") to an uncharacteristically soft-spoken Devo cover ("Beautiful World").
Read Full Review >Dot Music
Renegades' is a formidable parting shot. A Rick Rubin-produced collection of 12 cover versions selected to show the breadth of Rage's influences, it's an object lesson in being both inspired by musical history and remoulding it in your own shape.
Read Full Review >CDNow
De la Rocha's rabid diatribes occasionally go overboard, particularly on the tracks (Eric B & Rakim's "Microphone Fiend" and Minor Threat's "In My Eyes," for example) that feed into the band's sometimes one-dimensional rap-metal groove. But when the band steps out of character -- as it does during its rudimentary take on MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" or its pacific reading of "Beautiful World" -- the results can seem truly transcendent.
Read Full Review >Select
Renegades is Rage's most satisfying record since their debut. [Jan 2001, p.104]
Sonicnet
From a pounding rendition of "Pistol Grip Pump" by West Coast hip-hoppers Volume 10, to a snarling, grunged-up assault on Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm", singer Zack de la Rocha and company deliver atomic thrills with revolutionary fervor. Still, anyone hungry for new insights into this uniquely righteous band, or looking for evidence of risk-taking, may feel shortchanged.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Those lying closest to their own unsubtle ouevre, ie the Minor Threat and Cypress Hill tracks, are as crunching as die-hards could hope for. But the arch sneer of The Rolling Stones' Street Fighting Man and Bob Dylan's Maggie's Farm are predictably reduced to chalkboard lessons in "angry".
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
David gave it a10:
Just a great album by a legendary band! What I love about this album is how Rage was able to cover songs that originally were not from the same genre which makes this album by far is the most experimental and unique record that they've ever released. Personally, I think this is their second best album next to their self-titled debut.
JayDee gave it a9:
Quality, i just cant get enough of the funky beats mixed with meaningful lyrics, Morello and Commerford is like a match made in heaven.
Adrian R gave it a9:
If there's one thing that comes out loud and clear in Rage's music, it's that they aren't politicaly driven by any clear ideology, and they aren't a capitalist device for brainwashing impessionable youth like I've heard some ppl say. Renegades proves they're just a massively talented group of core rockers who like to challenge the status quo. It's about not being satisfied with mediocrity and apathy. Somehow they don't quite come full circle or prove a definative statement, but they do provide some unreal headbangers to enjoy regardless of your social beliefs or situation.
Jim H gave it a9:
There are missteps here (covering the Stones' Streetfightin' Man, for example) but there are many remakes here that are superior reimaginings ("Tom Joad," "How I Could Just Kill A Man," the title track, a handful of others). Morello is at his peak here; he never was better nor has he been better since.
Rob J gave it a10:
Awesome album, the songs are done better than the originals!
Walla gave it a10:
The kick ass tribute album we have all been waiting for. The adapted music is amazing and Zack de La Rocha is better than ever.
Mike P gave it a10:
I honestly think that RAGe dida fantastic job with this album. Hearing the originals just wont cut it for me anymore. Every song that Rage covers is excellent. At first i was upset that they didn't write any new songs but then after listening to the album over and over again i became more and more aware of the fact that turn classic songs into something differant (and in my opion better) is much cooler. The only sad thing about Rage is that they no longer exist but they will always be my favorite band to play at any occasion.
