![]() ![]() In hindsight, 1993 had arguably the worst line-up of the festival’s first five years. But more than anything it was a live experience featuring a diverse cast of alternative music’s finest. What Farrell created with Lollapalooza was a world of discovery for its guests. AIDS, censorship, anti-fur, and animal welfare). the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, which featured a genital weightlifter, a lightbulb eater, and a sword swallower), a market that mostly sold Rasta caps, hacky sacks and ponchos, and booths for groups spreading the word about counter-culture and important causes (i.e. There was a side stage for smaller bands, an area for non-musical acts to perform (i.e. ![]() Although it was primarily regarded as a music festival, Farrell imagined Lollapalooza as much more-he wanted it to be like a circus of sorts. By 1993, its name had become synonymous with alternative culture. The travelling music festival had been devised in 1991 as a farewell tour for his band but quickly blossomed into a must-see summer event the following year. Lollapalooza was the brainchild of Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell. We had PMRC, on our chests, each guy had a different letter on his chest.”Īnd so, on July 18, 1993, thousands of Philadelphians witnessed Rage Against the Machine walk out on stage in nothing but their birthday suits. “Our way to do that was to go onstage with our instruments and then just lean them against the amplifiers and let them feed back, and do it all naked. We were like, ‘We shouldn’t play this show, we should protest it.’ We were against that, we thought it sucked. “We went onstage and it was back when Tipper Gore, Al Gore’s wife, had just started the PMRC to spearhead the Parental Advisory stickers that they, to this day, put on records. This was our big moment,” bassist Tim Commerford would tell ESPN’s Dan Le Batard in 2015. It was right when people started to know and like us in America. “We were on the main stage and we were the first band on. But the four band members had something else in mind. So they had a decision to make: either cancel their set, hand over the slot to a band playing the side stage, or attempt to perform with a guest singer (also on the tour was Tool, whose Maynard James Keenan also sang on Rage’s debut album). They were about to play to one of America’s biggest cities, an opportunity most bands in their position would kill for. Being a new band trying to win over audiences that were mostly unfamiliar with their music, Rage couldn’t really afford to cancel their set. ![]()
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