SPIN's top 90 albums of the 90s

The only self-proclaimed Marxist band to shake MTV in a mostly complacent decade, Rage Against the Machine blindsided the whorl with a rap-rock hybrid that addressed subjects weightier than babes and beer.� Fueled by frontman Zack de la Rocha's furious rhymes and Tom Morello's scratchy guitar, their 1992 debut was a blisteringly conscious wake-up call that inspired dozens of genre-crossing offspring.

"The goal of the first record was to document our experimentation with hip-hop and punk, but also to destroy the boundaries between art and politics," says de la Rocha.� "This had� been done before, but the greed and indifference of the Reagan '80s� had spilled over into the '90s.� Given that climate, Rage wasn't supposed to be popular."

But after incessant touring and a high-profile opening slot on 1993's Lollapalooza, the Los Angeles band made baggy-panted fans used to Jane's Addiction and Dr. Dre stop to consider the world outside the mosh pit (raising issues like America's treatment of its poor and the Chinese occupation of Tibet).� "I was inspired by the conviction behind the music and the sincerity behind the lyrics,: says Deftones singer Chino Moreno.� "it's not like they were the first band [to mix hard rock and rap], but they were the first to do it right."