Ongoing History: Rage Against the Machine’s wild SNL appearance

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the one-and-only time Rage Against the Machine was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

On April 13, 1996, the group showed up at NBC in New York a few days ahead of the release of their Evil Empire album. A lot of fans tuned in to see what they’d do. They were not disappointed.

First, they insisted on hanging an American flag upside down during their performance of “Bulls on Parade,” which angered a lot of people on staff. Then, bass player Tim Commerford had a backstage confrontation with presidential candidate Steve Forbes and his family. Cue the Secret Service, which ejected Rage from the building. They never got a chance to play their second song and were permanently banned from ever playing SNL again.

Good press. Evil Empire debuted at number one on the charts the following week.