The guitarist Tom Morello wrote the riffs while teaching a student drop D tuning; he briefly paused the lesson to record the riff. The band worked on the song the next day. According to … See more

"Killing in the Name" combines elements of punk and hip hop and has been described as alternative metal, rap metal, rap rock, hard rock, and nu metal. The journalist Peter Buckley described it as "a howling, expletive-driven tirade against the ills of American … See more

"Killing in the Name" was released as part of a 12-song self-released cassette. The first video for "Killing in the Name" did not receive heavy airplay in the United States due to the explicit … See more

In early December 2009, the English DJ Jon Morter and his wife Tracy launched a group on the social networking site Facebook encouraging people to buy the song in the week … See more

The cover of the CD single is Malcolm Browne's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation in Saigon in 1963 in protest of the murder of … See more

In 2012, Morello demanded the right-wing UK Independence Party stop using "Killing in the Name" in rallies. Following the 2020 United States elections, a video of pro-Trump protesters dancing to "Killing in the Name" was widely shared on social media. Commentators saw … See more

The video, produced and directed by Peter Gideon, a guitar student of Tom Morello who had a video camera, was filmed during two shows in small Los Angeles venues, the Whisky a Go Go and the Club With No Name. Released in December 1992, the … See more