Song · Rage Against the Machine
“No Shelter” by Rage Against the Machine
From the album The Battle of Los Angeles (1999)
“No Shelter” by Rage Against the Machine appears on 26 radio countdowns from 14 stations between 1998 and 2023. It was first released in 1999 on the album The Battle of Los Angeles. Its best result is #13 on The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 1998. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #36 alternative song of 1998, #1,957 alternative song of all time and #174 of the '90s.
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"No Shelter" first turned up in 1998 on the Godzilla soundtrack, and Rage Against the Machine used the blockbuster's own platform to bite the hand that fed them, even taking a swipe at the monster movie itself as a distraction from the real villains. The next year it resurfaced as a bonus track on Australian and Japanese pressings of The Battle of Los Angeles.
Zack de la Rocha's target is the media machine that keeps people looking the wrong way: he goes after hollow teenage consumer rebellion, name-checks Nike and Coca-Cola, and takes aim at the history Steven Spielberg's Amistad got wrong. Brendan O'Brien produced and mixed with the band, and Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk lock into a lurching, siren-wailing groove underneath. Its first live airing came on January 23, 1999, when the band sprang an unannounced gig on the Troubadour in West Hollywood.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 27 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1998 | 107 |
| 1998 | 23 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1998 | 91 |
| 1998 | 20 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1998 | 106 |
| 1998 | 65 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1998 | 100 |
| 1998 | 59 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 101.7 Songs of 1998 | 102 |
| 1998 | 57 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 1998 | 107 |
| 1998 | 13 | The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC | The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 1998 | 100 |
| 1998 | 29 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 1998 | 98 |
| 1998 | 100 | DC101 Washington, D.C. | DC101 Top 101 Songs of 1998 | 101 |
| 1998 | 66 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1998 | 100 |
| 1999 | 23 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92 Songs of 1999 | 92 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 101 | KROQ | KROQ Top 300 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 1999) | 300 |
| 1999 | 186 | WHFS | WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 145 | 91X | 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 254 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 2001 | 392 | WBRU | WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) | 500 |
| 2002 | 926 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
| 2004 | 246 | 107.7 The End | The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) | 500 |
| 2006 | 407 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006) | 500 |
| 2006 | 235 | Live 105 | Live 105 500 Co-Op Countdown (Memorial Day 2006) | 500 |
| 2007 | 172 | KROQ | KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) | 500 |
| 2008 | 374 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2008) | 500 |
| 2020 | 255 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) | 420 |
| 2021 | 265 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) | 420 |
| 2022 | 267 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) | 420 |
| 2023 | 289 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) | 420 |
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