Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello posted a Kurt Cobain quote to attack conservative homophobes and racists.
Smells Like Teen Spirit pic.twitter.com/uFLZk73piG
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) May 5, 2025
Headlined by Jane’s Addiction, Lollapalooza’s first tour in 1991 had a star-studded line-up that also included Siouxsie and the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T & Body Count, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes, and Fishbone.
Having only just released their first album “Pretty Hate Machine,” Trent Reznor and co. were not as well known as they are today, and only received minor billing with an afternoon slot.
But, as Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello recalls in the new book “Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story Of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival” by authors Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour, Nine Inch Nails stole the show.
“That first Lollapalooza? Let’s not mince words: Nine Inch Nails kicked everybody’s *ss,” Morello said. “I never heard of that band. Would unreservedly never buy a cassette that had keyboards on it other than Pink Floyd.”
“And let me say, I went to the LA show, and I ran out the next day to buy ‘Pretty Hate Machine’. They did the thing that concerts are supposed to do – create converts. And I was one.”
Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro also shared a similar sentiment, saying in the book:
“Watching [Nine Inch Nails] on Lollapalooza was one of the most exciting things I’d ever seen, probably up until this day. Here you’ve got this brand-new band, this brand-new sound, and they went on at four in the afternoon, in broad daylight … so every day I was at the venue at four.
“The band would start playing and Trent would come out, and I’m telling you, man, it was like Elvis or The Beatles … you can hear the girls losing their minds. It was like old Beatles footage where you hear the screams and you’re expecting girls to faint out there.”
