Killing in the Name

Tom Morello wrote the central riff of "Killing in the Name" while teaching a guitar student drop-D tuning, briefly pausing the lesson to record the idea. Rage Against the Machine worked on the song the next day, and Morello later described it as a collaborative effort combining his riff with Tim Commerford's "magmalike" bass, Brad Wilk's "funky, brutal" drumming, and Zack de la Rocha's conviction. He recorded his part on a Fender Telecaster and played the solo through a Whammy pedal. The track appeared on the band's self-titled debut album in 1992 and was serviced to US radio that October as its first single.

The song pairs heavy drop-D riffs with elements of hardcore punk and hip hop, and has been described as rap metal, funk metal, alternative metal, and hard rock. Its refrain "some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses" draws a link between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Ku Klux Klan. The word "fuck" appears 17 times, and de la Rocha screams the closing line before finishing with a final expletive. The CD single's cover used Malcolm Browne's photograph of Thích Quảng Đức's 1963 self-immolation in Saigon, the same image that appeared on the album.

In December 2009, a Facebook campaign launched by Jon and Tracy Morter pushed the song to the UK Christmas number one, blocking the winner of The X Factor from the spot for the first time in five years. It sold more than 500,000 copies that week and became the first download-only single to hold the position. When the band performed it uncensored on BBC Radio 5 Live that same month, hosts Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogarty apologized afterwards.