Rage Against The Machine was a very early member of the whole Rap/Rock/Hip-Hop/Metal combination movement. They had drums and distorted guitars, but they also had rapping and funky bass.
I wouldn't call this Nu-Metal (i.e. Korn, Limp Bizkit, Motograter, Coal Chamber, etc.), but it was definitely early in the era of it. Let's say the fathers of it? Eh, I don't really care that much, but it's a good thing to know that these guys were part of the good era of that music.
Another actually really cool thing to know about them is that their album "Rage Against The Machine" is considered by many audiophiles to be perfectly (or near perfectly) mixed. One guy told me once that this song, "Bombtrack" is what he always uses to test how well new speakers will handle music in a metal capacity. I find this to be really cool since I'm sure that when RAtM started they never thought their music would be used in that way. Anti-Political rallies maybe, but never as "perfect" testing music.
Also, note the edgy album cover. This is a picture of Thích Quảng Đức who burned himself alive in protest of the way that the south Vietnamese government treated Buddhist monks. During the demonstration he never moved a muscle or said a word.
I would say that using such a moving and significant moment as a mere album picture is saying a lot about what you think you music stands for.
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