Tim Commerford

Timothy Bob Commerford (born February 26, 1968, in Irvine, California) is an American musician best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of Rage Against the Machine. He is also a founding member of Audioslave and a former member of the supergroup Prophets of Rage. Commerford has been a member of all three bands alongside guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk.

Commerford is a childhood friend of Rage Against the Machine vocalist Zack de la Rocha, who brought him into the band during its formation in Los Angeles in 1991.^[1]

Early life

Commerford was born and raised in Southern California. He and Zack de la Rocha became close friends during childhood, a relationship that would later prove decisive for the formation of Rage Against the Machine.^[1]

Rage Against the Machine

More details: Rage Against the Machine

When Tom Morello and Zack de la Rocha began forming a band in Los Angeles in 1991, de la Rocha brought in Commerford as bassist and Morello recruited drummer Brad Wilk.^[1] The resulting four-piece adopted a strict rule against the use of samples, keyboards, or synthesizers — all sounds were to be produced exclusively by guitar, bass, drums, and voice.^[2] This constraint placed particular weight on the rhythm section, with Commerford's bass lines forming a central part of the band's aggressive, funk-influenced sound.

The band released four studio albums on Epic Records: Rage Against the Machine (1992), Evil Empire (1996), The Battle of Los Angeles (1999), and Renegades (2000). The Battle of Los Angeles debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The band sold over 16 million records in total.^[3]

Rage Against the Machine disbanded in October 2000. They reunited in 2007 for a headline appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, their first concert in nearly seven years.^[4] A second reunion was announced in November 2019^[5] and, after pandemic-related delays, the tour launched in July 2022.^[6] During the 2022 tour, de la Rocha ruptured his Achilles tendon at the second show; the band completed the first leg of the tour before cancelling European dates.^[7] On January 3, 2024, Wilk announced on social media that the band would not tour or perform again.^[8]

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2023. Commerford did not attend the induction ceremony, held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn — Morello was the only member present.^[9]

Audioslave (2001–2007)

Following Rage Against the Machine's first breakup in 2000, Commerford, Morello, and Wilk formed Audioslave with Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell. The group released three Top Ten albums between 2002 and 2006 before dissolving.^[10] Cornell died by suicide in May 2017.

Prophets of Rage (2016–2019)

In 2016, Commerford joined Morello and Wilk in forming the supergroup Prophets of Rage alongside Public Enemy's Chuck D and DJ Lord and Cypress Hill's B-Real.^[11] The band performed material drawn from the catalogues of all three source acts, and released a self-titled studio album in 2017. Prophets of Rage disbanded in 2019 when Rage Against the Machine announced their second reunion.^[10]