what is the origin of the phrase, "rage against the machine"?

Hello.

Sources indicate that the phrase was coined by musician Zack de la
Rocha in 1989.

Zack de la Rocha apparently came up with the phrase independently and
did not borrow it from anyone else. The phrase was originally intended
as the title of a song for a group called "Inside Out" of which Mr de
la Rocha was a member.

Sources:

"Explanations:
The Name....'Rage Against the Machine':
The actual phrase was the title of an Inside Out song. Inside Out is a
hardcore band on Revelation Records that Zack was in before they broke
up and he formed RATM with Tom Morello. 'Rage Against the Machine' was
the working title for Inside Out's second album, but since they broke
up, it seemed the most suitable name to sum up the band's sound,
politics, and mission." The common question is, then, 'what machine
are they raging against?'. According to Tom Morello, 'The machine can
be anything from the police in L.A. that can tear motorists from their
cars and beat them to a pulp and get away with it, to the state
capitalist machine that tried to make you just a mindless cog and
sortof 'behave' and never confront the system and just look forward to
the weekend and the next six pack of beer.' The machine has come to
mean any form of illegitimate authority that dehumanizes and
degrades."
Source: Musicfanclubs.org: Rage Against the Machine
http://www.musicfanclubs.org/rage/ratmdebut.htm

"Why the name 'Rage Against the Machine'?
It just seemed appropriate for that thing it is that we do. Zack came
up with the name it was originally gonna be the - Zack played in a
hardcore band called Inside Out, and it was originally gonna be the
name of the next Inside Out recordbut it seemed very appropriate for
the kindof music we were playing and the attitude and the politics
that were coming across."
Source: RATM.org: "Interview with Tom Morello at PinkPop 1993"
http://www.ratm.org/info/article/pinkpop.htm

"Zack de la Rocha came up with the name 'Rage Against the Machine'
before the band ever formed, while he was in a California hardcore
band called 'Inside Out'. Inside Out had a song titled 'Rage Against
the Machine', that was also going to be the name of the band's second
record. Instead, the band broke up and never released a second record.
So when Zack met up with Tom Morello and formed a band, 'Rage Against
the Machine' seemed to be the most appropriate band name for the music
and the ideas that were being put across. Tom Morello describes
exactly what 'machine' they are raging against: 'The machine can be
anything from the police in the streets in Los Angeles who can tear
motorists from their car and beat them to a pulp and get away from it,
to the overall international state capitalist machinery that tries to
make you just a mindless cog, and not to think critically and never
confront the system , and to just sortof "behave" and look forward to
the next weekend and next six pack of beer."
source: sannyasin.catus.net, cached by Google
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:W9vTo_6s92IC:sannyasin.catus.net/bio/bio.html+%22rage+against+the+machine%22+%22up+with+the+name%2+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet

"When I came up with the name in, like, 1989-it was actually supposed
to be the title of an Inside Out record [de la Rocha's pre-Rage
hardcore punk group]-I never thought it would have this much weight
associated with to it."
source: sannyasin.catus.net, cached by Google
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:x7sr002BHdcC:sannyasin.catus.net/articles/zack.htm+%22came+up+with+the+name%22+%22rage+against+the+machine%22+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet


Rage Against the Machine's name clearly has a lot to do with its
opposition to the established political system.

The use of the word "machine" as a metaphor for a political system or
group "displaying impressive or ruthless efficiency" dates from the
1800s.

Here's an example from 1888 that's listed in the Oxford English
Dictionary:
"Now there are three Machines in New York; two Democratic, because the
Democratic party..is divided into two factions.., and one Republican."
Source: Oxford English Dictionary

search strategy: "rage against the machine", "up with the name"

I hope this helps.

I have found an alternative answer: That Kent McClard came up with the
name.

McClard says:

"I came up with the name Rage Against The Machine.  It was a phrase
that I wrote for a column in No Answers #9 where I was challenging
hardcore to be a force against corporate capitalism.  I was calling on
a war on the 'industry' of music, and I was calling on all those
involved in hardcore to take control of their lives and strive for
independence from the machine that is our society.  Zach really liked
the phrase, and he wanted to use it as the title of the Inside Out LP.
 I said he could of course.  However, the Inside Out LP never came
out, and Zach instead decided to use the phrase as the name of his new
band."

"Censorship: Kent McClard's Response"
Ebbulition Records
http://www.ebullition.com/censorship.html#7

Another page presents an excerpt from No Answers that contains this
phrase at the end:

"We need a revolution within ourselves.  We need a revolution within
our scene.  We need a revolution.  Do you understand?  Do I
understand?  We need to radically alter the way we conduct our lives. 
We need to change the way we relate to each other.  We need to
rearrange our goals and desires.  The machine must be destroyed.  I
mean it.  It is no joke.  It is no game.  It is no lyric.  It is no
idle threat.  It is a war.  Wage war.  Commit.  Agitate.  Educate. 
Speak.  Act.  Learn.  Disobey.  Rage against the machine."

"Lyrics and background - album: do we speak a dead language?"
downset
http://downset.wise-ass.nl/album2.html

But this does not necessarily invalidate juggler-ga's answer.  In one
of the links in the answer, Zack de la Rocha says that he "came up
with the name".  This could mean that he invented it, or perhaps that
he decided that McClard's phrase would be a good name.  But, as it
stands, it looks like de la Rocha's word versus McClard's.

Thank you, Scott.

McClard's version of events seem plausible, and de la Rocha may indeed
have asked him if he could borrow it.

In any case, it seems clear that de la Rocha's use of the phrase has
been most responsible for popularizing it.