“People of the Sun” is the second single by the American band Rage Against The Machine for their 1996 album Evil Empire. The song is about the Zapatista revolution. Lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha wrote the song after a visit to the Chiapas in southern Mexico. The “People of the Sun” video was nominated for a Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy in 1998, but it lost to the Smashing Pumpkins’ “The End is the Beginning is the End”.
The song has a wide variety of references, most notably the destruction of the Aztec empire by the Spanish (see the article Five suns) and the Zoot Suit Riots of Los Angeles in 1943. De La Rocha also refers to the last Aztecan Emperor Cuauhtémoc, who was tortured and eventually executed by the Spaniards.
The single artwork of the corn, sickle and ammunition belt is a 1927 photograph taken by Italian photographer Tina Modotti in Mexico.
The final version of the song made its live début on May 9, 1996, in Paris, France.
