Tom Morello: How Taco Bell Factored Into Debut Album Guitar

Sometimes it's the feel of the instrument or how you can achieve a certain sound, but most musicians have a reason for choosing what particular instrument they play. For Tom Morello, his guitar of choice for overdubs on Rage Against the Machine's debut album came for a different reason.

In an Instagram post, Morello spoke of pulling out one of his old guitars recently to play some music in the studio. He then revealed the history behind the guitar, which dates back to Rage Against the Machine's self-titled debut album.

"In the studio with this old friend yesterday," started Morello. "Bought this guitar in 1992 from West LA Music. After borrowing an engineer’s Les Paul to do overdubs on the 'Bullet in the Head' demo I decided I needed my own Les Paul. Why did I choose this one? Because it was the color of Taco Bell hot sauce, a staple food group of mine at the time."

Given that it's a Les Paul, there are also probably more musical reasons Morello liked the instrument as well beyond the color, but it does definitely draw the eye (and might even make you hungry for some tacos now that you know the connection).

The guitarist added, "It became my principal overdub guitar and is heard on 'Killing in the Name,' 'Freedom,' 'Township Rebellion' and many others, backing up my tele. Still sounds great."

Morello has been dropping some nuggets on Rage Against the Machine's breakout debut album of late. In a Rolling Stone Music Now interview recently, he explained how Tool's Maynard James Keenan inspired the hugely popular "Killing in the Name" riff.

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