Rage Against the Machine’s Brad Wilk Undergoes Second Knee Surgery of 2021

Making sure we've got a well-oiled "machine" for 2022, Rage Against the Machine's Brad Wilk revealed he just underwent his second knee surgery of 2021.

The drummer posted a photo of his bandaged knee with tubes going into it on social media with the message, "Nurses need naps too. Good thing I’ve done this before on the other side. Knee surgery number two this year complete. Torn meniscus again… Let the healing begin."

He added, "Blood sugars been a bit outa whack for weeks because of it. Excited to be able to get on with some proper playing again soon."

The Rage drummer received a wealth of well wishes from peers on social media, with Chad Smith, John 5, Mike Inez, Garbage, Nandi Bushell, Reignwolf, Branden Steineckert, Frank Zummo, Nova Twins, Joey Castillo, Frank Sidoris, Tucker Rule and more weighing in.

Indeed this is Wilk's second knee surgery of 2021, with the previous surgery taking place back in May. At the time, Wilk posted that he had "got a lot of hard notes out of this knee." That knee had also suffered a torn meniscus.

Rage Against the Machine initially announced their reunion tour plans in 2019 with shows booked for 2020, but the pandemic has forced the pushing of the shows now until 2022. With the extra time, Wilk was able to undergo the surgeries and likely fend off any additional wear and tear on his knees.

Rage Against the Machine last played live in 2011, heading up the memorable L.A. Rising festival at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In 2016, three-fourths of the band started working together again in Prophets of Rage, a band utilizing Public Enemy's Chuck D. and Cypress Hill's B-Real to fill the void left by absent vocalist Zack de la Rocha. By 2019, Prophets of Rage disbanded with an announcement coming that Rage Against the Machine had reunited and were preparing a reunion tour in 2020.

We send our best to Rage Against the Machine's Brad Wilk on a speedy and successful recovery.