Morello co-founded Axis of Justice, which airs a monthly program on Pacifica Radio station KPFK (90.7 FM) in Los Angeles.

His mother was a schoolteacher from Marseilles, Illinois, who earned a Master of Arts at Loyola University, Chicago and traveled to Germany, Spain, Japan, and Kenya as an English language teacher between 1977 and 1983.

[citation needed] He wrote a piece headlined "South Africa: Racist Fascism That We Support" for the school alternative newspaper, The Student Pulse.

Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA);[20] however, this proved to be a negative experience for Morello, who decided never to pursue a career in politics:I never had any real desire to work in politics but if there was any ember burning in me, it was extinguished working in that job because of two things: one of them was the fact that 80 percent of the time I spent with the Senator, he was on the phone asking rich people for money.

[citation needed] At the time, Morello's musical tastes lay in the direction of hard rock and heavy metal, particularly Kiss and Iron Maiden.

Later, his musical style and politics were greatly influenced by punk rock bands like the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and Devo, and artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

After disbanding, Morello, Wilk, and Commerford went on to form Audioslave with then-former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and released three albums and a DVD from the band's concert in Cuba.

[35] After de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine, the remaining bandmates began collaborating with former Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell at the suggestion of producer Rick Rubin.

During this tour, Morello joined Harper onstage for a cover of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War", on which he plays the electric guitar in the style for which he is best known.

Morello has presided over a Hotel Café residency in L.A. since November 2007, which has featured many of his musical cohorts, including Serj Tankian, Perry Farrell, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Shooter Jennings, Nuno Bettencourt, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Jill Sobule, Boots Riley, Alexi Murdoch, Wayne Kramer of MC5 and others.

[45] Morello, as the Nightwatchman, contributed a version of "Blind Willie McTell" on the Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International tribute album released in 2012.

On February 2, 2019, Morello made a guest appearance at the Foo Fighters pre-Super Bowl 53 concert in Atlanta, along with Zac Brown, for a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs".

[citation needed] In April 2008, Morello made two guest appearances with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

They performed an extended electric version, featuring guitar solos, of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (which had previously been covered by Rage Against the Machine on Renegades).

[citation needed] Morello made a surprise appearance during Springsteen and the E Street Band's The River Tour 2016 show on August 25, 2016, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he joined them on "Death to My Hometown", "American Skin (41 Shots)", "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Badlands".

The supergroup consists of Morello, Rage Against the Machine's bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk, with Public Enemy's Chuck D and DJ Lord and Cypress Hill's B-Real.

"[50] The band's name derives from the title of the Public Enemy song "Prophets of Rage" from their 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

The Man, Bassnectar, the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA and GZA, Vic Mensa, K.Flay, Big Boi, Gary Clark Jr., Pretty Lights, Killer Mike, Tim McIlrath, Steve Aoki and Whethan.

[60] Morello's original composition features many of his trademark guitar effects like those heard in songs such as Audioslave's "Cochise" and "Doesn't Remind Me" and Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade" and "Sleep Now in the Fire".

Unlike "Rise Up", which is very similar in style to Morello's rap metal band Rage Against the Machine, it contains strong Latin and rapcore influences.

Songs played featuring Morello's guitar work included "Battle Sirens" from his upcoming album The Atlas Underground and a mashup of the two co-headliners entitled "Pendulum VS Knife Party – Tarantula VS Bonfire.

A 1993 Melody Maker live review of a Rage Against the Machine gig said, "Guitarist Tom Morello wears his guitar high up to wring every sound out of it.

[92] Following the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, he expressed support saying "While I don't agree with all that Fidel Castro did there is ample reason why he is vilified in the US and yet remains a huge hero throughout the Third World [....] By defying Yankee imperialism for 50 years, instituting the best healthcare, child immunization and literacy systems in the Western Hemisphere (surpassing the U.S. and Canada), exporting doctors to countries in need all over the globe [...], and being an unrepentant advocate of the poor and exploited it is no surprise that millions will mourn his passing.

"[93] Regarding his childhood, Morello cites the Black Panther party, Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara and radical left militant organization Weather Underground as "Very important to [him].

The protest consisted of the band refusing to perform at Lollapalooza 1993: They took the stage naked, mouths covered in duct tape, and bodies painted with the organization's abbreviation, PMRC.

[102] In October 2009, Morello, among a number of musicians, sued the U.S. federal government for the declassification of all documents relating to the use of music in interrogations at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

He stated: "Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured–from waterboarding to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts–playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums.

[115][116] On September 26, 2014, Morello played a benefit concert in Seattle for 15 Now, the group launched by Socialist Alternative and Kshama Sawant to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour.

Its recommended book list includes such authors as Karl Marx, Che Guevara, George Orwell, Noam Chomsky, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Grant Morrison.

[122] Morello and Tankian, together with a handful of other artists, including Maynard James Keenan, Wayne Kramer of the MC5, the hip hop group Jurassic 5, and Michael "Flea" Balzary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, released a live recording of covers and original songs, titled Axis of Justice: Concert Series Volume 1.