Rage Against The Machine’s Tim Commerford Reveals ‘Serious’ Health Diagnosis

Katie JerkovichDecember 12, 2022

Rage Against the Machine’s Tim Commerford revealed he was diagnosed recently with prostate cancer, something only those closest to him knew about before his recent interview with Spin magazine.

The 54-year-old rocker said that two months before he and former bandmates were to hit the road on their 2022 reunion tour, he was diagnosed with cancer.

“I’ve been dealing with some pretty serious s***,” Commerford shared. “Right before I was about to go on tour with Rage, I had my prostate removed, and I have prostate cancer.”

The longtime bassist said that he wasn’t even sure he was going to reveal his diagnosis publicly, but after watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony and learning that Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor’s absence was due to him suffering “from Stage 4 prostate cancer,” he changed his mind.

“My life is sort of like that,” Commerford explained. “There are a lot of people who have it. There are a lot of people who are like, ‘Where do you go?’ You can’t talk to a therapist. You can only really talk to someone who’s going through it.”

He shared that despite being “in shape and taking care of myself,” it’s “something where either you’re either lucky or not.”

“Music has always been there in the toughest of times.”@RATMofficial’s Tim Commerford reveals his private battle with prostate cancer

Read the full interview here: https://t.co/IM9OboSuYI

— SPIN (@SPIN) December 12, 2022

“I hope there’s one person who reads this and is like, ‘f***, I need to get checked out’ when they find out about it,” the Rage band member said.

Commerford also admitted he’s done his best to keep a positive attitude since his diagnosis, but said it’s been challenging.

“Whatever it is, it makes me wonder if it’s happening because I have cancer, and prostate cancer is a very, very, very tough one because it’s connected to your sexuality,” the rocker shared. “It’s hard to disconnect from that and when you’re forced into that situation, it’s a brutal psychological journey.”

“I’ve been trying to find support groups, and it’s hard to find people and hard to talk about it,” he added. “The suffering part of it, the physical suffering after the surgery, I’ve never felt pain quite like that. I have metal plates in my head and cadaver parts in my body. I’ve done a lot of damage through sports and mountain biking and this sort of thing and I’ve always felt like I had a really high tolerance for pain, and that s*** brought me to my knees.”

“After the pain went away, I still haven’t really been able to get up, even though I’m working out and doing s***, but psychologically, the damage is severe,” Commerford continued. “It’s very hard for me to not break down and get emotional.”