Rage Against the Machine · Rage Against the Machine

Bullet in the Head

Bullet in the Head is in A minor at 164.6 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

165 BPM · Vivacemedian of 206 analyses · 164.4–172.3 across the middle eight tenths
Key
A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
97%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
206people who ran the extractor
One beat
364.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
Dynamics
2.96dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.892Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.29Essentia's danceability, 0–3

Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.

What the numbers say

206 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 97% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 206 readings; 89% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 164.4 to 172.3 BPM.

At 164.6 BPM one beat lasts 364.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 91.1 ms and a dotted eighth 273.4 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 82.3 BPM, counted twice as fast 329.2. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 2.96 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.892 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.

10 other recordings here are in A minor; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.

Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.

Keys that fit with A minor

Each of these differs from A minor by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.

Delay times at 165 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note41458.10.69
Half note27291.37
Dotted quarter1.5546.81.83
Quarter note (one beat)1364.52.74
Quarter triplet0.6672434.12
Dotted eighth0.75273.43.66
Eighth note0.5182.35.49
Eighth triplet0.333121.58.23
Dotted sixteenth0.375136.77.32
Sixteenth note0.2591.110.97
Sixteenth triplet0.16760.816.46
Thirty-second note0.12545.621.95

Half time 82.3 BPM · double time 329.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (364.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Last to KnowP!nkA minor164BPM
  2. Breaking the LawJudas PriestA minor164BPM
  3. D’yer Mak’erLed ZeppelinA minor164BPM
  4. Hey JoeThe Jimi Hendrix ExperienceA minor165BPM
  5. WiggleJason Derulo feat. Snoop DoggA minor164BPM
  6. Hey JoeJimi HendrixA minor165BPM
  7. So Many Roads, So Many TrainsFoghatA minor164BPM
  8. Polythene PamThe BeatlesA minor166BPM
  9. Private IdahoThe B‐52sA minor166BPM
  10. Lonely BoyThe Black KeysA minor166BPM

Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 165 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in A minorAll songs at 165 BPMA minor at 160–169 BPMRage Against the Machine

MusicBrainz collapses 97 recording ids into this one. Recording id 7ab3b7d4-5a33-4478-aaa0-50cb6bdfc652.