Audioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello (guitar), Tim Commerford (bass and backing vocals) and Brad Wilk (drums). Critics initially described Audioslave as an amalgamation of Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden, but by the band's second album, Out of Exile, it was noted that they had established a separate identity.
The band's trademark sound was created by blending 1970s hard rock with 1990s alternative rock. Moreover, Morello incorporated his well-known, unconventional guitar solos into this mix. As with Rage Against the Machine, the band prided themselves on the fact that all sounds on their albums were produced using only guitar, bass, drums and vocals.
After Audioslave released three successful albums, received three Grammy nominations, and became the first American rock band to perform an open-air concert in Cuba, Cornell issued a statement in February 2007 announcing that he was permanently leaving the band "due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences". As the other three members were busy with the Rage Against the Machine reunion, and Morello and Cornell had each released solo albums in 2007, Audioslave was officially disbanded.
History
Audioslave's history dates back to October 18, 2000, when lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha announced he was leaving Rage Against the Machine. This led to the band's break-up, but the remaining three members of the band decided to stay together and announced plans to continue with a new vocalist. Several vocalists jammed with the three, including B-Real of Cypress Hill, but they did not want another rapper or anybody who sounded like de la Rocha. Music producer and friend Rick Rubin later suggested that they play with Chris Cornell, the ex-frontman of Soundgarden. Rubin also persuaded the three of them to go into group therapy with performance coach Phil Towle after the break-up. Rubin was confident that with the right new voice Rage Against the Machine had the potential to become a better band; he believed "it could turn into a Yardbirds-into-Led Zeppelin scenario". Commerford later credited Rubin for being the catalyst that brought Audioslave together, he called him "the angel at the crossroads because if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here today".
The chemistry between Cornell and the other three was immediately apparent; as Morello described: "He stepped to the microphone and sang the song and I couldn't believe it. It didn't just sound good. It didn't sound great. It sounded transcendent. And ... when there is an irreplaceable chemistry from the first moment, you can't deny it."The quartet wrote 21 songs during 19 days of rehearsal, and began working in the studio in late May 2001 with Rubin as producer, while sorting out the label and management issues.
Name
The original idea for the band's name was "Civilian", but it was dropped when members found out that it was already taken. Morello later discredited the story, contradicting Commerford and Cornell, and commented that "Civilian" was merely a rumor circulating at the time; he stated: "The band has only ever had one name and that is Audioslave." Morello described the origin of the "Audioslave" name to LAUNCHcast as follows:
That was Chris' suggestion that sort of came to him in a vision. We're all on the two-way pagers, and Chris one night said, "I got it. It's Audioslave." We were all, like, "All right, fantastic."... To paraphrase Elvis Costello, talking about band names is like dancing about architecture—there's just no point in it because the band name becomes the music and the people.
After the name was announced, it emerged that it was already being used by an unsigned band from Liverpool. The two bands worked out a settlement, with Audioslave paying $30,000 in a deal that allowed each band to use the name. To avoid confusion, the Liverpool band would rename themselves "The Most Terrifying Thing".
The name was mocked by critics due to its uninspired nature, and was regarded as one of the worst in contemporary rock music, or even of all time. Pitchfork Media called it the "most asinine bandname of the year", and Chuck Klosterman of Spin magazine chided it as "one of the dumbest band names in recent rock history".
Musical style and influences
By combining '70s style hard rock riffing with alternative rock, Audioslave created a distinctive sound. This mix was driven by Cornell's wide vocal range, Morello's innovative guitar solos and the rhythm section of Wilk and Commerford. Morello, although stating he "never felt musically limited" in Rage Against the Machine, did say that he had "a lot more scope to explore with Audioslave" and a "wider musical territory".This meant that the instrumentalists had the opportunity to write slow and melodic songs, something they had not done before.
As opposed to de la Rocha's lyrics, Cornell's were mostly apolitical; Morello referred to them as "haunted, existential poetry".They were characterised by his cryptic approach, often dealing with themes of existentialism, love, hedonism, spirituality and Christianity. Audioslave's first two albums drew influences from 1970s hard rock such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and from the members' previous bands (the grunge sound of Soundgarden and the funk metal sound of Rage Against the Machine). For Revelations, which was influenced by 1960s and '70s funk, soul and R&B music, Morello used vintage guitars and amplifiers and Cornell adopted his "seventies funk and R&B-flavor vocals".The guitarist also cited Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown and Funkadelic as a reason for the funk overtones on the album.
Just as Rage Against the Machine did, Audioslave also included the statement "All sounds made by guitar, bass, drums and vocals" in their albums' booklets as Morello's guitar work often caused listeners to believe that the band used samples, synthesiser effects or different turntable techniques to produce certain sounds.
Band members
- Chris Cornell - lead vocals, additional guitar (occasionally)
- Tom Morello - guitar
- Tim Commerford - bass guitar, backing vocals
- Brad Wilk - drums
Discography
- Audioslave (2002)
- Out of Exile (2005)
- Revelations (2006)
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