From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Audioslave
From left to right: Tim Commerford, Chris Cornell, Brad Wilk and Tom Morello, performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 2005.
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, USA
Genre(s)	Hard rock Alternative rock Post-grunge
Years active	2001–2007
Label(s)	Epic, Interscope
Associated acts	Soundgarden Rage Against the Machine Temple of the Dog The Nightwatchman Lock Up Class of '99 Electric Sheep Puscifer
Website	www.audioslave.com
Former members
Chris Cornell Tom Morello Tim Commerford Brad Wilk

Audioslave was an American hard rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of ex-Soundgarden frontman and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine; Tom Morello (lead 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,^[1] but by the band's second album, Out of Exile, noted that it had established a separate identity.

The band's trademark sound was created by blending 1970s hard rock influences (their music was often compared to Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath) with the 1990s grunge sound of Nirvana and Soundgarden. 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, and no samples were ever used.

After Audioslave released three highly successful albums, received three Grammy nominations, sold more than eight million records worldwide,^[2][3] and became the first American rock band to perform an open-air concert in Cuba, Chris Cornell issued a statement that he was permanently leaving the band "due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences". The announcement came less than a month after Morello, Commerford and Wilk announced that they would be reuniting with their former vocalist Zack de la Rocha to reform Rage Against the Machine. As the three were busy with reunion performances and Morello and Cornell both released solo albums in 2007, Audioslave was officially disbanded.^[4]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Formation (2000–2001) 1.1.1 Name 1.2 Audioslave (2002–2003) 1.3 Out of Exile (2004–2005) 1.4 Revelations, and breakup (2006–2007) 2 Musical style and influences 2.1 Songwriting and recording process 3 Politics 4 Solo projects 5 Discography 6 References 7 External links

Main articles: Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden

Audioslave's history dates back to October 18, 2000, when lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha announced he was leaving Rage Against the Machine.^[5] 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.^[6] Several vocalists jammed with the three at this time, including B-Real of Cypress Hill, but they did not want another rapper or anybody who would even remotely sound like de la Rocha.^[7] Music producer and friend, Rick Rubin later suggested that they jam with Chris Cornell, the ex-frontman of Soundgarden.^[8] Rubin also persuaded the three of them to go into group therapy with performance coach Phil Towle (who famously worked with Metallica during the making of St. Anger) after the break-up.^[8] Rubin was confident that with the right new voice Rage Against the Machine had the potential to become a better band. He was quoted in a January 2001 Rolling Stone article saying "it could turn into a Yardbirds-into-Led Zeppelin scenario". He also referred to Tom Morello as "the Jimmy Page of today".^[9] Bassist Tim 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".^[8]

The chemistry between Cornell and the three musicians became 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."^[7] The quartet wrote 21 songs during the 19 days of rehearsal,^[8] with "Light My Way" being the first song they ever wrote, on the very first day together.^[10] The newly-formed band, yet to be named, began working in the studio in late May 2001 with Rick Rubin as producer, while still sorting out the label and management issues.^[11]

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,^[12][13] and commented that "Civilian" was merely a rumour circulating at that time; he stated: "The band has only ever had one name and that is Audioslave."^[14] Morello described the origin of the "Audioslave" name to LAUNCHcast as follows:^[15]

“

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. Part of the agreement was that each band was to be true to its own identity when marketing and promoting recordings or concerts.^[15]

The name was also heavily mocked due to its uninspired nature,^[16] and was regarded by some critics as one of the worst band names in contemporary rock music,^[17] or even of all time.^[18] Pitchfork Media called it the "most asinine bandname of the year" in its review of the debut album,^[19] while Chuck Klosterman from Spin called it "one of the dumbest band names in recent rock history".^[20]

On March 19, 2002 Audioslave was confirmed for the seventh annual Ozzfest, even though at that time the band had no official name or release date for their debut album.^[21] A few days later, on March 25, reports surfaced that the band broke up, before they had played for a public audience.^[22] Cornell's manager Jim Guerinot confirmed that the frontman had left the unnamed project, with no explanation given.^[23] It was stated that the recorded material would still be released in mid 2002.^[23]

Under the name "Civilian" (or "The Civilian Project"), thirteen rough rehearsal demo tracks were leaked onto various peer-to-peer filesharing networks on May 16.^[24] According to Morello the band was frustrated because the songs were not in their finished form and in some cases "they weren't even the same lyrics, guitar solos, performances of any kind".^[14] In another interview he blamed "some jackass intern at Bad Animal Studios in Seattle" for stealing the demos and putting them on the Internet.^[25]

Initial rumors suggested that Cornell took issue with having two managers actively involved in the project (Jim Guerinot of Rebel Waltz represented Cornell, and Peter Mensch of Q Prime handled Rage Against the Machine).^[26] According to the band, however, the split was not triggered by personal conflicts, but by their quarreling managers.^[12] After the mixing of the album was finished, roughly six weeks later, the group reformed and simultaneously fired their former management companies and hired a third-party company, The Firm.^[27] Their previous labels, Epic and Interscope, settled their differences by agreeing to alternate who releases their albums—Epic the first album, Interscope the second, with future releases alternating between the two.^[28]

The band divulged their official name and launched their web site in early September. The first single, "Cochise", named after a famous American Indian chief said to be the last to die free and unconquered,^[30] was posted online on September 25, and hit the radio in early October. Critics praised Cornell's vocal style, a distinct departure from the rapping of de la Rocha,^[31][29] and found that "the former members of RATM have gone and done a Paul Weller, retreating from the ground they broke back into the sounds that inspired them".^[32]

Music video director, Mark Romanek shot a video for "Cochise" on September 25 and 26,^[33] which debuted a month later on MTV2. It shows the band playing atop an under-construction tower in the midst of a giant fireworks display providing all the lighting. The firework explosions during filming prompted fears of a terrorist attack among residents living near Los Angeles' Sepulveda Dam. Reportedly, the local police and news station received hundreds of calls from people who feared the city was under siege.^[33] The video won an MVPA Award in the "Brass Knuckles Award for Rock Video of the Year" category in 2003, with Mark Romanek winning in the "Director of the Year" category.^[34]

The self-titled debut album, Audioslave, was released on November 19, 2002 and entered the Billboard 200 chart at position number seven after selling 162,000 copies in its first week.^[36] It was certified gold by the RIAA within a month of release,^[37] and by 2006 achieved triple platinum status.^[38] It is the most successful Audioslave album to date, having sold more than three million copies in the United States alone.

Despite its commercial success, Audioslave received mixed reviews. Some critics lambasted the group's effort as uninspired,^[39] and predictable.^[40] Pitchfork Media's reviewers Chris Dahlen and Ryan Schreiber praised Cornell's voice, but criticized virtually every other aspect of the album, deeming Cornell's lyrics "complete gibberish" and Rick Rubin's work "a synthesized rock-like product that emits no heat".^[41] Other critics, however praised the supergroup's style reminiscent of 1970s rock music and compared it to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath,^[42][43] saying they add much-needed sound and style to contemporary mainstream rock music.^[44]

Audioslave made their live debut on November 25, 2002, performing a brief concert on the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City, for the Late Show with David Letterman. This was the first time any band had appeared on Letterman's marquee.^[45] The band's performance of "Cochise" aired on the show, but after the show ended they continued playing for the crowd gathered below.^[46] That year's KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, however, was their first official paying concert, where the band played on the first night, December 7, 2002, and also gave a secret club show the night before.^[47] Towards the end of the band's six song set, Cornell told the audience, "These guys saved my life this year",^[48] and the show ended with his bandmates hugging him.^[49] Afterwards, asked to expand on his comments, he would only say that he had dragged the trio "through a trail of shit" in the past months.^[48]

There was a rumour circulating at this time that suggested the singer had checked himself into drug rehabilitation. He later confirmed it in an interview for Metal Hammer that was actually conducted from a clinic payphone.^[13] In a San Diego CityBEAT article, Cornell explained that he went through "a horrible personal crisis" during the making of the first record, as he entered rehab and stayed in for two months before the record was even released and separated from his wife, Susan Silver.^[50] He credited Morello, Commerford and Wilk with helping him rebound from the difficult period. He also dismissed the rumours in various interviews about him being in rehab for OxyContin or heroin, but when asked, he only offered, "Various things. I'm not picky. Mainly for drinking."^[51][48]

"Like a Stone" was chosen as the second single from Audioslave, and was released in early 2003 with an accompanying music video. It was the highest charting single from the album, peaking at #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts.^[52] It was also certified gold by the RIAA, making it Audioslave's most successful single ever.^[53] The third single, "Show Me How to Live" was not without controversy. Its music video paid homage to a 1971 road movie, Vanishing Point, using actual footage from the film. The video was banned from MTV, reportedly because it shows band members in a high-speed car chase running police cars and motorcycles off the road.^[54] The band's first DVD, also titled Audioslave, was released on July 29, 2003.

The band toured extensively worldwide in 2003, gaining largely positive reviews for their live performances,^[55][56][57] including that year's revived Lollapalooza.^[58][59]

In 2004, Audioslave was among the nominees for the 46th Grammy Awards: "Like a Stone" was nominated for "Best Hard Rock Performance" and Audioslave was nominated for "Best Rock Album". The band did not win in either category; the Grammies were awarded to Evanescence and Foo Fighters, respectively.^[60] They spent the rest of 2004 on break from touring, and working on the second album. This also gave Morello time to concentrate on his solo project, The Nightwatchman, and take an active part in political activities, most prominently in the work of Axis of Justice. Cornell had time to focus on his personal life; after his divorce from his first wife was finalized, he married Vicky Karayiannis, a Paris-based publicist he met during the first European Audioslave tour.^[50]

Work on a new album had already started in 2003 on the Lollapalooza tour during free time backstage and on the bus,^[61] and continued at the end of the year when band members entered the studio. Aside from writing new material, the band also had some leftover songs from the Audioslave sessions they could choose from, they had "almost another album's worth of stuff [already done]", according to Morello.^[33] By July 2004, they had 22 new songs written and were halfway through recording them with producer Rick Rubin.^[62]

In early March 2005, Audioslave announced that their follow-up album's recording was completed. In addition, the band also revealed six song titles, the first single, and the US release date. They were still considering which other six songs to put on the record, while mixing the album.^[63] "Be Yourself", the first single from the still untitled album was made available for streaming at the band's official web site on March 12, and hit the radio on March 14. The band ran a competition, in which contestants had to sign up, and then send a picture of themselves, giving fans an opportunity of appearing on the single's 7" picture disc version.^[64] Though only the best ten were supposed to appear on the artwork,^[64] the record was released with more than ten pictures on its B side.

"Be Yourself" was heavily panned by critics, saying it was "limp and the lyrics are bland and directionless".^[65] It was described by different reviewers as having a similar sound to various other rock bands: U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Coldplay among others.^[65] Nevertheless, it became Audioslave's second most successful single behind "Like a Stone", achieving the same chart positions—#1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks—but remaining without any RIAA certification.^[52] In 2006, the song was chosen to be featured on the One Tree Hill Volume 2 soundtrack compilation CD, a benefit album with a portion of the proceeds donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

On March 22, the band announced that they had set "Out of Exile" as the title of their new album, then launched a club tour, preceding the album release, lasting from April 14 to May 20. On previous tours they occasionally played cover songs, for example, Funkadelic's "Super Stupid",^[56] Rush's "Working Man",^[57] or The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army",^[58] but no material by their former bands. It was a conscious decision made by members of the band not to use those songs as a "crutch" the first time around to "help sell and break Audioslave", but rather establish it as an "independent entity".^[66] After attaining that goal, they thought it was "time to own those histories",^[66] and began performing a selection of the two bands' most popular songs on this tour, including Soundgarden's "Spoonman", "Outshined", and "Black Hole Sun", and Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade", "Sleep Now in the Fire", and "Killing in the Name".^[67]

The second single, "Your Time Has Come" was released through a unique promotion, lasting from April 27 to May 3, which involved radio listeners around the world.^[68] Radio stations were asked to post a link on their web sites to a special timed-out download of the song. Once one million people clicked on the link, the song was unlocked and became downloadable by all one million.

On May 6, 2005, Audioslave played a free show in Havana, Cuba, in front of an audience of an estimated 50,000 at the La Tribuna Antiimperialista José Martí (José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribunal) venue, which was originally purpose-built in 2000 for mass protests against the US government.^[69] It was a historic event, as Audioslave became the first American rock group to perform an open-air concert in the communist country of Cuba. The band travelled to Havana—bringing along their camera crew to film the entire show for a future DVD release—on May 4 to spend the two days before the concert visiting several historic sites and interacting with Cuban musicians and youths.^[70] Morello and the rest of the band insisted that the trip was not to make a political statement, but to take part in a musical cultural exchange. Cornell commented: "Hopefully, this concert will help to open the musical borders between our two countries."^[71] The trip was organized with the joint authorization of the United States Department of the Treasury and the Instituto Cubano de la Musica (Cuban Institute of Music),^[72] as travel by US citizens to Cuba is restricted, but the authorization arrived so late that the band had to cancel and postpone several confirmed dates of their US tour.^[71] The concert was the longest the band had ever given,^[71] with a 26-song set, including new songs from the still unreleased second album, as well as Soundgarden, and Rage Against the Machine songs, and a jam with the local opening act, singer X Alfonso.^[69]

Another free show followed, on May 18 on Hollywood Boulevard, outside the Hollywood and Highland complex, where over 10,000 fans gathered to see the band's performance that was broadcast on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.^[73] After waiting for ninety minutes, and then facing interruptions as the show stopped for commercials, the fans started a riot, fighting each other and breaking down barriers, while the band started playing "Killing in the Name". Los Angeles riot police were called to intervene, and no one was injured seriously.^[74]

The band's second album, Out of Exile, was released internationally on May 23, 2005, then a day later in the United States. It debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the only Audioslave album to achieve this position. The following week, however, it dropped to #3, with a 62 percent sales decrease^[75] - consequently reaching only platinum selling status.^[76] Cornell admitted to writing his most personal songs ever on this album, influenced by the positive changes in his life since 2002.^[77] He also described the album as more varied than the debut and relying a bit less on heavy guitar riffs.^[50] Moreover, both Morello and Cornell talked about Out of Exile sounding less like Rage Against the Machine combined with Soundgarden, mostly due to the fact that members had spent three years together since their formation.^[62][50]

The album received slightly more favorable reviews than the debut effort; critics noted Cornell's stronger vocals, likely the result of quitting smoking and drinking,^[78] and pointed out that Out Of Exile is "the sound of a band coming into its own".^[79] All Music Guide editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who gave Audioslave a lukewarm review, praised the album as "lean, hard, strong, and memorable".^[80] Cornell's lyrics, however, were still a common complaint, Vik Bansal from musicOMH.com wrote that his lyrics "continue to border on the ridiculous",^[81] and the album's softer, slower approach was frequently criticized as well.^[81][82]

Following the album's release, the band embarked on a European tour, performed at the Live 8 benefit concert in Berlin, Germany on July 2, and started their first headlining arena tour in North America on September 25, which lasted until November 18. On these tours, the band added the Soundgarden songs "Loud Love"^[83] and "Rusty Cage",^[84] and Temple of the Dog songs "Call Me A Dog", "All Night Thing", and "Hunger Strike" to their live repertoire.^[85]

The music video for "Doesn't Remind Me", the third single from Out of Exile, was posted online on September 22. The anti-Iraq war video, which shows how war can tear a family apart, was awarded "Video of the Year" at the 2006 MVPA Awards.^[86]

Audioslave's second DVD, entitled Live in Cuba, containing the May 6 concert in Havana, Cuba, was released on October 11, 2005. It was certified platinum in less than two months.^[87]

The band received their third Grammy nomination at the 48th Grammy Awards in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category for their song "Doesn't Remind Me", but lost to System of a Down.^[88] Audioslave wasted no time recording their next album; Cornell had already expressed his intentions to make "an album every year or year-and-a-half" before the tracklist of Out of Exile was even finalized.^[89] Then, in early July, after the conclusion of the European tour the band returned to studio to write new songs, because their aim was to "blur the lines between rehearsing, recording and touring", as Morello said.^[83] The actual studio time began in January 2006, with plans to release the third album in June.^[90] This time, the band chose Out of Exile's mixer, Brendan O'Brien as producer. Both Cornell and Rage Against the Machine members previously worked with O'Brien; he had mixed Soundgarden's Superunknown and produced Rage Against the Machine's Evil Empire and The Battle of Los Angeles.

Audioslave had 20 songs written and, as most were sampled during their 2005 tour, the recording process took only five weeks.^[90] They ended up recording 16 tracks during this time.^[92]. The album's title, "Revelations" was revealed on March 22. The release date was postponed to early September, and the band cancelled their previously announced European tour because of this, to have a new album to support, when they embarked on touring.^[93] The first single off the album, "Original Fire", was made available online on Audioslave's official website for free streaming on July 11.

News about Cornell's departure emerged in July, when insiders stated that after the third album he would split for a solo career.^[94] The singer immediately denied the rumors, stating "We hear rumors that Audioslave is breaking up all the time. ... I always just ignore [them]".^[95] In the same interview, he also discussed his intentions to record a new solo album, the second in seven years, before the end of August.

A special marketing campaign preceded the new album's release in August, when the art concept was featured on Google Earth as a fictional utopian island, Audioslave Nation, created in the South Pacific. Several songs appeared from Revelations on movie and video game soundtracks before the album's release. "Wide Awake" and "Shape of Things to Come" were featured in Michael Mann's Miami Vice. This was not the first time Mann had featured Audioslave in his work; his earlier film Collateral featured the song "Shadow On The Sun" from the group's self-titled debut. The title song, "Revelations", was also featured on the soundtrack for the EA Sports football video game Madden NFL 07. This was also not a novelty for the band; "Cochise" from Audioslave was in the main setlist of Guitar Hero, while two songs from Out of Exile, "Your Time Has Come" and "Man Or Animal", were featured in the racing game, FlatOut 2.

Revelations was released on September 5, 2006. The album entered the Billboard 200 at #2 and sold 142,000 copies during its first week of release.^[96] Despite the relatively good start, it is the band's least commercially successful album; dropping even faster than Out of Exile, its sales were down 65 percent the following week,^[97] achieving gold certification a month later.^[98] The album showed funk, soul and R&B influences that were non-existent for the band before; Morello referred to the new sound as "Led Zeppelin Meets Earth, Wind & Fire".^[92] Additionally, several songs took a more overtly liberal political stance than previous Audioslave releases.

The album received a similar critical response to Out of Exile with the majority of reviewers praising the band's integrity on the record.^[99] The new funk and soul influences were also welcomed favorably, All Music Guide's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album Audioslave's "most colorful, diverse, and consistent record yet".^[100] Many others, however, saw it as "just another rock record",^[101] and musically not much different from the previous album.^[102]

Cornell decided to delay the Revelations-tour in support of the new album until 2007, because he wanted to "let the album come out for awhile" and concentrate on his second solo album.^[103] The rest of the band went along, Morello also revealed his plans to release his first solo album (see below) in early 2007. The second, and final single from the album, "Revelations" was released in October 2006 with an accompanying music video a month later.

On January 22, 2007, Rage Against the Machine was announced to reunite for one show only, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 29, 2007. Less than a month later, on February 15, 2007, Cornell officially announced his departure from Audioslave, issuing this statement:^[104]

“

"Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavors."

”

He stated that, as far as he is concerned, Audioslave is finished, "Unless they want to go find another singer and go make other Audioslave records – then maybe they can have two bands, with a different singer for Rage and a different singer for Audioslave, and they could go on tour and open for each other.", and that a greatest hits collection will be issued in the future, because of label commitments.^[104] He also dismissed the possibility of a Soundgarden reunion. The New York Post reported that according to sources the split was not about "irresolvable personality conflicts" but about the money, a friend of Cornell said: "Chris was unhappy with the financial arrangement within the group – he wrote all the music, yet the other three bandmates took an equal share in the multimillion-dollar publishing rights."^[105]

Morello has said that he never officially heard and "still haven't heard" from Cornell that he was leaving the group.^[106] Cornell countered: "Tom and I did have communications about the fact that I was gonna go make a record, and that I was tired of what ended up seeming like political negotiations toward how we were gonna do Audioslave business and getting nowhere with it."^[107] He also added that this process of "doing Audioslave business" led him to go solo.^[107]

Combining hard rock with grunge, Audioslave created a distinctive sound of their own.^[108] This unique mix was driven by Cornell's wide vocal range,^[109] Morello's innovative, and experimental guitar solos and the rhythm section of Wilk and Commerford.^[110] 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".^[111] This meant that, for the first time, the instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine had the opportunity to write slow and melodic songs, which was something they had not done before.^[111]

Cornell's lyrics were mostly apolitical, as opposed to de la Rocha's. Morello referred to them as "haunted, existential poetry".^[112] They were characterized by his trademark cryptic approach, often dealing with the themes of existentialism,^[108], love, hedonism,^[113] spirituality and Christianity.^[112] Critics were not often impressed with Cornell's lyrical work; its detractors usually deemed his songs clichéd and meaningless.

While the first two albums drew influences from 1970s hard rock bands such as Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath and from the members' two former bands, the grunge band Soundgarden and the funk metal band Rage Against the Machine,^[114] the third album, Revelations was influenced by 1960s and '70s funk, soul and R&B music. Morello used vintage guitars and amplifiers to achieve the desired sound, and Cornell adopted what he called his "seventies funk and R&B-flavor vocals".^[115] The guitarist also cited the band's favorites, Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown and Funkadelic, as a reason for the funk overtones on the album.^[116]

Just as Rage Against the Machine did, Audioslave always 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 sound samples, synthesizer effects or different turntable techniques to produce certain sounds.^[117]

All the band's lyrics were written by Chris Cornell, while all four members—as a band—were credited with writing the music. Their songwriting process was described by Brad Wilk as "more collaborative" and "more satisfying" than Rage Against the Machine's, which was "more of a battle creatively".^[118] Cornell felt the same way, he saw his former band, Soundgarden's songwriting method inferior to Audioslave's.^[118] Rick Rubin, producer of the band's first two albums, was also lauded as "a great collaborative partner" and was called "the fifth Beatle" by Tom Morello.^[62]

The time spent on songwriting by the band was always unusually short. They wrote 21 songs in 19 days for the first album, they exceeded that rate with the second album's writing phase by having a song or sometimes two written a day,^[119] and this pattern was adopted for the third album as well.^[120]

Cornell's battle with drug addiction and alcoholism was a defining factor in the writing and recording process. Even though the singer admitted that he was "never able to write effectively", while drinking,^[121] and attended rehab after recording the debut album, Morello stated Revelations was "the first record he (Cornell) didn't smoke, drink or take drugs through the recording".^[122]

While Rage Against the Machine's music was politically influenced, Audioslave's originally was not. Chris Cornell stated he did not want to become the new singer of Rage Against the Machine or any political band, but he would play benefits the other band members wanted to play.^[123] Despite his reluctance to write political lyrics, he himself never discounted the possibility; he already touched upon political issues in Audioslave's "Set It Off", a song inspired by 1999's WTO riots (the "Battle of Seattle"),^[124] then later wrote an anti-war song, "Sound of a Gun",^[125] and what Morello called "the most political song Audioslave's ever written", "Wide Awake" for Revelations.^[92] "Wide Awake" was an attack on the Bush administration's failure to act over the consequences of Hurricane Katrina.

The band was openly anti-Bush and against the Iraq War from the beginning, on March 17, 2003, only hours after President Bush announced plans to invade Iraq, the band performed live in Hollywood with messages reading "How many Iraqis per gallon?" and "Somewhere in Texas, a Village is Missing an Idiot", scrolled across the stage.^[126] The music video for "Doesn't Remind Me" was also a harsh criticism on the Iraq war, and drummer Brad Wilk called George Bush "a fucking scam" in an interview, when criticizing the Bush administration's rationale for war in Iraq.^[127]

During the time of the second album's release several politically charged Rage Against the Machine songs resurfaced in the band's live set, and their trip to Cuba was also a politically important event, even though the members committed to not making political statements while in the country. Tim Commerford stated in an interview that the concert in Cuba made Audioslave more politically active than Rage Against the Machine ever was.^[128] While in Cuba, Cornell said that he takes "every aspect of human life" into consideration, when it comes to writing lyrics, and that he would write about the experience in a song, or more songs.^[129] This culminated in the political influences on Revelations, although he did not write about Cuba specifically. He asserted that he felt Audioslave can be a band like U2, which is "not overtly political, but Bono gets a lot done".^[129] That year, the band played at two more concerts, organised to raise political awareness: Live 8, the concert series aimed to end global poverty, and the Hurricane Katrina benefit concert, ReAct Now: Music & Relief.

Audioslave was prominently involved in the Axis of Justice, a non-profit organization formed by Tom Morello and System of a Down's Serj Tankian to "bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice".^[130] Axis of Justice tents were set up at almost every Audioslave show, and with the exception of Commerford all band members appeared on the Concert Series Volume 1 CD/DVD charity album released in 2004.

Main articles: Chris Cornell and The Nightwatchman

Lead singer Chris Cornell released a solo album, entitled Euphoria Morning, in 1999, in between leaving Soundgarden and forming Audioslave. He continued his solo career 7 years later, when he started writing songs for a second album during mid 2006,^[131] and was also asked to record the theme song to the 21st James Bond film, Casino Royale. Cornell wrote "You Know My Name", jointly with David Arnold, which debuted on November 13, 2006. It is the first Bond theme not to be included on its film's soundtrack album. However, it was featured on his second solo album, Carry On, released on June 5, 2007.

Guitarist Tom Morello also started performing solo under the name The Nightwatchman in 2003, after he felt he was not active enough politically in his music. Inspired by Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, he first performed in small clubs, coffeeshops in California before participating in the Tell Us the Truth Tour, conceived to protest against media consolidation and globalization.^[132] When on tour with Audioslave, he would sign up anonymously for open mic nights, then he went on playing at political rallies and demonstrations.^[133] He initially had no plans to record, but the day after the 2004 presidential election, he decided he would make a The Nightwatchman album, that could only materialize after the break-up of Audioslave.^[133] Prior to that, he recorded the song "No One Left" in 2004 for Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11. His first album One Man Revolution was released on April 24, 2007. The 13-track set was produced by Brendan O'Brien and featured more acoustic-based compositions than his work in Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine.

Although bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk do not have solo projects, they both have contributed to Maynard James Keenan's side project Puscifer.^[134] The first Puscifer album, V Is for Vagina, was released on October 30, 2007.

Main article: Audioslave discography

Release date	Title	Record label
November 19, 2002	Audioslave	Epic
May 24, 2005	Out of Exile	Interscope
September 5, 2006	Revelations	Epic

• Official site
• Audioslave at MySpace
• Official Audioslave Fanclub
• Audioslave Nation
• Audioslave at Last.fm
• Audioslave at the All Music Guide

v • d • e Audioslave
Chris Cornell · Tom Morello · Tim Commerford · Brad Wilk
Albums	Audioslave · Out of Exile · Revelations
DVDs	Audioslave · Live in Cuba
Singles	"Cochise" · "Like a Stone" · "Show Me How To Live" · "I Am The Highway" · "What You Are" · "Be Yourself" · "Your Time Has Come" · "Doesn't Remind Me" · "Out of Exile" · "Original Fire" · "Revelations"
Related articles	Discography · Rage Against the Machine · Soundgarden · Interscope Records · Epic Records · Axis of Justice