How Did Chris Cornell Become the Singer of Audioslave?

There have been fairly a number of profitable supergroups in rock, one of which was Audioslave, a fusion of Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell. But how did the members of Rage resolve on Cornell to be their new frontman at the time?

Audioslave shaped in 2001, shortly after Zack de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine. Soundgarden had damaged up a number of years prior, and Cornell already had a solo album below his belt, 1999’s Euphoria Morning. Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden each discovered nice success throughout the Nineteen Nineties, however did not appear to cross paths a lot except for festivals resembling Lollapalooza.

Eventually, although, Tom Morello, Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford of Rage and Cornell joined forces. They launched three albums throughout their time as a gaggle — Audioslave (2002), Out of Exile (2005) and Revelations (2006) — earlier than calling it quits in early 2007.

So, how did Cornell even turn into the singer of Audioslave in the first place?

How Did Chris Cornell Become the Singer of Audioslave?

De la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine in 2000 after releasing 4 albums with the group. He mentioned in a press release [via Far Out Magazine], “I feel that it is now necessary to leave Rage, because our decision making process has completely failed. It is no longer meeting the aspirations of all four of us collectively, as a band, and from my perspective has undermined our artistic and political ideal.

“I am extremely proud of our work, both as activists and musicians, as well as indebted and grateful to every person who has expressed solidarity and shared this incredible experience with us.”

Morello, Wilk and Commerford wanted to continue making music together, though, so they met with producer Rick Rubin and brainstormed. According to an interview with Howard Stern, Morello recalled that they listened to Soundgarden’s 1991 album Badmotorfinger a lot during that time, and as suggested by Rubin, they decided to meet with Cornell.

“I feel that Soundgarden, and Chris Cornell particularly, helped redeem arduous music,” Morello said. “Chris was sensible, and you may inform. And he was poetic, and he had this type of darkish, poetry that linked on a degree that felt… however he additionally unapologetically embraced the large riff-rock.”

As reported by MTV, Cornell had been offered to sing for a few other bands after he left Soundgarden, but only considered auditioning for this new band because he received a call from Rubin. And at their first rehearsal, he was extremely impressed by their musicianship.

“I simply thought, ‘I’m fortunate. I get to be the singer on this band if I stand up there and I’m good.’ So I made a decision to be good,” Cornell said, with Morello adding, “He stepped to the microphone and sang the track and I could not consider it. It did not simply sound good. It did not sound nice. It sounded transcendent. And… when there may be an irreplaceable chemistry from the first second, you possibly can’t deny it.”

How Did Tom Morello Have to Adjust His Guitar-Playing to Fit Chris Cornell’s Singing?

Despite the chemistry the band felt with Cornell, they certainly had to adjust their playing to match his vocal style — particularly Morello.

READ MORE: 10 Unbelievable Supergroups That Actually Almost Happened

“[Cornell’s] capacity to craft melody out of the ether… He would effortlessly create one thing that was both stunning or terrifying,” the guitarist told Stern in the aforementioned interview. “His strengths have been with melody, and it actually challenged and pushed Tim and Brad and I… With Chris, in an effort to enable him to shine, there needed to be this type of harmonic counterpoint. That track ‘Like a Stone,’ it is a number of easy energy chords, but it surely permits Chris’ stunning voice to soar.”