Audioslave is a cult band made up of former Rage Against the Machine instrumentalists Tom Morello (guitarist), Tim Commerford (bass guitarist and accompanying vocals) and Brad Wilk (drums), as well as Chris Cornell (vocals).
The prehistory of the cult team began back in 2000. It was then that frontman Zach de la Rocha left Rage Against The Machine. The trio of musicians did not stop their creative activity. Soon they began to work under the general name Rage.
Many famous personalities wanted to become the main vocalist then, but none of them became part of the team. But soon Rick Rubin helped the trio expand into a quartet.
Rick Rubin suggested Chris Cornell for the role of vocalist. The trio was skeptical about the “idea”, because then a dozen talented musicians had already joined the team, but not one was honored to stay there forever. After a successful audition, Chris took the place of the vocalist. In 2001, the musicians began recording a studio album.
Within a few weeks, the musicians recorded 21 tracks. The purposefulness of the quartet could be envied, but it soon became clear that productivity began to decline. It's all the fault of the managers who put excessive pressure on the musicians.
In the end, Cornell could not stand it, and in 2002 he left the team. Thus, the planned performance at the Ozzfest festival had to be cancelled.
Group Audioslave in 2002-2005
The guys failed to realize their debut album. The fact that the first record never came out was the fault of the managers. In 2002, it became known that the group broke up.
Under the tentative name Civilian 14 was released to various peer-to-peer networks around the same time that it broke up with RATM. Before that, even the rumors about the departure of Chris Cornell were finally confirmed.
In the interviews that were taken from the musicians after the absence from the music festival, it turned out that the difficulties were caused by external reasons. And only after the team fired the managers and joined The Firm, their creative career began to develop.
In the summer of 2002, after eliminating all organizational turmoil, the band released their debut single. We are talking about the musical composition of Cochise. The musicians dedicated the name of the song to the Indian leader who fought for the freedom of his tribe. He died free and undefeated. In the same year, the band's discography was replenished with the first album, which was called Audioslave.
The debut album hit the top ten. It sold millions of copies and received the status of a "platinum" record. The opinions of music critics and fans regarding the new band differed.
Some said that this is a millionaire group. It was said that during the recording the soloists constantly quarrel among themselves, their rock is similar to the tracks of the 1970s and there is nothing original in it. Others said that their work is the result of studio arrangements.
Some have said that the work of the rock band is similar to the music of Led Zeppelin. In honor of the release of their debut album, the musicians went on a big tour. After this event, the group managed to secure the status of original and original representatives of rock culture.
After a year of intense touring, the musicians went to their historical homeland to start working on a new album. In 2005, the band conducted a "run-in" of fresh material in a small club tour, which was sold out.
A little later, Audioslave became the first band to play a show in Cuba. Then the musicians played for an audience of 70 thousand people. Such an event was not to be missed. Soon a concert video album went on sale.
In 2005, the group's discography was replenished with the new album Out of Exile, which debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts, and the musical compositions Be Yourself, Your Time Has Come and Doesn't Remind Me almost immediately after the presentation sounded on the air of American radio stations.
Interestingly, for the last track, Audioslave was nominated for the prestigious Grammy Award in the Best Hard Rock Performance category. This is the very confirmation of the importance of the American rock band.
In 2005, the band, as a headliner, went to conquer the hearts of North American music lovers. A year later, under the guidance of producer Brendan O'Brien, the musicians began work on their third album, Revelations.
Audioslave band in 2006
As promised by the musicians, in 2006 the band's discography was replenished with the Revelations album. Most of the tracks were recorded during the tour, which took place in 2005. Work on the new album took only a month.
On September 5, Revelations went on sale. Music lovers noted that the tracks included in the new album were recorded under the influence of R & B and Soul. For example, Tom Morello said that the band's songs border on Led Zeppelin and Earth, Wind & Fire. Several musical compositions of Wide Awake and Sound of a Gun had political overtones.
Interestingly, the tracks Wide Awake and Shape of Things to Come from this collection were used in Michael Mann's movie Miami Vice in the summer of 2006. This is not the first time M. Mann has used the band's compositions.
His early film Collateral featured the musical composition Shadowon the Sun from the compilation Audioslave. The title track of the third album, Revelations, became the soundtrack for the video game Madden'07.
Chris Cornell has announced that he does not intend to tour in honor of the release of the new album. The fact is that Chris was just working on his second solo album. Tom Morello supported the vocalist as he was also preparing to release his debut solo album.
The prestigious Billboard magazine has confirmed that RATM are teaming up for a performance at Coachella on April 29th. The team united for only one reason - with their performance they wanted to demonstrate a "musical protest" against the policies of George W. Bush.
Departure from the Chris Cornell band
Soon it became known that Chris Cornell was leaving the cult American band. In his message to fans, he said:
“I am leaving the band because every day the relationship between the musicians deteriorates. I have different views on how the band Audioslave should develop. For the rest of the members, I wish bright musical experiments and prosperity.”
Fans hoped that their favorite group would reunite soon. But after it became known that Chris Cornell had died, all hopes collapsed. This event happened on the night of May 17-18, 2017. The cause of death was suicide.
