Cornell, Rage Reform as Audioslave

Former Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell and former Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk have reformed as a band and rechristened themselves Audioslave. They are back at work on their debut album, which is now due out early next year on Epic Records.

Cornell first began jamming with the Rage members in February of 2001, four months after Zach de la Rocha quit the band. The new band, later to be called Civilian, began recording with producer Rick Rubin in May, and unreleased tracks from those sessions have made the rounds on the popular online file-sharing sites.

In March, just days after the band announced plans to join the Ozzfest 2002 bill, Cornell quit the group over differences between each camp's respective managers. The band subsequently reconciled, employing a neutral, third party to manage the project.

The band has established a new own official Web site, www.audioslavemusic.com), announcing itself with blurry photos of the band members and the terse statement, "Audioslave is a Los Angeles & Seattle based band."

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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