Audioslave was perhaps the worst "supergroup" ever conceived. On paper, the music of Rage Against The Machine and the vocals of Soundgarden makes sense, but in practice it was a aural nightmare.
I listened to the demos that leaked prior to the first album and hoped they were a hoax, given the proliferation of mislabeled and blatently wrongn items...but they were the real deal. The band eschewed them, claiming they were rough and unfinished, but they were basically the same shitty tracks that ended up on the album. After three albums, Audioslavery was abolished, and while Chris Cornell can return to his solo artestry (albeit tainted, giving us blandness a la Casino Royale's 'You Know My Name' which lifts it's melody in the chorus from both 'Paint It Black' and 'Secret Agent Man') and Rage is reforming after going M.I.A. during the fertile W years, the damage has been done musically.
The split is no longer a hot topic, but whoever came up with this finely crafted yarn should have their likeness put on currency. Like the lotus, it blooms for me again and again, and so having enjoyed it once more I share it with you...
"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."
Interviewer: Chris, good to see ya. I want to get to your new solo album - which is fantastic by the way, but first, we gotta talk about the question on everyone's mind - what the heck happened with Audioslave?
Chris Cornell: Well, we just kind of did all we could do. I mean - that's it. We made our mark on rock, and I hope it's a lasting one, but for all of us, it was just time to move on.
Interviewer: Come on man - that press release said there was a lot more than that going on...what's the real deal?
Chris Cornell: Alright - you want to know the real deal?! And fuck my publicist, cause I'll throw her down the same well I did my former wife when she tried to shut me up, I've been quiet too damn long about this shit.
Everyone knows Audioslave was a fabricated band. I was getting ready to do a solo record, Rick Rubin was going to produce it, but he was also working with those Rage guys - or what was left of them. He begged me to meet them, jam with them, you know, try to make something out of nothing…
We met in some studio in Irvine, and those cats bothered me off the bat. They were all up in my shit, asking if I knew Jerry Cantrell, what's Seattle really like, what's the best combo meal at Domino's - you know - crazy stupid shit. And that fucking bass player was creeping me out - staring at me like I was Gandhi or something.
I was outta there after jamming on some Stones and old Soundgarden stuff. It sucked - I mean "Hey guitar player - can you play a fucking song straight ?!?!" We get to the solo in "Black Hole Sun," and the guy unplugs his guitar and starts wrapping the chord around it, then scratching it against the bass player's head. I'm like, come on guys - quit playing around - but they were dead serious.
We exchanged numbers and called it a day – that was right before the drummer started setting up trucker mirrors and turning his fucking kit around.
Well Rick goes and tells the label how great it is, and while I'm in line at Cingular to change my fucking number, Susan (Silver – Cornell’s then wife and manager) rings me up and tells me how it would be a great career move to do an album with these guys, it could resurrect my career, whatever. I’m like “Susan – what do you mean resurrect – I’m a fucking grunge icon . I was in Soundgarden.”
And she says “Yeah – but you also cut your hair and made Euphoria Morning. You’re just as relevant as Eddie Van Halen these days.”
Interviewer: Ouch!
Chris Cornell: I know right? So anyway, Susan, Rick, and the label convince me that these guys are a tight unit, they have a ton of respect for me, are easy to work with, blah, blah, blah. I ask what happened to the jumpy little black kid who used to sing for them, and everybody stammered shit about him being “too political” this and “Zapatista” that…so finally I cave.
And I regret it to this day.
First of all, let me tell you about political. That singer probably left because the guitar player was too political. We do this great song, I mean, it really clicked, and afterwards we were all like, “Cool – what do we call it?” And I’m like, “I don’t know, how about “Save Yourself,” since, like, I say “go on and save yourself” like 30 times in the song.” And the fucking Mexican guitar player…
Interviewer: Tom Morello?
Chris Cornell: Is that his name?
Interviewer: Yeah – I don’t think he’s Mexican though…
Chris Cornell: Whatever. He’s like, “How about we call it “Cochise.” And I’m like, “Did I miss something here? What the fuck is a “Cocheese” – is that what you put on your rice and beans?” Because honestly – I didn’t know where he was coming from.
He’s like, “No Chris, see, Cochise was the last great war chief. Back when Custer was massacring Native Americans –“
And I stop him right there, “Whoa, whoa! What the fuck is with you dude? That song is about my alcoholism and solitary time in my basement, you know, deep, real problems, not about some fucking Indian.”
And the drummer pipes in and is like “Chris, we’re actually called Native Americans – it’s politically incorrect to use the “I” word.”
I look him dead in the eye and say, “Look dude, I don’t give a shit about being politically correct. I don’t even fucking VOTE.”
Well holy shit, you would’ve thought I took a dump on an amp head. The room went dead silent.
Finally, the guitarist speaks up, “Chris, I thought it was clear we were going to be an agenda band.
”I’m like “Agenda band? I’ve got an agenda: to make a lot of fucking money, get laid by lots of chicks and open a restaurant in Paris.
”They were aghast. The bass player is like “Dude, you used to care about the common man – remember the flannels!” And, swear to God, he pumps his fist in the air.
I look at him and say, “They were from the Salvation Army.” And he gets a big smile on his mug like, all gleeful and shit. And I get right in his face and yell “Cause I was fucking POOR!!”
Interviewer: Wow – I guess that’s why A-Slave never got too political.
Chris Cornell: Oh they tried. Those fuckers tried – especially that guitarist. I’d come to the studio, and there'd be like, a voter registration card taped to my mic stand.
Why do you think I started breaking them? That trick started in the studio.
And he’d always be inviting me to rallys, like “Save the farmer” and “Stop genocide in Chechnya.” I’m like, “Yo, I’m not into it dude – back off. Why don’t you start living like a rock star – you’ve got the star part – they’re all over your hats, your armband…”
He says “Chris, these stars stand for the plight of the Zapatista.”
And dude, I just turned and walked out of the studio right there. Fucking Zapatistas. Fuck ‘em.
Interviewer: Tell us about Tim Bob.
Chris Cornell: Who?
Interviewer: The bass player?
Chris Cornell: Oh yeah – that fucking guy. Well, see, he’s the only white guy in the band other than me, so I guess he thought we could bond or something. He’d always be like, “Chris man – want to go to the gym after practice?” And I’d say “Dude, the gym? Come on – I’m going to fucking drink this day away like I do all the others.”
But like I said before, he was really creepy. He’d drive by my house at all hours blasting Ultramega OK – like, what am I gonna do, come out and sing the songs for him? I’d be like “Dude, stop acting like a kid in high school trying to impress a girl.”
He always get real red and be like “Dude, I was getting tattoos last night – I wasn’t anywhere near Seattle.”
And I’d be like “Yeah – than why do you have a poncho in your backseat? Uh-huh – fucking busted!”
Interviewer: Tell me about the “Like A Stone” controversy.
Chris Cornell: Oh yeah, you heard about that? After we lay down the basic tracks, he (Tim Commerford) sneaks all up in my shit and whispers “Hey!” in my ear.
I’m like, “What the fuck dude?!”
“What’s the song about?”
“What song?”
“You know, come one, “Like A Stone!”
“What?”
“Come on – tell me!”
So I told him the truth; I said it was about sitting in bed, you’re messing around with your girl, but she has her goddamn period, and she has to go into the bathroom and clean-up first. So I’m a little drunk, but still rock hard, and I’m like, “That’s ok baby, I’ll wait for you here, like a stone.” Get it? It’s a boner song – you know?
Interviewer: Wow, right on – but what about his interview on the DVD?
Chris Cornell: Well he wouldn’t accept the answer, he wouldn't stop pestering me, and finally, I made up this story about it being about death, and I swear, he was on cloud nine for days.
I think he was really beginning to piss off the guitarist too. The engineer would tell me that whenever I wasn’t there, he’d be telling him what a genius I was, and the guitarist would be all “Come on man!! He’s nothing! He’s not smart – wake up! Like Zack said! He’s playing you the fool! I’M the genius in this band.”
Interviewer: Looks like an ego problem.
Chris Cornell: With who – the guitarist? Man, I couldn’t do anything right. One day I come in with some Taco Bell. I’m eating it, and he starts lecturing me, all pissed off and shit about “migrant workers” and the “evils of the food industry.” I’m like “Look dude, I know this is your favorite food – I’m sorry I didn’t pick you up some!”
I’ll tell you what; I got so pissed that day, I threw a fucking gordita right at his damn head.
He didn’t talk much after that.
Interviewer: So when did you know it was over?
Chris Cornell: You mean other than the first day I met these fuckers?
Interviewer: Yeah.
Chris Cornell: Well, I got tired of the guitarist saying every song we did was going to be the next great rock song. The next album was gong to be our “Zeppelin moment.” I’d be like “Dude, we aren’t that good – stop talking smack about us - it's a paycheck.”
And just to spite me, he started doing solo gigs with his acoustic.
Interviewer: As the Nightwatchman?
Chris Cornell: Yeah, whatever – and I’m like, this fucker is trying to throw it in my face. That is where I want to be, just in a café somewhere, you know, like Singles, but in Paris. This guy is throwing it in my face by covering Arlo Guthrie songs!
Interviewer: But he’s been doing that for years - why put out the press release the day after Valentine’s Day?
Chris Cornell: Truthfully? I was fed up with that bass player, man. He sent me six dozen roses – six-fucking-dozen! Like, where did he get that kind of money? He gets a 10% split in the band. How many fucking pesos did he borrow off of the guitarist?
But the worst part, was in a card that came with the flowers, he had written new words and a video treatment for a song I am doing. You know, the Michael Jackson cover?
Interviewer: “Billie Jean?”
Chris Cornell: Yeah – well he rewrote the lyrics to say “Timmy C is not my lover, he’s just a guy who knows I am the one.”
Interviewer: Whoa…
Chris Cornell: Yeah, so I called the whole thing off right then and there. I was gonna kick that guy’s ass. But a restraining order seems to be working just fine.Interviewer: So tell us about that “Billie Jean” cover….
END INTERVIEW
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