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The band's history dates back to October of 2000, after Rage Against the Machine broke up when singer Zack de la Rocha left the band. The other three members of the seminal hard rock band stayed together, planning to continue as a trio under the Rage name. Several vocalists jammed with the band at this time, including B-Real of Cypress Hill. Music producer Rick Rubin later suggested that they jam with Chris Cornell, formerly of Soundgarden, and "see what happens." The chemistry clicked between the singer and the three musicians, and they began work in the studio in May 2001, writing 21 songs in 19 days (the first of which was "Light My Way").
Allegations that they argued during production are not entirely unfounded; the group broke up in April 2002, before they had even released an album. Under the tentative name "Civilian" (or "The Civilian Project"), 14 demo tracks were leaked onto various peer-to-peer filesharing networks around the same time as their pre-Audioslave breakup, confirming any rumors of the new RATM/Chris Cornell formation. The most notorious and well-known aspect of their temporary dissolution came that summer after the band cancelled their appearance in the popular, annual rock festival Ozzfest. Subsequent interviews with the band revealed that early problems had been partly due to external pressures which were resolved when the band members sacked their previous management companies and hired Los Angeles company The Firm.
Once that was completed, the Audioslave moniker was chosen by the band, and in August 2002, Audioslave's first single, "Cochise", was released, named for the famous American Indian chief, the last to die free and unconquered. Later in the fall, they would go on to release their debut, self-titled album on November 19, 2002.
The group's first studio album, Audioslave, drew mixed reactions from critics but swiftly attained double platinum-selling status. Some lambasted the group as millionaire musicians who constantly argued during album production, and whose 1970s rock sound is primarily the result of post-studio modification. Others compared them to Led Zeppelin, saying they add much-needed sound and style to contemporary mainstream music. They toured extensively worldwide in 2003, silencing many critics and gaining largely positive reviews for their spectacular live performances, including overshadowing the headlining "reunited" Jane's Addiction at that year's version of Lollapalooza.
In the Spring of 2005, Audioslave announced that their sophomore effort was completed and would see release that summer. As a special treat to fans who did not see them on Lollapalooza, the band secretly booked a small club tour to promote their upcoming album. On this tour, the band began performing songs from their previous bands, including Soundgarden's "Spoonman," "Outshined," and "Black Hole Sun," Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls On Parade," "Sleep Now In The Fire," and "Killing In The Name" as well as several new songs, including "Your Time Has Come," "Be Yourself," "Doesn't Remind Me," "The Worm," and "Man Or Animal." While it was definitely a great experience for fans to see a multi-platinum selling band in venues so tiny, the downside was that many shows had sold out before they were technically even announced as happening.
On May 6, 2005, Audioslave became the first American rock group to perform a concert in Cuba, playing for free in front of an audience of 70,000. The concert was organized with the joint authorization of the United States Treasury Department and the Instituto Cubano de la Musica. This concert was recorded, and released on DVD on October 11, 2005. It came in two versions, a basic package consisting of only the DVD, and a deluxe edition consisting of a DVD and a CD of the Sessions@AOL.
Their latest album, Out of Exile, was released on May 24, 2005. It debuted #1 on the U.S. charts, and featured the song "Be Yourself" as the leading single. "Be Yourself" was soon followed by "Your Time Has Come" and "Doesn't Remind Me", the latter given rave reviews and frequent radio airplay. Currently, the fourth single, "Out of Exile", is receiving moderate to high airplay on radio nationwide. The whole album was uploaded online at Audioslave's Myspace site for previewing. Critics did note Cornell's stronger vocals on Audioslave's sophomore disc, likely the result of him quitting smoking and drinking.
More recently, Audioslave performed at the Live 8 concerts. Their performance was in Barbara Ann, Germany. On August 19, 2005, Audioslave announced their first-ever headlining arena tour across the U.S. and Canada. Audioslave were nominated for the 2006 Grammy Awards in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category for their song "Doesn't Remind Me".
In 2006, video game company Vivendi Games announced that two songs from Out Of Exile would be featured on their upcoming racing game, FlatOut 2. The game is set for release August 1st, 2006 and is the second entry in the series which allows players to race in various enviroments at high speeds. The game is noted for having special destruction gameplay elements, including the ability of having the driver fly out of the windshield when hit head-on. The two songs to be featured are the second single, Your Time Has Come, and Man Or Animal.
Brendan O'Brien, who has produced or mixed the albums of numerous major rock acts of the past twenty years, including Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen, is at the helm for their third record, provisionally titled Revelations. Audioslave has 20 songs written (a few of which were sampled during their 2005 tour) and returned to the studio in early January to finish recording them. This follow-up to Out of Exile is now 100% completed. The album is said to have a number of songs influenced by old-school R&B and Soul. In a recent interview, guitarist Tom Morello said that the album would feature 'funky grooves' that are similar to those of Led Zeppelin and Earth, Wind & Fire.
It is interesting to note that even though the group had supposedly recorded almost 2 dozen songs in their first month, their 2nd and 3rd efforts only consist of 12 tracks each. Revelations was recently pushed back to a September 5th release; consequently this summer Audioslave will not be touring Europe as first reported. 'Original Fire' has been pegged as the first single from the effort, and the song goes for adds on July 17th. MTV.com reported that the video for the song, directed by P.R. Brown was shot on the week of July 3rd to July 7th NETQUOTEVAR:1. On July 11th the song was made available online on Audioslave's official website for free streaming.
The title song from Revelations will be released on the upcoming EA Sports football title Madden '07. The game will release on most consoles on August 22, 2006.
