72: Audioslave – Audioslave

Audioslave's debut album

There was a time I was an aspiring vocalist. I took voice lessons even and sang in my high school choir. The reality was I had a really good vocal quality but a major pitch problem. As much as I tried, I wasn't cut out to sing any place else than in my car, alone. Very alone. With the windows rolled up and with a 50 feet perimeter around the car. It's also recommended I sing in my car at night as to not look like a moron to other people at traffic lights.

All of this is completely reaffirmed by the existence of Chris Cornell. He is the kind of singer that American Idol wannabes imitate much to their own demise. Who else could take Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" and make it a serious rock song? Chris a dude with chops.

Now let's talk for a second about Rage Against the Machine. Rage is the most holy shit band I can think of. They are violently political, anarchist, offensive, and musically knee-capping. So for the brief history when Chris Cornell married Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, I thought it was either too awesome to be true or the worst thing to happen to rock since Ween's "Push Th’ Little Daisies".

Audioslave's self-titled debut (2002) was fortunately one of the best rock albums to grace my ears in a long, long time. Audioslave was everything I could have hoped. It was a mixture of the best musicianship from Rage with one of the best vocalists to sing in modern rock. And there it was, 14 songs of pure rock and roll. It's what it's all about. The guitar riffs, the outrageous vocals, and the completely off-the-wall lyrics.

The best part of Audioslave is the appreciation you get for Cornell's journey from Soundgarden to be able to mesh with Rage Against the Machine. By the time they did their live album from Cuba, Cornell was singing old Rage songs and Audioslave was doing old Soundgarden songs and it worked.

While Audioslave is no more, get Audioslave and appreciate the fact that the cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson, best known as the guy who made so many righteous Pink Floyd album covers. Appreciate the fact the songs are all equally excellent. And finally, appreciate the fact that Audioslave is important rock history making you deaf in your car as you fail to hit Cornell's high notes.