Audioslave (album)

Audioslave
Studio album by Audioslave
Released November 19, 2002 (2002-11-19)
Recorded May 2001 (2001-05) – June 2002 (2002-06)
Studio
Genre
Length 65:26
Label
Producer
Audioslave chronology
Audioslave
(2002)		 Out of Exile
(2005)
Singles from Audioslave
  1. "Cochise"
    Released: October 14, 2002 (2002-10-14)
  2. "Show Me How to Live"
    Released: December 2, 2002 (2002-12-02)
  3. "Like a Stone"
    Released: January 28, 2003 (2003-01-28)
  4. "I Am the Highway"
    Released: 2004 (2004)
  5. "What You Are"
    Released: 2004 (2004)
  6. "Gasoline"
    Released: 2004 (2004) (Promo & Radio)

Audioslave is the eponymous debut studio album by the American rock supergroup Audioslave, released on November 19, 2002 by Epic Records and Interscope Records. The album features the hit singles "Cochise", "Show Me How to Live", "What You Are", "Like a Stone", and "I Am the Highway". The album was later certified 3x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States. "Like a Stone" was nominated for a 2004 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Background

Audioslave was formed after Zack de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine and the remaining members were searching for another vocalist. Producer and friend Rick Rubin suggested that they contact Chris Cornell. Rubin played the remaining Rage Against the Machine band members the Soundgarden song "Slaves & Bulldozers" to showcase his ability. Cornell was in the writing process of a second solo album, but decided to shelve that and pursue the opportunity to work with Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk when they approached him. Morello described Cornell: "He stepped to the microphone and sang the song and I couldn't believe it. It didn't just sound good. It sounded transcendent. And... when there is an irreplaceable chemistry from the first moment, you can't deny it."[5] The quartet wrote 21 songs during 19 days of rehearsal and began working in the studio in late May 2001.[6][7]

Songs from the album were first heard when thirteen rough rehearsal demo tracks were leaked onto various peer-to-peer filesharing networks on May 16, 2002, six months before the official release of the album, under the name "Civilian" (or "The Civilian Project").[8] According to guitarist Tom Morello "it was very frustrating, especially with a band like this, there is a certain amount of expectation."[9] He also said that the songs were not in their finished form and that in some cases "they weren't even the same lyrics, guitar solos, performances of any kind."[9] In an earlier, July 2002 interview with Metal Sludge he spoke more explicitly about the incident, blaming "some jackass intern at Bad Animal Studios in Seattle" for stealing the demos and putting them on the Internet without the band's permission.[10]

The band was nearly derailed before the album's release. Cornell was going through alcohol problems and a slot on the Ozzfest tour was canceled.[11] During this time, there was a rumor that Cornell had checked himself into drug rehabilitation. He later confirmed it in an interview with Metal Hammer that was conducted from a clinic payphone.[12] In a San Diego CityBeat article, Cornell explained that he went through "a horrible personal crisis" during the making of the first record, staying in rehab for two months and separating from his wife.[13] The problems were ironed out and he has remained sober since this time. The band toured through 2003, before resting in 2004 to record their second album.

This album was released ten years after Rage Against the Machine's (Morello, Commerford, and Wilk's former band) debut album was released on November 3, 1992.

Artwork

The album cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson (with Peter Curzon and Rupert Truman) – who, as leader of the group of artists known as Hipgnosis, was best known for his cover work for Pink Floyd. "We knew we were going to set this idea of the eternal flame, the graphic flame, in Lanzarote, a volcanic island, since volcanoes suited the brooding menace of Audioslave," Thorgerson recalled. An unreleased version of the cover, shot elsewhere at the same location, features a naked man looking at the flame. "We so nearly used it," said Thorgerson, "but we were not entirely sure of the nude figure."[14]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic62/100[15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
The A.V. Clubfavorable[17]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[18]
NME4/10[19]
Pitchfork Media1.7/10[2]
PopMattersfavorable[20]
Robert Christgau[21]
Rolling Stone[22]
StylusF[3]
The Village Voiceunfavorable[23]
"Cochise" (2002)
"Cochise", typical of Tom Morello, was compared to the sound of a helicopter.[24]
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The album was released on November 19, 2002 and entered the Billboard 200 chart at position number seven after selling 162,000 copies in its first week.[25] It was certified gold by the RIAA less than a month after its release,[26] and by 2006 it had achieved triple platinum selling status.[27] It is the most successful Audioslave album to date, having sold more than three million copies in the United States alone. The album spawned hits such as "Cochise", "Like a Stone" and "Show Me How to Live".

Despite its commercial success, Audioslave received mixed reviews. Some critics lambasted the group's effort as uninspired,[18] and predictable.[23] Pitchfork Media's reviewers Chris Dahlen and Ryan Schreiber praised Cornell's voice, but criticized virtually every other part of the album, calling it "the worst kind of studio rock album, rigorously controlled-- even undercut-- by studio gimmickry." They described Cornell's lyrics as "complete gibberish" and called producer Rick Rubin's work "a synthesized rock-like product that emits no heat."[2] Jon Monks from Stylus Magazine had the same opinion. He considered Rubin's production over-polished and wrote that "lacking individuality, distinction and imagination this album is over-produced, overlong and over-indulgent."[3] On the other hand, other critics praised the supergroup's style reminiscent of 1970s heavy metal and compared it to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath,[28][29] saying they add much-needed sound and style to contemporary mainstream rock music,[30] and have the potential to become one of the best rock bands of the 21st century.[31] In 2005, Audioslave was ranked number 281 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[32]

The track "Shadow on the Sun" was also featured in Michael Mann's 2004 film Collateral.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Chris Cornell; all music composed by Audioslave.

No. Title Length
1. "Cochise"   3:42
2. "Show Me How to Live"   4:38
3. "Gasoline"   4:39
4. "What You Are"   4:09
5. "Like a Stone"   4:54
6. "Set It Off"   4:23
7. "Shadow on the Sun"   5:43
8. "I Am the Highway"   5:35
9. "Exploder"   3:26
10. "Hypnotize"   3:27
11. "Bring Em Back Alive"   5:29
12. "Light My Way"   5:03
13. "Getaway Car"   4:59
14. "The Last Remaining Light"   5:17
Total length:
 65:26

DualDisc version

The album was included among a group of 15 DualDisc releases that were test marketed in two cities: Boston and Seattle. The DualDisc has the standard album on one side, and bonus material on the second side. The DVD side of the Audioslave DualDisc featured the entire album in higher resolution 20bit 48 kHz sound, as well as some videos. The higher resolution DVD side of this disc has been termed a demonstration quality audiophile release.[33][34]

Connected bonus track

For a limited time the CD could be inserted into a CD-ROM and be used to access the ConnecteD website. Here, the user would be able to download bonus videos, interviews, photos, and a bonus track "Give".

Chart positions

Weekly

Chart (2002–2003) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[35] 8
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[36] 53
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[37] 6
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[38] 37
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[39] 30
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[40] 14
French Albums (SNEP)[41] 51
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[42] 39
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[43] 4
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[44] 5
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[45] 30
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[46] 14
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[47] 34
UK Albums (OCC)[48] 19
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[49] 2
US Billboard 200[50] 7

Year-end

Chart (2004) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[51] 100

Singles

Year Song Chart positions
US
Hot 100		 US
Modern Rock		 US
Mainstream Rock		 US
Adult Top 40		 US
Top 40 Mainstream
2002 "Cochise" 69 9 2 - -
2003 "Like a Stone" 31 1 1 23 27
"Show Me How to Live" 67 4 2 - -
"I Am the Highway" 66 3 2 - -
2004 "What You Are" - 17 8 - -

Personnel

Audioslave
Production

References

  1. ↑ Gray, Christopher (June 10, 2005). "Audioslave - Out of Exile". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Audioslave: Audioslave". Pitchfork Media. 2002-11-25. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  3. 1 2 3 Monks, Jon (2003-09-01). "Audioslave - Audioslave". Stylus. Archived from the original on 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  4. ↑ Gray, Christopher (January 31, 2003). "Audioslave - Audioslave". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  5. ↑ Moss, Corey; Parry, Heather. "Audioslave: Unshackled, Ready To Rage". MTV. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  6. ↑ O'Brien, Clare. "Pushing Forward Back." Zero Magazine. September 7, 2005, Iss. 1.
  7. ↑ Weiss, Neal (2001-05-22). "Rage And Cornell To Enter Studio Next Week". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 2007-06-15. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  8. ↑ D’Angelo, Joe (2002-05-20). "Rage/Cornell-Credited Tracks Get Leaked Online". MTV. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  9. 1 2 Cashmere, Tim. "Audioslave to the Rhythm". Undercover. Archived from the original on 2 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  10. ↑ Anderson, Donna (2002-07-16). "20 Questions with… Rage Against The Machine Guitarist Tom Morello". Metal Sludge. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  11. ↑ Gene Stout (2006-04-20). "As a Paris restaurateur and family man, life is now good for Audioslave rocker". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  12. ↑ Ewing, Jerry (December 2002). "Straight Outta Rehab". Metal Hammer (108).
  13. ↑ Sculley, Alan. "A Career in Slavery". San Diego CityBeat. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  14. ↑ Classic Rock 2010 calendar
  15. ↑ "Audioslave - Audioslave". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-07-03.
  16. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen. "Audioslave - Audioslave". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-07-03.
  17. ↑ Thompson, Stephen (2002-12-06). "Audioslave: Audioslave". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  18. 1 2 Browne, David (2002-11-22). "Audioslave Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  19. ↑ "Audioslave : Audioslave". NME. 2002-12-06. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  20. ↑ Levenfeld, Ari (2003-04-14). "Audioslave: self-titled". PopMatters. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  21. ↑ "CG: audioslave". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  22. ↑ Blashill, Pat (2002-11-04). "Audioslave : Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  23. 1 2 Tate, Greg (2003-01-14). "Village Voice Review". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  24. ↑ Lee, Matt (December 2002). "Stoke & Staffordshire Music – Singles review". BBC. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  25. ↑ "Audioslave, Mudvayne Debut In Billboard's Top 20". Blabbermouth.net. 2002-11-27. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  26. ↑ "Audioslave Land Gold Album". Blabbermouth.net. 2002-12-17. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  27. ↑ "Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - Search Results - Audioslave". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  28. ↑ McAuliffe, Amy (2007-06-21). "Rock/Indie Review – Audioslave, Audioslave". BBC. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  29. ↑ Jeres (2002-11-21). "Audioslave: Audioslave (2002) review". PlayLouder. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  30. ↑ Gray, Christopher (2003-01-31). "Music: Review - Audioslave Audioslave". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  31. ↑ Heath, Chris (2003-01-09). "Album Reviews: Audioslave - Audioslave". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  32. ↑ [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 102. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  33. ↑ Jerry Del Colliano , Audio Video Revolution, June 07, 2004
  34. ↑ Jerry Del Colliano , Home Theater Review, March 22, 2010
  35. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Audioslave – Audioslave". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  36. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Audioslave – Audioslave" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  37. ↑ "Audioslave – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Audioslave. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  38. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Audioslave – Audioslave". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  39. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Audioslave – Audioslave" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  40. ↑ "Audioslave: Audioslave" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  41. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Audioslave – Audioslave". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  42. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Audioslave – Audioslave". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  43. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Audioslave – Audioslave". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  44. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Audioslave – Audioslave". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  45. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  46. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Audioslave – Audioslave". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  47. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Audioslave – Audioslave". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  48. ↑ "Audioslave | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  49. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  50. ↑ "Audioslave – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Audioslave. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  51. ↑ Billboard 200 Albums (2004 Year-end). Billboard.com. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
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