When Tom Morello first met Chris Cornell in a haunted house
The music of Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden often feel worlds apart. Though both bands debuted in the early 1990s and played a huge role in bringing alternative music to the masses, both approached the genre from two distinct angles. Little did both bands know that their members would greatly influence each other’s careers as the years went on, starting with Tom Morello calling Chris Cornell to be in Audioslave.
Towards the end of the century, Morello was starting to sense the major creative disagreements within Rage, with Zack de la Rocha not seeing eye to eye with the rest of the band regarding how to market their political message. As Rage was slowly disintegrating, Soundgarden had thrown in the towel after a decade following a disastrous final tour, leaving Cornell to finish one of their final sets with a solo encore.
After every band in the world had their hand at smooth-talking Cornell, he decided to move onto a solo career, creating the Led Zeppelin-infused Euphoria Morning before getting in touch with the members of Rage. Morello had been working with superproducer Rick Rubin, who had suggested getting someone like Cornell for the band as soon as Rage split up.
Once they got Cornell’s contact information, Morello mentions his abode being especially spooky, telling Howard Stern, “Chris lives on the last loneliest castle an hour and a half outside of LA. I’m driving my Chevrolet Astro van. I didn’t know what he was going to be like. It’s dusk, and [me and Rick] are going down these Transylvania-like streets, and the doors to his house open up Addams Family-style.”
Although Cornell was one of the friendliest guys once Morello got to know him, Rubin was initially too spooked to get out of the car. As Morello continues, “Chris comes slowly loping down the steps, and Rick goes, ‘Let’s get the fuck out of here’. It was like our souls were in peril.”
Cornell would accept the offer for Morello’s project, hooking up with the other members of Rage to create Audioslave. Although each member came from a different background, their love of classic rock drove most of the sessions, leading to some of the most organic music of their careers on songs like ‘Like a Stone’ and ‘I Am The Highway’.
Morello even noted how much of a difference Cornell brought to the table. Since Rage was always used to the James Brown style of songwriting where everything got back to the one, Cornell was a different animal who would come up with song ideas on the fly, which led the rest of the band to flesh out the idea until they got a tune out of it.
Most of all, Morello always appreciated Cornell as an artist before anything else. In the wake of his death, Morello remained thankful for what Cornell brought to the band, saying, “While I knew Chris as a bandmate, I never stopped being a fan of his and his ability to craft melody out of the ether. Whether it was a few simple chords or some complicated heavy riff, he would create something that was either beautiful or terrifying.”
