Audioslave is the debut studio album by American rock supergroup Audioslave, released on November 18, 2002, through Epic Records and Interscope Records. In the United States, it has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album spawned the singles "Cochise", "Like a Stone", "Show Me How to Live", "I Am the Highway", and "What You Are"; "Like a Stone" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards.

"Cochise" (2002)

For the introduction of "Cochise", Tom Morello created a helicopter-like sound with his guitar.^[6]

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After Zack de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine, the remaining members of the band began to look for a new vocalist. Producer and friend Rick Rubin suggested they contact Chris Cornell and played them the Soundgarden song "Slaves & Bulldozers" to showcase his ability. Cornell was in the process of writing material for a second solo album when Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk approached him, but he decided to shelve that and pursue the opportunity to work with them.

Speaking about the first time Cornell jammed with the band, Morello said: "He stepped to the microphone and sang the song and I couldn't believe it. It didn't just sound good. It didn't sound great. It sounded transcendent. And ... when there is an irreplaceable chemistry from the first moment, you can't deny it."^[7] The new quartet wrote 21 songs during 19 days of rehearsal and started recording their first album in late May 2001.^[8][9]

On March 19, 2002, the band announced they would be part of the 7th Ozzfest tour that summer, but three days later Cornell quit the group, and the Ozzfest dates were canceled. He rejoined the band six weeks later, after some management issues were resolved.^[10]

Rough versions of thirteen songs from the album were leaked onto various peer-to-peer file sharing networks on May 17, 2002, six months before the official release of the album, under the name "Civilian" (or "The Civilian Project").^[11] In an interview with Metal Sludge that July, Morello blamed "some jackass intern at Bad Animal Studios in Seattle" for stealing some demos and putting them on the internet without the band's permission.^[12] Later, he said that "It was very frustrating, especially with a band like this, there is a certain amount of expectation. For some people the initial time that they are hearing it was not in the form that you would have them hear it. In some cases they weren't even the same lyrics, guitar solos, performances of any kind."^[13]

Cornell was having problems with alcohol while making the album, and in late 2002 there was a rumor that he had checked himself into drug rehabilitation—a rumor that was confirmed when he conducted an interview with Metal Hammer from a clinic payphone.^[14] He later said that he went through "a horrible personal crisis" during the making of the first Audioslave album, staying in rehab for two months and separating from his wife.^[10] He remained sober until shortly before his passing in 2017.

The album was released on November 18, 2002, in the United Kingdom and a day later in the United States.^[15] The band toured through 2003, before taking a break from the road in 2004 to record their second album.

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. About it, he said: "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 also said that an unreleased version of the cover featuring a naked man looking at the flame was shot elsewhere at the same location, and "We so nearly used it, but we were not entirely sure of the nude figure."^[16]

Audioslave

• Chris Cornell – vocals
• Tim Commerford – bass, backing vocals
• Brad Wilk – drums
• Tom Morello – guitars

Production and design