Seattle Grunge & L.A. Alt-Metal 1989 – 2005 Beginner Friendly 5 Lineage Steps

From Seattle Grunge to Revolutionary Alt-Metal: Soundgarden to Audioslave

Chris Cornell & Tom Morello's Bridge Across Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden & RATM

Trace how Chris Cornell's four-octave voice and Matt Cameron's polyrhythmic drumming bridged Seattle's Temple of the Dog and Soundgarden with Rage Against the Machine in Audioslave.

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Historical Context & Significance

Few voices in rock history possessed the seismic power and emotional vulnerability of Chris Cornell. Emerging from Seattle's late-80s underground with Soundgarden, Cornell and drummer Matt Cameron merged Black Sabbath's sludgy drop-D weight with adventurous odd-time signatures.

When Cornell's roommate, Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood, passed away in 1990, Cornell and Cameron joined grieving Mother Love Bone members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament—alongside newcomer Eddie Vedder and guitarist Mike McCready—to record the self-titled 1991 tribute album Temple of the Dog, directly midwifing the birth of Pearl Jam.

A decade later, after both Soundgarden and Los Angeles political funk-metal revolutionaries Rage Against the Machine had disbanded, producer Rick Rubin suggested that Rage instrumentalists Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk jam with Cornell. The resulting quartet, Audioslave, fused 70s hard-rock swagger with Morello's futuristic guitar wizardry on their multi-platinum 2002 debut.