After the group's breakup, Morello, Wilk, and Commerford decided to stay together and find a new vocalist. "There was talk for a while of us becoming Ozzy Osbourne's backing band, and even Macy Gray's", said Morello. "We informed them that losing our singer was actually a blessing in disguise, and that we had bigger ambitions than being somebody's hired musicians." Music producer and friend Rick Rubin suggested that they play with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Along with Cornell, they formed Audioslave. The first Audioslave single, "Cochise", was released in early November 2002, and a self-titled debut album followed to mainly positive reviews. Compared to Rage Against the Machine, most of Audioslave's music was apolitical, although some songs touched on political issues. Their second album Out of Exile debuted at the number one position on the Billboard charts in 2005. Audioslave released its third album Revelations on September 4, 2006, but an accompanying tour did not occur as Cornell and Morello were working on solo albums. After months of inactivity and rumors of a breakup, Audioslave disbanded on February 15, 2007, after Cornell announced he was leaving the band.
