10 Rock Bands Who Never Topped Their First Album

It didn't take long after Rage Against The Machine disbanded for Tim Commerford, Tom Morello and Brad Wilks to come up with something new, teaming up with Soundgarden's Chris Cornell for a gritty alternative rock/post-grunge supergroup mashup that knocked our socks off all over again.

More mainstream and less politically motivated than Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave split the musical difference between Rage and Soundgarden. Cornell was a powerful presence on the mic, and the band's musical ingenuity allowed his vocal tracks to take on a new life that went far beyond the typical "ae-yea"s of the grunge and post-grunge sound.

While they were not quite in the same league as Rage, Audioslave's self-titled debut nonetheless shines through from between the efforts of its alt-rock contemporaries. From the helicopter-like intro on Cochise to the sombre acoustics of I Am The Highway, it's got a bit of everything. Critics were divided on the album, recognising too much of the artists' other acts in the music, yet this is the one that has stood the test of time.

The group only made two more albums before calling it a day five years from their founding. Unsurprisingly, neither Out Of Exile (2005) nor Revelations (2006) had the same foot-stompers per-minute as the first record, and each release gained less exposure. The group settled into a groove that, while enjoyable, was no longer so special, distancing them from the musical fusion that made the first record so interesting.