Tom Morello on the songwriting similarities between Post Malone and Chris Cornell
Tom Morello has shared what he sees as the similarities between Post Malone and Chris Cornell when it comes to songwriting.
Morello – who was the guitarist in Audioslave alongside Chris Cornell – opened up about the number of artists he has collaborated with over the years in a new interview with Eddie Trunk.
When asked which artist he would like to release music with next, the Rage Against The Machine icon shared that he has actually already written a song with Post Malone, but hasn’t had the chance to share it yet.
“We wrote a song together that, to my ears, sounds like what ‘Beat It’ was to Michael Jackson,” Morello told the host, revealing that they first began writing the track between five and six years ago. “It is a banger. It is an absolutely awesome rock song.”
He also said that the reason it hasn’t been released yet is because the two of them haven’t had a chance to complete it. In recent months alone, Morello has been embarking on a huge number of festival appearances as a solo artist, while Post Malone has been collaborating with Taylor Swift, and also shared country album ‘F-1 Trillion’.
Explaining what it was like to be in a writing process with Posty, Morello explained that he noticed a big similarity between the ‘Circles’ singer and ex-bandmate Chris Cornell.
“When we would write songs with Chris, we sort of threw music at him – whether it was a simple chord progression like ‘I Am the Highway’ or a more complicated heavy riff – and he would just come up instantaneously with a bunch of great melodies. We’d put those down, and then he would write words to whatever,” Morello said.
“And that’s exactly how Post Malone does it. Excellent melody – hit, hooky, beautiful, terrifying melody one after another. And that’s one thing they have in common.”
Later in the interview, Morello went on to recall that he has met up with Post Malone a few times since they began work on the currently untitled track, but the two of them have not yet carved out time to add the finishing touches.
The comments on the Eddie Trunk interview – which you can listen to in full above – come shortly after the guitarist hit out at Rage Against The Machine fans who he claimed “weren’t intelligent enough” to understand the group’s politics.
“Never ceases to amaze me how many folks who’ve heard RATM are in Paul Ryan mode, having literally ZERO understanding of anything that band was about and even less understanding where any of us might stand on contemporary issues,” he began on X/Twitter.
“Recently was talking to a couple at a restaurant who were big fans of ‘Killing In The Name.’ The nice lady said, ‘I love that song. It helped me rage against my parents and later against the jab!’ I said, ‘Ma’am that song is about racist cops who often behave like the Ku Klux Klan in service of historical white supremacy and are boot-licking lackeys and thugs of the racist capitalist ruling class.’ She sat there chewing and blinking, chewing and blinking.”
Earlier this summer, the artist caught up with NME while backstage at Download Festival, and told us about how he came to write the single ‘Soldier In The Army Of Love’ with his 13-year-old son Roman.
“During the pandemic, while the rest of us were baking bread and trying to learn a language, [Roman] was practising guitar for eight hours a day,” he said. “I’ve been relegated to being the rhythm guitar player in my family as I have a shredding prodigy now who’s really giving me a run for my money.
“One day I was walking by his room and these huge drop-D riffs were coming out of there and I said ‘What’s that’ and he said ‘Oh, I’ve just been working on some riffs, do you think these go well together?’. I was like ‘Son. Those go very well together and we’re about to write our first song together’,” he added.
“He’s been putting in those hours! I didn’t start playing until I was 17 so it’s weird to see a little kid with that sort of facility on the instrument. I think a lot of kids are out there being DJs or influencers or whatnot, but he’s doing it the old-school way, practising for hours and hours a day to become a really great guitar player and he’s already there.”
As for Post Malone, the rapper-turned-country-star released his sixth studio album ‘F-1 Trillion’ in August, comprising 18 tracks and collaborations from Dolly Parton, Tim McGraw, Luke Combs, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, and more.
He later surprised fans by dropping an additional nine solo tracks for the record just days later.
‘F-1 Trillion’ followed Post Malone’s fifth studio album ‘Austin‘, which was released last year. That record teased his new creative direction, with Malone playing guitar on every track.
NME gave the record a four-star review, praising his musical evolution writing: “The shift from trap beats and hip-hop delivery to purer pop suits Malone well, proving that slowing down can be a creative advantage, especially when you’re heading in the right direction.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
