"Original Fire" is a song by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band Audioslave. It was released in July 2006 as the first single from the album ''

Revelations Revelation, in religion and theology, is the act of revealing through communication with supernatural entities. Revelation(s) may also refer to: * Book of Revelation or simply Revelation, the last book of the New Testament * Revelation (Latter Da ...

''. Over a year and a half after release, the song rose back into the UK Rock Chart, at number 11, and a week later climbed to the top 10 at number 6. It was also a substantial rock hit in the U.S., peaking at number 3 on the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart and number 4 on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart, although it did not chart for several months.

Background

Guitarist Tom Morello described the song as hard-rocking, but with a '70s

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and soul influence. "It's a jam," he said. "It's one of those songs where the genesis was a riff that I had for a very, very long time and imagined it happening in a certain way. When we started jamming in the room, the song morphed into something completely different, completely unexpected and a lot better than I ever imagined it being."

Promotion

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

held a contest in which the participants had to identify all of the icons shown in the video (there was a list of names and silhouettes given and you had to match them) and they had the chance to win copy of the album ''Revelations'', as well as a guitar signed by the band.

Track listing

CD version

# "Original Fire" (album version) # "Set It Off" (live at the Quart Festival) # "Gasoline" (live at the Quart Festival)

7" vinyl

# "Original Fire" (album version) # "

Doesn't Remind Me "Doesn't Remind Me" is a song by the American rock supergroup Audioslave, released in July 2005 as the third single from their second studio album ''Out of Exile''. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance at the ...

" (live at the Quart Festival)

Monkey house guitar solo

"Original Fire" has a strange guitar solo that Tom Morello describes as "

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

laughter." He performs this solo by setting his DOD Equalizer, deploying his wah-wah pedal, depressing his whammy bar to make the strings slack and slapping the strings against the pickups, although, as shown in the music video, the same effect can be achieved by rapidly loosening and tightening the tuning peg if the guitar does not have a whammy bar. Tom later went on to jokingly describe the solo as an "ATROCITY".

Music video

A music video for "Original Fire" was also shot, and premiered on Yahoo! Music. The video was directed by

Paul R. Brown Paul R. Brown was the eighth president of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, assuming office on August 1, 2013, and formally inaugurated on April 10, 2014. He was preceded as Monmouth University president by Paul G. Gaffney II. ...

(who was the director of videos for bands like

Stone Sour Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand ...

Otep Otep is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2000. They have released two EPs, eight studio albums, and one live album. They are currently signed with Napalm Records. The band has sold over 500,000 albums world ...

and

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...

) and reflected on the lyrics of the song, "The original fire has died and gone, but the riot inside moves on." It featured the band playing with images of figures that are inspirational to the band, such as

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

, Martin Luther King Jr., Che Guevara,

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...

, The Clash, Bob Dylan,

Wendy O. Williams Wendy Orlean Williams (May 28, 1949 – April 6, 1998) was an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the punk rock band Plasmatics. She was noted for her onstage theatrics, which included partial nudity, exploding equipment, firing ...

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963� ...

, Jello Biafra, Bill Hicks,

Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), known professionally as Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which ...

, Jim Morrison, the Million Man March, Andy Warhol, Ozzy Osbourne,

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

, Joey Ramone,

Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo alb ...

, Malcolm X,

Glenn Danzig Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film director, and record producer. He is the founder of the rock bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He owns t ...

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

and

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

. "The video, in some ways, is about the thread of music and cultural figures with integrity that were important parts of our history – how all those streams flow together to where we are today," Morello explained.

Charts

Peak positions

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2006 singles Audioslave songs Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer) Songs written by Chris Cornell Music videos directed by P. R. Brown