By Jim Powers

Those of you who were in high school in the early to mid-1990s will remember a time when rock leviathans roamed the land on tours with names like Monsters Of Rock and Lollapalooza, a time when Seattle was the capital of Rock’N’Roll, U.S.A., and when there was pretty much only one rap-rock band in existence.

Times have slightly changed, but some of the characters from those days remain. Two of them, singer Chris Cornell, of the defunct Seattle grunge pioneers Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine, the aforementioned rap-rock band, were involved in what was probably the biggest story in rock in the last year.

R.A.T.M. lead singer Zack De La Rocha kick-started the entire affair when he abruptly left the band in October 2000 to pursue a solo career. This left his bandmates Tim Commerford (bass guitar), Brad Wilk (drums) and Tom Morello (guitar) in something of a lurch. Morello, playing the role of spokesman, declared the band would press ahead without De La Rocha. De La Rocha’s solo album