Tom Morello Says Post Malone Writes Like Chris Cornell: ‘Hooky, Beautiful, Terrifying’

Morello said he and Malone also collaborated on an unfinished track, which the guitarist called “what ‘Beat It’ was to Michael Jackson”

Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Post Malone

In recent years, Post Malone has collaborated with everyone from country music legend Dolly Parton to pop hitmakers Doja Cat and Taylor Swift. The “Congratulations” artist hasn’t stopped genre-jumping and even has an unfinished track with Tom Morello.

The former Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist revealed the song’s existence in an episode of the Eddie Trunk Podcast last week. Morello said the two spent several hours in a studio session, about “five or six years ago.”

“We wrote a song together that, to my ears, sounds like what ‘Beat It’ was to Michael Jackson,” Morello said. “It is a banger. It is an absolutely awesome rock tune and I can’t get him to finish it.

Morello acknowledged that Malone is a “busy dude” with “tremendous” talent, and even compared Malone’s writing styles to late Audioslave and Soundgarden vocalist 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,” Morello said. “We’d put those down, and then he would write words to whatever, and that’s exactly how Post Malone does it.”

Malone has long idolized rock greats, and even performed “Dream On” and “Toys in the Attic” with Aerosmith to close out the 2018 MTV Video Music awards. During the podcast episode, Morello reflected on the brainstorming session with Malone and how it reminded him of Cornell: “Excellent melody — hit, hooky, beautiful, terrifying melody one after another. And that’s one thing they have in common.”

Malone racked up seven Grammy nominations Friday. With his new country album F-1 Trillion, released in August, he earned a nod for Best Country Album, and his single “I Had Some Help” received a nod for Best Country Song.