Slash‘s Snakepit vocalist Rod Jackson revealed that Chris Cornell was one of the many singers who auditioned for the band back in the day, saying on Appetite for Distortion (via Alternative Nation):
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“So Johnny [Griparic, who played bass on the Snakepit’s second and final album, 2000’s ‘Ain’t Life Grand’] and I had played together, and in passing he said: ‘Hey Rod, how would you like to come down and demo some songs for Snakepit?’
“I’m thinking Slash, Snakepit, putting two and two together, I said, ‘Sure.’ I went down there and they’d tried out like 300 singers. Chris Cornell was one, God bless.”
Focusing on his audition process, Rod added:
“You’re in Slash’s world, it’s a big thing, brother. I realized that when I got there, they gave me this cassette, back then you gave each other cassettes.
“I went home, listened to the songs, got in the corner. I remember saying to myself, ‘Hey man, ain’t no one-two swing, you better knock this son of a bitch right the fuck out on the first swing. You better bust ass on it!’
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“I think they went through a lot of singers, so I knew if I didn’t bust this out, man they were going to pass me up. I knew this was real.
“That was a lot of work. It was a lot of work, I disappeared when I got in that band. I learned a lot from those guys, I became a student.
“They had already done it and been there. I went to one of the best colleges in the world, it was the University of Slash. You learn good things, and you learn bad things.”