Thx, I guess.

Saikin-

I see your point now

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chris Cornell is getting a kick out of angering his fans.

The former Soundgarden singer has stunned the rock cognoscenti with his whimsical decision to record an album with Timbaland, a hip-hop producer whose clients include pop stars Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado.

"Scream" is both the title of his third solo outing and a reflection of the howls of indignation. Online forums ignited with bitter denunciations (and occasional defenses) of the album long before it hit stores on Tuesday via Interscope Records.

Critics were vexed by all the beats, synthesizers and processed vocals, especially given Cornell's impeccable rock credentials. Soundgarden was one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, with its metal overtones helping pave the way for the "grunge" revolution. After the Seattle foursome broke up in 1997, Cornell put his brooding vocals to good use in Audioslave, a "supergroup" rounded out by the three musicians from the archly political band Rage Against the Machine.

His two previous solo releases were stylistic departures, but not of the same magnitude as "Scream." The Los Angeles Times said it was "a fascinating but heartbreaking document of how many wrong decisions one can make in writing and performing a record." Rolling Stone called it "a strange mutation."

Cornell is savoring the outrage.

"That part's kinda fun," Cornell, 44, told Reuters in a recent interview. "If someone is up in arms about the idea of an artist that they really care about doing something that they just can't believe, it begs that question, 'Well, what is it that you would want? Would you then want predictable, comfortable salad that gets reproduced year after year?'"

INTERESTING EXPERIMENT

At any rate, Cornell has performed the album in its entirety at about a dozen concerts, and says the audience response has been enthusiastic.

"It's the most that I've seen guys with beards rocking back and forth to a rhythm," he said.

He considers the album "an interesting sociological experiment," since people seem to be more concerned about who is making the music rather than the music itself.

Of course, that was not the original intention. He just wanted to make music, and does not view himself as the Ray Charles of his generation, boldly traversing musical boundaries.

"It was really more of a whimsical moment of having a conversation about the possibility of making this album and deciding, 'That'll be interesting. Let's go do that.' So I didn't really expect it to be taken any differently."