They’re in a growly mood

Grrrrr. War is looming.

Grrrrr. The economy is shaky.

Grrrrr. Terrorists are lurking.

Yes, there’s plenty to grrrrr about these days, and there was a whole lot of it at Night 1 of the annual Almost Acoustic Christmas weekend shows sponsored by KROQ-FM (106.7) on Saturday at the Universal Amphitheatre.

But it wasn’t look-at-the-world discontent. It was more the look-at-me variety.

Opening band Taproot grrrrred about poor self-esteem with guitars bludgeoning away. Ditto for Trust Company. Pop-punkers New Found Glory grrrrred the crowd for not being lively enough, and Sum-41 grrrrred about not conforming but lost credibility with its choreographed frog-jump moves.

And later, Disturbed singer David Draiman grrrrred with such Mephistophelean chest-thumping as to be laughable.

The grrrrr was noticeable for its absence, though, against the thunderous riffs of Audioslave. That’s because said riffs previously belonged to Rage Against the Machine, a standard-setting band that paired the powerful music of guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk with frontman Zack de la Rocha’s pointed, if haranguing, political science lectures.

In Audioslave, De la Rocha is replaced with distinctly apolitical Chris Cornell, formerly of Seattle titan Soundgarden. The quartet’s live debut (save for a “secret” Roxy show on Friday) almost entirely followed the Rage blueprint in the music’s crushing rhythms and Morello’s vast array of guitar effects. But the switch from De la Rocha’s hectoring to Cornell’s keening resets the reference points from hip-hop to Led Zeppelin.

The key moment may have been nonmusical. At the end of its set, the musicians exchanged warm hugs, relieved perhaps to have overcome the tensions that had jeopardized the band’s very existence before its new debut album had even been completed.

Grins and not grrrrrs also came from another ‘90s rock star presenting a new project Saturday. Former Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan unveiled his band Zwan, which offered a nicely sunny view, combining ‘60s melodicism and outlook with the Pumpkins’ ‘70s and ‘80s arena-rock scale, with musical echoes of such icons as John Lennon and Neil Young. However, after an inviting start, the set soon lost focus and the music often seemed not-quite-cooked.

Arguably, the two biggest winners of the night were Queens of the Stone Age, still trying to break through big commercially after three albums, and newcomer the Used. The former’s mix of psychedelic metal was by far the most imaginative, tightly executed and evolved of the night. And the addition of former Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan on several songs brought a Jim Morrison-esque mystique to the stage.

Used singer Bert McCracken has more of a Charlie Manson look and mystique going with his Utah quartet and yet seemed less affected than most of the evening’s singers. His charisma and the band’s balance of melody and dark power made this clearly an act to keep an eye on.

One has to wonder, though, how McCracken’s ironically worn “Jesus Is My Homeboy” shirt went down with closing act P.O.D., whose Christian grounding gives it distinction in this scene. But there was little else of distinction in its closing set Saturday. The music is warmed-over Rage Against the Machine -- superfluous with Audioslave on hand -- and the San Diego band resorts too often to heavy-handed sloganeering, especially in its clunky anthem, “Youth of the Nation.”

Not to be lost amid all the teeth-gnashing and posturing this night, though, was the real spirit of the season: selling. Every one of these bands is underwritten by the music division of a multinational corporation, and dutifully played its hits and did nothing to challenge the status quo of KROQ, itself part of media giant Viacom.

Rage against the machine?

This is the machine.