Chris Cornell R.I.P. (1964-2017)

Sad. Prince and Chris and many others. Could've been avoided.

 

Listened last night to Superunknown, Batmotorfinger and Temple Of The Dog. I will never hear these songs the same way again. Something like "Fell On Black Days" takes on a whole new meaning. Very sad....RIP Mr. Cornell.

 

Sigh.

I still can't bring myself to listen to his music yet.

What a talent and what a voice...

 

Listened to it in its entirety last night, hadn't done that in a long time.

I remember when it came out, it was considered a departure for him sound-wise. But I liked it a lot even then, and it got spun many times. I was in college, and the circle of people I hung out with were all big Soundgarden fans, and they spun it a ton also.

Caught him on the subsequent tour for it, and he had a good support band that included Alain & Natasha from the band Eleven.

There was no way it was going to be a smash in the bizarre musical climate of 1999, but it holds up as a very fine album.

 

I've been listening to his solo stuff & stray tracks (and I just checked out Higher Truth for the first time, there's some good stuff on there), but I haven't been able to spin any Soundgarden yet.

 

I can't find my copy of Higher Truth....still looking.

 

It's 2am and I'm 1.5hours into the Chris Cornell tribute on 'rage' (ABC TV Australia). It's really hitting home now

So very, very sad. Glad I saw audioslave, soundgarden (3x), and fairly recently a solo acoustic show (which was simply otherworldly)

What a voice, what a monumental loss

 

Right on! Chris had an amazing imagination for rhythms especially, so many of his songs have interesting time signatures here and there. Like Rush, Cornell could write tricky rhythms that basically go unnoticed 'cause they're so natural sounding.

Listening to Euphoria Morning now, never heard it, always wanted to 'cause I'd heard Jason Falkner played on it (I love Jason, I'm glad he's still alive, to me he's every bit the talent Chris was but without the mass success). Digging the album so far, this will likely kick me into a Soundgarden/Cornell binge. I'm only familiar with Badmotorfinger and Superunknown.

Rest in peace, Chris.

 

Well said you hit it on the head about CC's tricky rhythms.
I have been binging, listening to come together right now.

 

He was a drummer to start with, Soundgardens original drummer. Thank God he stepped up to the mic!

 

Kicking myself for never having seen him on his solo tours. I always liked Soundgarden but when I first heard "Seasons" I was completely blown away, that along with his harmonies/vocals on "Right Turn" by Alice MudGarden.

 

Listening to all his music today, every lyric is like a clue to his demons hidden in plain sight.

It saddens me that some music fans say they don't listen to him because they, 'hate grunge.' I'd say that his voice transcends genre. Anyone who can can sing Ave Maria, Nothing Compares To U, Imagine, Redemption Song as well as Big Dumb Sex, Full On Kevin's Mom and Beyond The Wheel is a pretty talented singer in my book. He was also just as entertaining alone with a guitar as he was with a band.

 

I'm really glad to have seen him around a year and a half ago on his solo acoustic tour - it was definitely one of the top ten concerts I have attended.

But, I'm really regretting passing on the Detroit show - I didn't want to make the 6-7 hour round trip from Cleveland to Detroit on a weeknight. I had figured Soundgarden might hit up NE Ohio this fall or winter instead.

 

I missed the Temple of the Dog shows last year. Would it be too much for a box set of all the songs performed at those handful of shows?

 

Saw him with Soundgarden in Melbourne just over a year ago. Fantastic live. Picked up the 'Singles' LP today too. Great stuff. Finally retire the CD.

 

I've purchased the Superunknown and Badmotorfinger super deluxe sets two months ago and I've been playing them yesterday and today. Like many, I've also just purchased some other SG CDs that have long been in my wishlist. As a fan, The only way I can mourn him is to celebrate his music and art. RIP

 

So his wife is now retracting earlier statements that it wasn't a suicide?
It's rather hard to have a thread on a musician who died, and not talk about how he lived, and died. That said, I'm still a bit stunned by his death.

 

I won tickets to see his solo tour a few years ago at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. I ended up not going. Moral of the story: I'm an idiot.

 

Some other random memories this morning (I posted several in the other thread that is now locked).

Caught him with Audioslave back when their first record came out, would've been at Lollapalooza 2003. I thought the first Audioslave record was great, but I kinda lost track of them after that one. I remember between songs, Chris broke into a rendition of "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" by the Beatles for a minute or so, just him on acoustic.

When I saw Soundgarden for the first time (Lolla '96), they did a full on cover of The Doors song "Waiting For The Sun". I was just as big a Doors maniac as a Soundgarden one at the time, so that kind of blew my mind.

 

Listening to Badmotorfinger now. Then, now, and always, hits like a Philips head into my brain.

What an amazingly talented guy. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

 

Listened to (legally downloaded) DSF files of "My Wave" and "Spoonman" in the car last night. What a voice. I never was a huge Soundgarden fan though I really appreciated his voice, from first hearing Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike" to a great many songs since. Only ever bought the Singles soundtrack and the download of Superunknown, though. Passively saw Audioslave play right on a blocked-off Hollywood Boulevard in 2005, promoting their debut album on Live with Jimmy Fallon... I was a distance away but could clearly see and hear them. Rest in peace, Chris.

 

That's really cool; I'm going to look for it. Cornell definitely had the right sonorous vocals for that one.

Since we're posting random memories (I guess?), I have kind of an odd association with "Black Hole Sun." I was in France when it hit hard overseas and was playing constantly on the radio. So every time I hear that song I think of driving past fields of sunflowers in the French countryside.

 

Black Hole Sun was released as a single just before I finished 8th grade; I often remember that summer fondly, roaming around the neighborhood with friends, getting into all sorts of shenanigans. Our core group of friends formed around two hangouts - one of them was my friend John's house - his mother was working on a PhD and working too, so not around much. Beach MTV was constantly on his TV (when we weren't playing Mario Kart on the SNES.)

I'm sure there was other music, and if you told me this or that came out that same summer I'd probably have some recollection, but remembering that summer always makes me think of Cornell and Soundgarden, and hearing 'Black Hole Sun' always takes me back there.

It was like 'Wo, this is the new Soundgarden? It sounds like a Beatles song.' And then the video was just perfect.

I saw Audioslave at MSG a decade or so later, and one of the standout moments was Cornell with his acoustic doing that tune, getting one of the best responses of the night from the audience.

RIP.

 

As you say they were definitely hard rock, up to Louder Than Love, but so much more than that from Badmotorfinger onwards imho. They were very versatile, and Cornell's quirky lyrics were not your typical dumb hard rock lyrics. Fantastic with a band where every member writes music, too.

 

Interesting. I don't believe anyone with a family and kids would intentionally hurt them either, but in an altered state of mind I guess anything is possible.