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

No.

Also - if you try to watch the Kimmel episode to see this clip in context - you won't find the entire song there. They used it as a throw to commercial break - you hear under 30 seconds of the tune before it fades to black. YouTube is currently the only place to hear the full performance.

Apparently - Ann was sitting in with the band to promote some upcoming solo shows she's doing. She'd announced the gig on her website before the news.

Cheers,
Paul

 

Sincere condolences to his family, friends and all who knew him and his music.

RIP Mr. Cornell.

 

Check the recent news regarding Ann's husband and Nancy's kids. That should answer your question.

 

Strange thing is, I took an Ativan when I heard the news to calm me down.

 

Ann Wilson gave a classy performance. She sounds and looks great!

 

A nice video from Pete Thorn who played in Chris Cornell's solo band. It's long but worth watching.

 

RE: Scream, the album...

I think it's his best solo album by far.

Let me put it this way, Chris came in with a lot of melodic ideas that he had written in his normal manner: guitar, piano, etc. But Timberland made him view the songs from a different angle. (By the way I'm not a Timberland fan.) By doing so, Chris was able to take the songs in more melodic directions. It gave him a new mindset to experiment. From my understanding new melodies were then added in segments to match the beats, making each section more melodically sound.

Now, if you took all of the songs on Scream and play them acoustically, they are much better stripped down then they would have been had Chris not been able to arrange them with a new mindset.

In other words, people might not want to hear the beats and loops, but the underlying songs are stellar in every way imaginable. Just listen to the melodies and separate the rest.

 

Nice to hear plenty of Chris Cornell tunes played during stoppages in tonight's Penguins/Senators game

 

Have any of his Soundgarden bandmembers made any kind of statement at all? I haven't read anything at all. I realize they are probably in complete shock,but the band must have a publicist even if Kim and the others don't have one personally...seems strange.

 

Never got much into him apart from a few songs. Great voice though. Seemed like a lovely guy. Very sad.

 

YouTube update: The Kimmel folks have made the Ann Wilson video unlisted. It won't show up in a YouTube search, but you can still view it:



Cheers,
Paul

 

Please guys, let's try to keep the conversation to Chris and his music.

We don't want another thread closed.

 

I think the first time I really got into Chris was after Shadow of the sun on Collateral movie, then I started diggin on Soundgarden/Audioslave, eventually on Tom Morello and his collaboration with Bruce.

Such a shame to know about this. The last time he came to Santiago he played on the beautiful "Teatro Municipal" on his guitar only show. Couldn't get tickets...

 

I must say, reading the threads on here has been very comforting -- the last 26 hours or so have been pretty painful. Similar to what some others have posted, I was about 10 when the 'grunge' bands started to come to the fore of pop culture, and the Seattle bands in particular (SG, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam) formed a big part of my early musical tastes.

Soundgarden, is for whatever reason the only one of those early bands that I continually listened to through the years, even when I started pursuing more esoteric stuff like jazz and classical in college. I also really liked King Animal as well and thought it amazingly picked up where they'd left off 15 years prior. I was really hoping for a followup - anyway, I really feel bad for his family and friends, and it's particularly shocking that this all happened while they were on tour.

'Switch Opens' on the Down on the Upside is one song of theirs (written by Ben) I find particularly lovely and a good example of the diverse sounds they were capable of producing:

 

really kicking myself for missing his show in rva last year

 

Played "Badmotorfinger" and "Ultramega OK" back to back last night. It made things seem even more..... I don't know..... bizarre? Sad?

 

It's interesting that of all the big Seattle frontmen of that period he's the only one who was actually from Seattle.

 

Like many, I'm still dazed by the loss of Chris Cornell but even more, I'm moved by how much love for the man and his family, extended family, and band mates has been shown by fans these last few days and how very heavy the loss has been for so many. Yet, the music lives on and the man gave a whole generation (and more) so much joy through it. Pretty astounding.

R.I.P. Chris

 

I'm no Heart fan, but that was very good for an impromptu rendition and obviously heartfelt.

 

Listened to Euphoria Mourning and Scream and as those are my two favorite solo albums of his I can't even get to the Soundgarden songs yet, way too emotional. Superunknown came out when I was 12 and was one of the first modern rock albums I had ever heard that connected with me on a deep level. Black Hole Sun, Fell on Black Days, 4th of July...just amazing, visceral, powerful music and it floored me! Up until that record I was into Zeppelin, Beatles (whose influence I noticed instantly), Floyd etc. but Soundgarden and Chris' writing was something different all together. An amazing artist and one of the all time greatest voices in music history. He will be greatly missed by me and many others and I hope he finds peace in the next life.

 

At 23:52 he talks about this performance:


"I'm still here...barely...I made it!"





Preaching the End of the World

Hello, I know there's someone out there
Who can understand
And who's feeling the same way as me
I'm twenty-four and I've got everything to live for
But I know now that it wasn't meant to be
'cause all has been lost and all has been won
And there's nothing left for us to save
But now I know that I don't want to be alone today
So if you find that you've been feeling just the same

Call me now it's alright
It's just the end of the world
You need a friend in the world
'cause you can't hide
So call and I'll get right back
If your intentions are pure
I'm seeking a friend for the end of the world


I've got a photograph, I'll send it off today
And you will see that I am perfectly sane
Not for a lifetime or forever and a day
'cause we know now that just wont be the case

Call me now it's alright
It's just the end of the world
You need a friend in the world
'cause you can't hide
So call and I'll get right back
If your intentions are pure
I'm seeking a friend for the end of the world

There will be no commitment and no confessions
And no little secrets to keep
No little children or houses with roses
Just the end of the world and me
'cause all has been gone and all has been done
And there's nothing left for us to say
But we could be together as they blow it all away
And we can share in every moment as it breaks

So call me now it's alright
It's just the end of the world
You need a friend in the world
'cause you cant hide
So call and I'll get right back
If your intentions are pure
I'm seeking a friend for the end of the world
So call me now it's alright
It's just the end of the world
You need a friend in the world
'cause you cant hide
So call and I'll get right back
If your intentions are pure
I'm seeking a friend for the end of the world

 

1985, Ditto Tavern, Seattle


that's Mark Arm on the far left watching the band

 

I heard the news at around 9am (UK time) and for a moment felt overcome with disbelief and sickness to the stomach. I have lots of "favourite" artists, ranging from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Bowie to Depeche Mode, Duran and Soundgarden. There are many others I like but this is the first time I truly feel I have lost an idol. I'm in disbelief at the loss of this amazing artist. I remember hearing SG back in the grunge explosion of '91-'92 but due to the ubiquity of Nirvana, I made a conscious effort to avoid the whole scene. It was everywhere and that rubbed me up the wrong way. Stupid, I know but hey, I was 18 and liked to be different. However, I couldn't avoid the beauty of Black Hole Sun and yes, it's not even the best song on " Superunknown" but the melody, the arpeggios and ultimately the phrasing by Cornell had me hooked on it. The video was also very special. However, I still refused to buy the album or even see the band play (one of my many big regrets). Kurt Cobain had recently died and it was everywhere. Again, I closed myself off from it.
8 years later, I heard about Chris's collaboration with the remains of Rage Against The Machine. It interested me enough to buy their debut album but apart from a handful of tracks I wasn't having my mind blown. Then came the Bond theme in '06. Loved it, even more so that Bond traditionalists disliked it (could they not see the McCartney "Live and Let Die" influence?). It was then I decided I must go and check Chris Cornell out live. I saw him at the Camden Roundhouse in '07 and was simply blown away. The next day, I caught " The Day I Tried To Live" on VH1 and went straight out and bought a copy of Superunknown. It was, to quote I believe, guitarist Kim Thayil, TOTAL F*€KKING GODHEAD! Quite simply a timeless masterpiece. I then looked into the band's discography and realised what an idiot I had been for closing the door on the Seattle scene and more specifically Soundgarden. To me they are the "Led Zeppelin" of their generation, just without the shenanigans and with a bit of Floyd and The Beatles thrown in. Diverse, experimental and occasionally straight. It's Cornell, as main songwriter, that stands out though. Yes, his voice no longer had the power and ferocity of its 1994 peak, but hell, what a voice it still was. My brother and I caught him at the London Palladium about 4 years ago and it was breathtaking. He played about 30 songs over a period of about 3 hours, interspersed with stories, thoughts and general wisecracking (he was a funny guy). He highlighted the fact it was his hero's, Paul McCartney's birthday, then apologised for not calling him "Sir Paul", which he assumed was given to Macca for paying his taxes or something and then said he also got called "sir" but had done "sh¡t-all for it". Self-deprecating and funny.

I finally got to see Soundgarden, twice in a year: Shepherds Bush Empire, when they presented their last album, King Animal and then Brixton Academy. Both outstanding gigs that are contenders for favourite ever. I'm sad there will be no more. Not just the music, but also his humour and his kind soul. Everyone who has known or met him have said he was a gentle, down to earth guy. He has also done a lot for impoverished kids with his charity.
More significantly, I'm really sad for his family and his friends. We still have his music, they have lost a loved-one.

RIP CC.

 

I can remember in 1999 trying to force soundgarden on my girlfriend at the time. She just wasnt having it - ' its just someone shouting over noise !' ...
But she absolutely loved the 'euphoria morning' album and became a fan of chris because of it.. she even brought us tickets for a gig in france 2008 at la cigale theatre which got cancelled ..still have those tickets - here they are..

 

"Preaching the End of the World"
The inspiration for the Steve Carrell/Keira Knightly sci-fi comedy film
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

also the Keanu Reeves/Vincent D'inofrio film
Feeling Minnesota was inspired by Cornell's lyrics in Outshined