RIP Chris Cornell

[JCM]

If I were to sit down and make a list of my favorite rock/metal vocalists of all time Cornell would be in the discussion for the top spot. What shitty news this is. I was looking forward to another Soundgarden album as their last one was quite good. Badmotorfinger and Superunkown are two of the best rock albums of the 90's.

[badfish69]

Saw Soundgarden the one and only time in 92 opening for Skid Row.  Cornell blew me away, and seeing him and Sebastian Bach belt out Big Dumb Sex together was a sight.  They were to play here this Monday and thought about checking it out.  Always was one of my favorite bands and Jesus Christ Pose easily one of my favorite hard rock songs ever. Oh can't forget Slaves and Bulldozers too.  Damn this sucks.

[John E. Dynamite]

To respond to anyone who didn't know the scene, "grunge" is as much of a musical genre as "alternative rock". It really isn't a particular sound, I would argue the big grunge bands didn't sound that much like each other at the end of the day. Nirvana proclaimed themselves a punk band. Alice in Chains was very much a metal band. Pearl Jam were the most broadly accessible band on account of their classic rock vibe.

Soundgarden kinda did that too, but with more of a hard rock bent. I think they've always been compared to Sabbath or a more depressed Zep in terms of tone and composition, but with "like, a real good singer, man". Their legacy has been that of being the "talented" band, more technically proficient than their peers and ambitious enough to try (and generally succeed) with something as bombastic as Superunknown. But they couldn't quite drum up as dedicated fan base as the others - maybe on account of the fact that they weren't treading a lot of new ground thematically or musically, and the lyrics were always kinda dippy. Still. Riffs were crunchy and Cornell had one of those once-in-a-lifetime voices. The kind that can make a gold record singing the phone book.

[Brian Fowler]

I'm a weird mix of disappointed and kinda relieved I couldn't swing going to the show last night.

[Shibata Is My Homie]

6 hours ago, Michael Sweetser said:

Just happy I got to see him and Soundgarden once in my life (the secret "Nudedragons" show in Seattle in 2010).  RIP.

Saw them open for Guns-n-Roses in 1991 at the Spectrum. Sat 5th row center and they were good.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

14 hours ago, Shibata Is My Homie said:

One of the few times that I'm speechless. As someone who has struggled with major depression like Chris did all of my life, sometimes you win that day and sometimes depression wins that day. Unfortunately, depression took over and won for good.

Story of my life. Everyday is a battle.

[Dewar]

MuchMusic in Canada played a bunch of Cornell videos on their retro lunch show today. Glad I record the show daily, it was something nice to watch as a tribute to him.

[Burgundy LaRue]

17 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

I can't believe the mortality rate of the major 90's grunge singers. Kurt, Layne, Scott and Chris now....

I thought the same thing.  Unbelievable.  Losing Michael, Whitney, and Prince was rough enough as they were part of my childhood.  But now, I and nearly everyone have lost so many from their teenage/early adult years.  And it all feels wrong.

[BurningBeard]

I'll never forget seeing Chris Cornell at Download Festival in 2009. It was around the time he released that very odd Scream pop album where he collaborated with Timbaland. I feared he'd kind of be one of those guys who just dug his heels in and sang stuff off that as it was his most recent release but no, he pretty much did a best of Soundgarden/Audioslave/solo set . Biggest surprise was when he sang Going Hungry by Temple of Dog. I got tears and man I've got goosebumps thinking about it now.

Also got to see Soundgarden play through Superunknown at Hyde Park a couple of years ago supporting Black Sabbath, which was as bad ass as you can imagine.

RIP to one of the best rock vocalists of all time, genuinely felt winded when I found out yesterday and its taken a while to collect my thoughts

[Brian Fowler]

You just reminded me how pissed I was that Europe got Soundgarden opening for Sabs while we got Andrew W K playing songs off his phone.

[Brian Fowler]

Like all of us, Megadeth are feeling Minnesota right now.

[rainmakerrtv]

Oddly enough, when I would hear about the Seattle Sound in the few years before the Grungequake hit, the band name that would come up most often would be Soundgarden. I'd hesitate to say that they spent time as my absolute favorite band, but Superunknown has definitely been my go to album a lot of times. Cornell was a big part of the Pearl Jam documentary and came across as a kind, chill and genuinely thoughtful individual. RIP

[J.T.]

10 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Story of my life. Everyday is a battle.

The idea that he committed suicide just saddens me further.  Sure, life is a struggle but I never want to get to the point that thoughts of my family or my daughter don't immediately bring me back from the edge.

It just proves that you are the boss of your own happiness and there are no situations or positions that will bring you joy. 

It shouldn't be if I buy x / get x job / go to x place / have x status /, I will find peace.  It should be I will have peace, then I will go buy x / get x job / go to x place / have x status.

Here is another song that will make me super sad from here on out..

 

[Serious Darius Bagfelt]

On 5/18/2017 at 5:37 AM, PetrolCB said:

...god damn it. What the fuck? 

My favorite song of theirs, and one of my favorite ever SNL appearances. Jim Carrey got them the gig, because he refused to host if they couldn't play. (Excuse the tilt, it's to prevent being taken down by the NBC nazis.)

Rock In Peace, man. 

Pretty Noose is apropos

[J.T.]

19 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

They were probably my second favorite of the grunge bands (behind Alice in Chains) but without question they were the most musically diverse.

What Brian said.  Nirvana had their fuzzy pop sound and Alice In Chains had their trademark sour hard rock sound, but Soundgarden literally was a fucking Soundgarden. 

Some songs sounded more folk-ish, some had a little funky bass in them, and some songs were just plain old straight out filthy rock and roll from chose a decade at ramdom depending on which guitar Kim Thayhil picked up that morning.

Definitely the Seattle band the least afraid to break their own mold.

[Michael Sweetser]

The best way to put it for this area: a piece of Seattle died.

[PetrolCB]

7 hours ago, J.T. said:

What Brian said.  Nirvana had their fuzzy pop sound and Alice In Chains had their trademark sour hard rock sound, but Soundgarden literally was a fucking Soundgarden. 

Some songs sounded more folk-ish, some had a little funky bass in them, and some songs were just plain old straight out filthy rock and roll from chose a decade at ramdom depending on which guitar Kim Thayhil picked up that morning.

Definitely the Seattle band the least afraid to break their own mold.

Kim is supremely underrated. 

Like, seriously. I'm not in the technique catagorey he's in, it's not my style. But ever since I first saw/heard that SNL episode when it first aired, the bit from that "Pretty Noose" clip I posted, 2:50 to 2:58 always stuck with me. I know it's weird. But as a guitarist and someone who loves when the musician deviates from the studio, it sticks with you. 

Maybe someone knows what I mean, otherwise I just look crazy. 

[Ace]

At this point, I think it's basically being held together by Ann Wilson and Duff McKagan.

 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

32 minutes ago, Ace said:

At this point, I think it's basically being held together by Ann Wilson and Duff McKagan.

 

Jerry Cantrell as well.

[PetrolCB]

Alice has done quite well with that other guy (forget his name). Who, I can say, is quite good. So, thumbs up. Not that I listen to the current stuff, but, what I've seen isn't bad.

Its a bit like the current Queen. It works, it's actually good, so no complaints of tarnish.  

[southofheavy]

23 hours ago, badfish69 said:

Saw Soundgarden the one and only time in 92 opening for Skid Row.  Cornell blew me away, and seeing him and Sebastian Bach belt out Big Dumb Sex together was a sight.  They were to play here this Monday and thought about checking it out.  Always was one of my favorite bands and Jesus Christ Pose easily one of my favorite hard rock songs ever. Oh can't forget Slaves and Bulldozers too.  Damn this sucks.

I saw that tour, too. It was my first concert. My dad surprised me with tickets the day of. February 20th, 1992, on my 11th birthday. At the Fox Theater.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

On 5/19/2017 at 5:18 PM, PetrolCB said:

Alice has done quite well with that other guy (forget his name). Who, I can say, is quite good. So, thumbs up. Not that I listen to the current stuff, but, what I've seen isn't bad.

Its a bit like the current Queen. It works, it's actually good, so no complaints of tarnish.  

William DuVall. He's about as good as Alice could have done trying to find somebody to follow Layne Staley. I saw them in 2006 and it was an AIC show. If you didn't know Layne was gone, you'd think he was up there on stage. That's how good DuVall sounded. They did a tribute to Layne, which I think they do at every show. Their first album with DuVall, Black Gives Way To Blue is a really good album and a fitting tribute to Layne. My favorite tracks are Your Decision and Black Gives Way To Blue, the latter features Elton John on piano. Their last release, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here isn't bad, but for an AIC record, there's nothing particularly memorable about it. TDPDH is my least favorite AIC album, but I think it's more that the bar for them is incredibly high.

Edited July 7, 2019 by Nice Guy Eddie

[NikoBaltimore]

2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

William DuVall. He's as about as good as Alice could have done trying to find somebody to follow Layne Staley. I saw them in 2006 and it was an AIC show. If you didn't know Layne was gone, you'd think he was up there on stage. That's how good DuVall sounded. They did tribute to Layne, which I think they do at every show. Their first album with DuVall, Black Gives Way To Blue is a really good album and a nice tribute to Layne. I would recommend giving it a listen. Their last release, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here isn't bad, but for an AIC record, there's nothing particularly memorable about it.

A couple years ago I saw them and was surprised how good William is.  Any hesitations we had quickly faded away so good for them.

I wasn't super into Soundgarden or Chris's deep stuff so forgive me if I don't sound super knownedgable about his work.  But here's my post from Facebook:

Finally had the chance to check out some Chris Cornell stuff and it dawned on me just how incredibly versatile he was as a singer. Whether you were into heavy rock music or soulful acoustic music there was something from Chris that was to one's liking. I liked the main Soundgarden songs even if I didn't check anything deeper than that (checking some of that now) His stuff with Audioslave was pretty damn great and he brought the hard rock and nice songs all in one album. But there was something about his acoustic stuff that really had that special something to it, and his covers were generally really great. One that always gets my attention is his cover of Billie Jean.

Depression really sucks and I hope he's found peace now. Rest in power, Chris.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

AIC and Soundgarden were my favorites in high school, continuing into adulthood. I'm super into both. I wasn't as into Audioslave. I felt like the sum of the parts wasn't quite as good considering who was involved.

[Brian Fowler]

Yeah, I saw AiC a couple years ago and they were fantastic.