Another day, another fallen rock hero. Waking up yesterday to the news that Chris Cornell - the singer and founding member of the mighty Soundgarden - had been found dead at the age of 52 from an apparent suicide, stopped me in my tracks and sent me rushing straight to the hefty Cornell section of my CD collection. Since the late 80's, Cornell's work with Soundgarden, Temple Of The Dog and Audioslave - as well as his solo efforts - have been mainstays of my listening enjoyment. Not just for the music, which for the most part has been thunderously heavy and ridiculously exciting in equal measure, but also for his astonishing four-octave voice which could both scream and wail melodically and also rumble and roar in a lower register that fitted the grunge era perfectly. The fact that he is no longer with us and that there will be no more music from him is a massive loss. The real tragedy of course, is the void left behind for his wife Vicky and their two children Toni and Christopher, as well as his daughter Lillian from his first marriage. No Static At All sends it's condolences to them all - as well as the Soundgarden crew and Cornell's extended family and friends.
Cornell was born and raised in Seattle and after a troubled childhood shaped by his parent's divorce, he threw himself into drink, drugs and music. After meeting guitarist Kim Thayil and bass player Hiro Yamamoto in 1984, Soundgarden were born. Recruiting Matt Cameron on drums the quartet set about recording and their debut album Ultramega OK was released in 1988. A snarling, cranium-rattling beast of a record, it was very much in thrall to classic 70's rock such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, but with enough clout and musical nous to mark them out as something a bit different to the gaggle of hairspray and lipstick drenched poodle rockers that were selling millions at the time. Yamamoto soon left and was replaced by Ben Shepherd and the band toured frequently, as well as releasing a couple of excellent EP's in Fopp and Screaming Life and a rushed second album in Louder Than Love. However, unbeknownst to the majority of the music business and the record-buying public at that time, something was afoot in Washington State and by the time Soundgarden had signed to a major label in 1991 and released the frankly astonishing BadMotorFinger album, grunge had burst forth from the driving rain and dense foliage of Seattle and - at a stroke - taken the rock world by storm. Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Screaming Trees all signed to majors in the wake of BadMotorFinger's success - it sold a million and begat three hit singles, with the monumental Jesus Christ pose being the pick of the bunch - but the other Seattle band that industry experts felt would give Soundgarden a run for their money were Mother Love Bone. Led by flamboyant frontman - and Cornell's best friend - Andrew Wood, MLB married the heavy, sludgy sound of grunge with sparkly glam-rock and were on the cusp of a huge breakthrough with their debut album Apple, when Wood died of a massive heroin overdose. Cornell, utterly bereft at the loss of his friend at just 24, channeled his grief into a set of songs that didn't quite fit the Soundgarden template. Hooking up with the only members of MLB that wanted to continue with music - Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament - and drafting in Cameron from his own band, Cornell named the collaboration Temple Of The Dog and a self-titled album was released soon after. A gorgeous collection of songs, riven through with sadness of course, it contained two of Cornell's finest compositions in the haunting Say Hello To Heaven and the spine-tingling duet with the then unknown Eddie Vedder on Hunger Strike. Vedder, Gossard and Ament went on to form Pearl Jam and throughout 1992, the aforementioned bands ruled the roost - topping charts worldwide, selling out tours and breaking through into mainstream culture in a way not seen since punk rock in 1977.
By the time Soundgarden returned in 1994, grunge was dying out having been saturated with lesser talents and bandwagon jumpers - Hello Bush! - and the original progenitors were branching out into different musical directions. The next Soundgarden album - Superunknown - was their masterpiece. A huge, monolithic slab of psychedelic blues-infused heavy metal, punctuated with epic, radio-friendly alt-rock ballads like Black Hole Sun, it sold 10 million copies and turned the band into superstars. Unsurprisingly, Cornell found it hard to cope with the pressures of fame - as well as the breakdown of his first marriage - and turned to heroin. Schisms between band members became chasms, and by the time of 1996's Superunknown successor - Down On The Upside - the writing was on the wall. Cornell and Thayil's working relationship was non-existent and after a stilted and uncomfortable tour, the band split. Thayil and Shepherd drifted musically, Cameron joined Pearl Jam and Cornell released a polished, Beatles influenced solo album called Euphoria Morning. His next move was a shock though. Hooking up with ex-Rage Against The Machine members Tom Morello, Brad Wilk and Timmy C and naming themselves Audioslave, they released a magnificent self-titled debut album before diminishing returns set in over the course of two more records. Rumours abounded at the time that Morello in particular was unhappy with Cornell's addictions and his reluctance to get clean. But, get clean he did, and after Audioslave's dissolution, Cornell remarried, became a father and threw himself back into a solo career. The first fruits of this new chapter were eclectic to say the least. First, there was the theme song to the James Bond movie Casino Royale in 2006. One of the best Bond themes, it brought Cornell back into vogue and took him to the top of the charts. There was another solo album - Carry On - that covered all bases, including a hushed, acoustic take on Billie Jean. Then there was a odd, slighty worrying diversion into RnB with Scream. Produced by Timbaland, it favoured Autotune, EDM flavours and spartan funk rhythms. It's critical and commercial failure perhaps explained Soundgarden's reunion in 2010, but friendships were healed and a splendid new album - King Animal - was released in 2012. The band toured the album solidly, and since then Cornell has released a fourth solo record - the joyous, spiritually aware Higher Truth - as well as touring with his old Temple Of The Dog cronies in North America last year to commemorate 25 years since their album. He had currently been touring with Soundgarden before going back into the studio with them to record a new album, and had just played a gig with them on Wednesday in Detroit when he was found in his hotel bathroom, apparently dead by his own hand. A full, wildly creative life, tragically cut short.
I was 19 when I first heard Cornell's voice, screaming out of my beaten up old stereo system in my grotty little bedsit in the wilds of Surrey in 1989. I loved it immediately and even though I was listening to all kinds of music at the time with jangly indie, ethereal shoegaze, shuffling dance and brain rattling techno all vying for my headspace, I found room for this new type of heavy rock that was creeping it's way eastwards toward the UK from somewhere in America. Fast-forward a couple of years and Soundgarden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney and all the rest had basically taken over my listening and gigging life. Myself and a few like-minded souls from my local area were hooked in and all of these bands - and the lifestyle that came with it - became our soundtrack and our way of being. We prided ourselves on trying to look as scruffy as possible with bags of clothes bought from charity shops and second-hand boots being the norm. We grew our hair. We attempted to grow Cornell-esque facial hair. We drank. We smoked. We snorted. We tripped. Saturday night rock clubs became sacred, weekly vigils where we bowed down to the Gods of music. Gigs were joyful, boisterous affairs usually taking place at scuzzy little venues that sadly no longer exist. Soundgarden at The Astoria. Nirvana at The Kilburn Ballroom. Alice In Chains AND Screaming Trees at The Town And Country Club. Pearl Jam at The Marquee. We danced, moshed and crowdsurfed and came home bleeding. And, of course, we stood shin-deep in mud and braved the driving rain - very Seattle - at 1992's Reading Festival to watch Nirvana and a full supporting cast of grungy compadres take over the main stage on the Sunday. And it was all fantastic. Through it all, the music was always there. And, 25 years later, it still is. These days, my taste in music is as broad a church as it's ever been, but Soundgarden - and the rest of those wonderful grunge-era bands - are the ones I keep coming back to. They soundtracked a part of my life that shaped who I became as an adult, and it's fair to say I may not be writing this blog if they hadn't. For that, and for many other reasons, Chris Cornell has my eternal gratitude.
Rest In Peace CC, and thank you for the music.
"Please, mother of mercy, take me from this place. And the long winded-curses, I keep here in my head. Say hello to heaven, heaven, heaven...."
Chris Cornell Playlist
(All Songs Performed By Soundgarden Unless Otherwise Stated)
Flower
Loud Love
Rusty Cage
Outshined
Jesus Christ Pose
Slaves And Bulldozers
Searching With My Good Eye Closed
Say Hello To Heaven (Temple Of The Dog)
Four-Walled World (TOTD)
Reach Down (TOTD)
Hunger Strike (TOTD)
Seasons (Solo)
Birth Ritual
Right Turn (Alice Mudgarden)
My Wave
Spoonman
Black Hole Sun
The Day I Tried To Live
Fell On Black Days
Superunknown
Pretty Noose
Blow Up The Outside World
Burden In My Hand
Can't Change Me (Solo)
Cochise (Audioslave)
Like A Stone (Audioslave)
Show Me How To Live (Audioslave)
I Am The Highway (Audioslave)
Be Yourself (Audioslave)
Been Away Too Long
Bones Of Birds
Rowing
Higher Truth (Solo)
Chris Cornell 1964 - 2017
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