elevated_u2_fan
Blue Crack Supplier
Obviously I have no idea what his life was like but suicide is the last thing I would have expected.
His ex wife is Susan Silver, former Soundgarden managerHe entered rehab in 2002, separating from his first wife, Helen Silver
Shepherd replaced Hiro Yamamoto, Thayil is the guitarist in SG.Last summer, bandmates Cameron and Ben Shepherd, who replaced Thayil on bass, said they had written six songs for their next album but did not give a timetable for its release
Soundgarden didn't click with me nearly as much as some of the other bands from the "grunge" scene but he was a badass rock and roller and seemed like a genuinely good dude.
Whenever KEXP plays a string of songs by the same artist, I always hope it's just their birthday and they're not dead. I assumed it was his birthday when I heard the songs this morning getting ready for work. (They played a string of Aretha songs to kick off International Woman's Day, and I panicked.)
Andy WoodKurt Cobain
Layne Staley
Scott Weiland
... Chris Cornell
What a fucking waste of great talent.
Andy Wood
So I've had time to process this.
I was groggy this morning because I drank wine and listened to the U2 show last night and hung out in the set list party thread. I think I got 6 hours of sleep. I woke up checked my Instagram feed and someone I follow posted Chris's pic without a caption and I didn't think much about it. I kept scrolling and Amoeba Records posted a collage of Chris pics and before I got to the caption my tired mind thought "oh, it must be Chris' birthday".. but then I read the caption.
I was gutted. I guess it's just the fact that his death seems so unexpected. Soundgarden was my "other band" as a teenager in the 90s. My other of course being U2. I seriously worshipped Cornell and Co. the way I did U2.
When they broke up in 1997 it was hard for me to listen to them for a while. I followed Chris through his solo ventures to a point. I never really climbed aboard the Audioslave train and the album Soundgarden put out was good but for me it didn't hold up the way their older material did. But I was glad they were back together because they kept the legacy going.
I always admired Chris and his talents. His voice was legendary and the work he put out with Soundgarden was so different than the other bands from Seattle. They were quirky and introspective, funny and serious, intentionally dumb and smart at times.
The sole line from their biggest hit has been stuck in my head all day has been "heaven sent hell away/no one sings like you anymore".
:/
There's a video on youtube that I saw years ago where he mashed up U2 and Metallica's One... check it out, just unbelievable....
A review of last night's show. According to the writer, he seemed very 'off.' Ugh.
Chris Cornell's final performance: Something clearly wasn’t right
He'll probably mention Chris Cornell and say something along the lines of "we lost a great singer" and dedicate a song maybe. I can't recall any time Bono acknowledged Soundgarden or Cornell in interviews or anything.
I never listed to Soundgarden outside of the regular radio play. Their music didn't catch me like Pearl Jam did, so I never paid attention. (Although Chris Cornell did Times of Trouble, which turned into one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs).
A couple years ago I listened to that acoustic U2/Metallica thing he did and I was blown away by his voice. I then fell down the rabbit hole of his acoustic stuff on YouTube and was thoroughly blown away. One of the best voices I've ever heard if not the best.
He seemed like a genuinely nice, down to earth guy. Sad day.