When Chris Cornell died, the rock’n’roll world misplaced not solely a charismatic frontman, but in addition one among its most transcendent voices.
Chris Cornell was undoubtedly one of the vital gifted and versatile frontmen within the historical past of rock. The possessor of a outstanding, multi-octave vocal vary, his singular skills performed a key position in setting Soundgarden other than their grunge-era rivals. His visceral performances on supercharged steel anthems equivalent to “Jesus Christ Pose” constructed his popularity as a distinguished heavy rock vocalist, however he additionally displayed a subtlety and sensitivity uncommon throughout the onerous rock and steel fraternity. This dexterity additionally allowed him to excel when tackling materials as disparate and difficult because the moody, atmospheric “Fell On Black Days” and the acid-fried psychedelia of the band’s signature hit “Black Hole Sun.”
Born into an Irish-American household in Seattle, Cornell (delivery identify Christopher John Boyle) was immersed in music from an early age. Studying to play guitar, piano, and drums whereas nonetheless in his youth, he fashioned Soundgarden with guitarist Kim Thayil and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984. Later joined by drummer Matt Cameron, the band featured on the pivotal Deep Six compilation (alongside fellow grunge architects Melvins and pre-Mudhoney outfit Inexperienced River) and recorded a number of early EPs for legendary imprint Sub Pop, earlier than receiving widespread recognition for his or her debut album, 1988’s Ultramega OK. The file featured an early Cornell basic, “Beyond The Wheel,” which confirmed off each the band’s trademark thunderous riffage and his nascent vocal prowess.
Soundgarden turned the primary of the pioneering Seattle grunge outfits to signal with a significant label, of their case A&M Information, who launched the band’s streamlined sophomore album Louder Than Love in 1989. The primary Soundgarden file to function on the Billboard 200, the album attracted crucial acclaim, with Rolling Stone declaring “Chris Cornell has the sort of soaring, muscular voice Ian Astbury can only dream of.”
Soundgarden had been of their ascendency, however in 1990 tragedy struck when Andrew Wooden, Cornell’s former roommate and vocalist with native heroes Mom Love Bone, died of a drug overdose. Wooden’s demise shook Cornell, who in response wrote two darkish, however affecting songs, “Reach Down” and “Say Hello 2 Heaven.”
He later recorded these and a full album’s price of fabric with help from Wooden’s Mom Love Bone bandmates, Jeff Ament And Stone Gossard, lead guitarist Mike McCready, Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron and a then-unknown vocalist Eddie Vedder and launched the file underneath the identify Temple Of The Canine. The band’s lone, self-titled album got here out in 1991 and finally went platinum. Minus Cornell and Cameron, the rest of the group re-formed as Pearl Jam, issuing their multi-platinum-selling debut, Ten, in 1991.
Having recruited new bassist Ben Shepherd, Soundgarden broke via to the mainstream with 91’s Badmotorfinger. The album featured a number of of the band’s best-loved songs, with “Outshined” and “Rusty Cage” (later to be lined by Johnny Money on American II: Unchained) turning into large MTV hits and serving to propel Seattle to the forefront of the world’s music scene together with releases by Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
Badmotorfinger went double-platinum, however 94’s Superunknown made them bona fide world superstars. Licensed 5 occasions platinum, the album bequeathed a string of hits, with the Grammy Award-winning “Black Hole Sun,” “Spoonman,” “The Day I Tried To Live,” “My Wave” and “Fell On Black Days” dominating the mainstream rock and different charts for the following 12 months.
Showcasing Cornell-penned classics “Pretty Noose” and “Burden In My Hand,” 1996’s Down On The Upside once more shot to No 2 on the Billboard 200, however Soundgarden cut up the next 12 months. For Cornell, nonetheless, additional private peaks had been down the road. His first solo album, Euphoria Morning yielded the hit “Can’t Change Me,” earlier than he joined forces with Rage Towards The Machine trio Tom Morello, Tim Comerford, and Brad Wilk to kind alt-rock supergroup Audioslave.
This new outfit once more hit Soundgarden-esque heights. That includes hits equivalent to “Cochise” and the brooding “Like Stone,” their eponymous 2002 debut went gold, whereas 2005’s platinum-selling Out Of Exile debuted at No 1 on the Billboard 200. After Audioslave’s third, Revelations, Cornell returned to his solo profession, with each 2007’s Steve Lillywhite-produced Carry On and his under-rated Timbaland collaboration Scream scoring Billboard Prime 20 hits. Elsewhere, he additional broadened his creative horizons, writing and performing “You Know My Name,” the theme tune from the 2006 James Bond film, On line casino Royale and acquired a Golden Globe nomination for his tune “The Keeper” from the movie Machine Gun Preacher.
To the delight of his followers, Cornell rejoined Soundgarden for 2012’s spectacular reunion album, King Animal, although he continued to parade his versatility, issuing the intimate acoustic stay album Songbook and one other well-received studio solo set Increased Reality in 2015. Eager to simply accept contemporary challenges, shortly earlier than he handed away he had accomplished an orchestral quantity “The Promise,” earmarked for the film of the identical identify; accomplished a long-awaited and critically-heralded US tour with Temple Of The Canine, and was apparently resulting from start work on Soundgarden’s mooted seventh studio album.
With Soundgarden alone, Chris Cornell bought over 15 million albums in North America and his 30-year profession was suffering from business awards and significant acclaim. But he remained levelheaded, carried himself with dignity, and remained somebody who his followers may at all times look as much as. Throughout Soundgarden’s preliminary meteoric rise, he advised Rolling Stone, “I can’t say we’re motivated by anything but achievement, and the achievement isn’t based on things like Grammy nominations or chart positions. It’s based on what we do musically and how we personally feel about it.” And he by no means deviated from that path of fact and soul.
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