Chris Cornell Has Died

Huh, while I admit that I’ve largely stopped listening to his work in recent years, Soundgarden and Audioslave were big in my high school years. This is to me what Bowie and Prince were to some of you.

Hey, not all of us are old farts.

This really hurts. Soundgarden basically defined my 20’s here in the Emerald City. Chris was a god :(

Badmotorfinger and Superunknown were in constant play for me in the 90s (didn’t think the album after lived up to the quality of those two) and they were my favorite of all those 90s hard rock bands (after Melvins who put out their best work ever in the last 10 years). Those two albums really hold up compared to some of the other work from that period/scene.

Cornell had such a unique, expressive and powerful voice and was also a great rhythm guitarist. Didn’t much like the Audioslave stuff I had heard or his solo stuff; Soundgarden’s rhythm section is hard to beat (come on, their drummer Matt Cameron was picked up not only by Pearl Jam but by Geddy Lee of Rush fame, to record his solo debut) and Kim Thayil’s soloing was an integral part of their sound.

But what a shame. Guess he still had some demons and they won.

My introduction was the Playstation Road Rash intro:

Today sucks.

Chris Cornell hung himself

Mental health is a serious issue and we should pay more attention to it as a society.

Down on the Upside is better than Badmotorfinger.

Come at me.

Yep. Of all of his stuff, “Seasons” is one of my favorite songs.

This totally sucks.

-xtien

Abso-fucking-lutely. It is a shame how we (mostly don’t) deal with it as a country.

Jesus, his wife and kids must be blindsided and devastated. I can’t help but wonder what could have driven him to this. I realize mental illness doesn’t play by any recognizable rules but why now?

I discovered Chris Cornell through Temple of the Dog, played that tape until it fell apart. Then I tracked down the cd which was tough since it’s long out of print. Soundgarden, obviously, was a cornerstone band of the 90s. Superunknown pretty much saw me through grad school. I was always a little disappointed in Audioslave - seemed a little too shiny and lightweight for something from Cornell and the Rage guys, but it did sound pretty good. I really liked Euphoria Morning too, need to dig that out. Man, this guy was a monster and could have made so much more great stuff.

I was wondering if it was something to do with prescription drugs. You know those warnings, “May bring thoughts of suicide.” and the like? Maybe something like that.

Could be, certainly, but it seems more likely he decided to try opiods “one last time”, took his previous amount, and OD’d.

Nope.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/entertainment/chris-cornell-dead/

Perhaps he was facing something awful and terminal, like Robin Williams, or perhaps it was via misadventure like the guy from INXS or…a multitude of tragic possibilities we may never be privy to.

Poor guy. I wonder what his band mates are going through, they knew him for decades, in some ways they must be closer than family.

Ahh. That sucks.

Looks like some prescription drugs may have been involved after all, but whatever the case, this is super sucky. The 90’s and grunge was my thang.

I was compelled to listen to some Smashing Pumpkins recently. It transported me back to the 90s, but the teen angst lyrics are a little silly now.

Occasionally I will too. Gish is still a stellar album, even if not one I want to listen to a ton.

Smashing Pumpkins is one of those bands I can recognize as great but can’t abide the sound of solely because I can’t stand the singer’s voice. See also: Rush, Led Zeppelin.

Rush I totally get but I learned to appreciate Zep way more when I listened thinking of Robert Plant as using his vocals as a lead guitar and Jimmy Page using his guitar like it was singing.