Admittedly, this blog isn’t one of hard rock’s greatest platforms. Still, even I know the genre’s best ambassadors when I see or hear them.
Chris Cornell was definitely one of the best.
Cornell, two-time leader of the hard-rock (née grunge) band Soundgarden and former leader of the even heavier metal group Audioslave, died Thursday after reportedly hanging himself following a Soundgarden concert at Detroit’s Fox Theater Wednesday night.
Cornell was best known for his work with Soundgarden, although Audioslave – consisting of Cornell and former members of the group Rage Against the Machine – were no slouches (hear their “Like A Stone” from 2003, for starters). However, it was his first band Soundgarden’s mid-’90s No. 1 breakthrough album Superunknown and its biggest hit, the Grammy-winning “Black Hole Sun,” that introduced me to the group and Cornell’s powerful, wide-ranging vocals (his voice reportedly spanned nearly four octaves during his ’90s peak).
As one of grunge’s founding fathers, Cornell helped take the alternative heavy metal hybrid to its highest of heights during arguably the last great era of rock music, the early ’90s – a time when Soundgarden often shared radio and MTV airspace with the likes of fellow grunge bands Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Alice In Chains. When Soundgarden no longer worked out, Cornell pushed forward with Audioslave, the short-lived Temple of the Dog, and eventually his own solo work during the ’00s.
But the ’90s were indeed very good to his main band Soundgarden, particularly the first half of the decade. In addition to a Grammy for the classic rock ballad “Black Hole Sun,” there were other critically acclaimed ear-slashers like “Spoonman” and “Fell On Black Days” – both from Superunknown, and “Outshined” and “Rusty Cage” – both from Soundgarden’s earlier album, Badmotorfinger.
Needless to say, those tunes and many others will be shown a lot of love on music streaming and download outlets in the coming days. In addition to the above-mentioned, one I’ve had on repeat since hearing the news of Cornell’s death is the #1 rock track “Burden In My Hand” from Soundgarden’s 1996 album Down On the Upside.
But the tragedy that has befallen Cornell – self-inflicted as it may be – brings to mind the demise of fellow ’90s grunge leaders Kurt Cobain (d: 1994) and Scott Weiland (d:2015). All three were reportedly troubled souls, two of them – Cobain and now Cornell – haunted enough take themselves out; the third – Weiland – likely ravaged by past addictions.
Yet their endings are not all that shocking. Each man’s music (Cobain with his vehicle Nirvana, and Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots) screamed of personal struggle, an approach once thought by me to be a mere selling tactic but now that notion seems dubious at best given the benefit of hindsight.
Soundgarden’s biggest crossover hit “Black Hole Sun” itself was a dark rock ballad (and one of the best of its era). Melodic and easy to sing, yes…that’s what made it so alluring to pop music fans. But even for a rock ballad, “Sun” was somewhat of a downer, with Cornell’s chord choices and alternating psychedelic and heavy-metal guitar work. And lyrically the rock classic saw Cornell equating – although brilliantly – the one celestial star that illuminates us all to a black vacuous space.
“Burden in my Hand” on its face was about a troubled man who apparently has committed a murder and is coming to grips with it, although some listeners have ascribed different meanings to it – all of them dark-themed.
Other Soundgarden songs, like “Pretty Noose,” “The Day I Tried To Live” (another great jam) and “Blow Up The Outside World” (the latter with the opening lyric line “Nothing seems to kill me, no matter how hard I try”) were as devastating in their messaging, with few of them evoking optimism. Heck, their titles speak for themselves, metaphorically or not.
This trait of grunge was in sharp contrast to its rock forefathers of the sixties and seventies, which – with few exceptions – seemed energized and triumphant in its approach, often railing against authority and societal norms, or even relishing in love-song balladry, with often positive outcomes. Grunge rock on the other hand, and Soundgarden’s in particular, was deep, dark and depressing, with its main purveyors often viewed as battling their personal demons on wax or CD for all to hear.
But no one ever said that great rock music had to be all of one thing or another…its differences are what made it so exciting during its most formative years – the ’90s included.
Plus Cornell was a master at what he did. He and his peers added a rock element that was innovative and distinguishable …when since that time has rock music or any of its sub-genres taken the country by storm like Soundgarden and company? Hell, when since the ’90s has rock music even had a uniquely identifiable style that set it apart from others before it?
Yet, despite being saddled with the now burned-out grunge label, Soundgarden was at its core still a rock band. And, as rock bands go, Cornell and his group dealt with all the normal strife that successful acts do: interpersonal conflict, creative differences, major label signings, mainstream sales and subsequent accusations of becoming corporate sellouts, a dying genre and resultant loss in popularity…
An eventual breakup…
Then – in Soundgarden’s case – a promising 2010 reunion that would last until Cornell’s death Thursday.
And now one of Seattle’s best-ever bands may indeed be no more without its founder, its face and its frontman.
And so it goes that Cornell’s legacy – like Cobain’s and Wieland’s through their own music – will have to go on via his recordings with former bands Soundgarden, Audioslave, the one-time Temple of the Dog and, of course, his solo work.
That plus the knowledge that even his once reliable musical outlet – as much of a catch-pan as it was for relinquishing his own demons – still wasn’t enough to save him from himself.
Maybe now Chris Cornell will be able to Rest In Peace.
DJRob
Postscript:
Chris Cornell covered tunes by three of R&B/pop’s greatest fallen icons. Click here to see who they were and what he covered.
Last year, djrobblog ranked Cornell among 50 rock, soul and pop artists who’ve been successful in two or more groups. Check here to see where he ranked.