Grunge, rock’s imaginary brother, has tragically lost another man to a self destruction that has gone hand in hand with the era to which it belonged. Perhaps despite Kurt Cobain’s super stardom and obvious genius it was Chris Cornell who was the most important to the movement and music at that time. Soundgarden, and later Audioslave’s lead man, committed suicide by hanging aged 52. He follows Andy Wood, Layne Staley and the great Kurt Cobain to the grave, taken by their own hand. So what is it that pollutes the murky waters of grunge that in turn infects these men of solid rock?
This article is a wholly personal and solemn response to the news of Cornell’s suicide on Wednesday after a Soundgarden show in Detroit – the home of the MC5 and adopted by Alice Cooper and the great Iggy Pop. His death will not make the front pages but it is nevertheless an unquantifiable loss to music and music fans worldwide. His legacy should be forever remembered, as it could be argued that with out Chris Cornell one of the most exciting and ground breaking movements in rock music may never have happened at all.
Soundgarden formed in 1984 in Seattle. Amongst the times of polished guitars and sparkling record production, Cornell stayed true to the long since forgotten golden age of hard rock and emulated the likes of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. In doing so, he began his rise to being rightly considered one of the greatest hard rock vocalists – but that would come later.
The wet city of Seattle in the far north west corner of the United States was about to become the most talked about and hip musical metropolis on the planet. But not before the heavy metal ethos Chris Cornell and the likes of Green River, The Melvins and Mother Love Bone had adapted and incorporated this into their music. Soundgarden’s first album –Louder Than Love was followed in 1991 by the brilliant Badmotorfinger, which became a blue print for what the imminent rock movement of grunge would become. Formerly of Seattle institution Sub-pop Records, Soundgarden joined the majors when signing to A&M prior to the release of Badmotorfinger. Tracks as brazen and bold as Jesus Christ Pose, Outshined and Rusty Cage announced Cornell and guitarist Kin Thayill as the main players in guitar music – yet Badmotorfinger is not given the credit it should be, due to the sudden emergence of the press favourites Nirvana. Bleach is the record remembered as that periods seminal album, but members of that band had been going to see Soundgarden and The Melvins for years in and around the Seattle underground scene.
Soundgarden built songs around riffs and dragged those riffs far, deep and long, but they were not necessarily ambitious in those early days. In a time when The Pixies were toying with their oddball excellence of weird time signature, it was Soundgarden who made ‘very loud’ cool again. In the same year Badmotorfinger was released, another band, formerly Mookie Blaylock, hit unheralded heights with their album Ten. Pearl Jam and Temple of the Dog guitarist Stone Gossard reflects on Soundgarden around 1986 in Mick Wall’s 1994 biography ‘Pearl Jam’: “Soundgarden became a great band because they had a chance to develop naturally. They weren’t thinking about major tours, they just wanted to put out a record on Subpop, because that was the coolest thing you could do”.
Pearl Jam were a mixture of survivors of the legendary Mother Love Bone, but when revered lead man and local icon Andrew Wood tragically died from a heroin overdose, guitar player Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament recruited guitarist Mike McCready and an untried rookie vocalist named Eddie Vedder. As tragedy manifested itself on Seattle, it seemed a phoenix would rise from the ashes of anything there. As Pearl Jam and Soundgarden joined forces in 1991 for the classic Temple of the Dog project, it would be Vedder who turned heads, but only under the masterful supervision of Cornell. To this day the Temple of the Dog is a superb and unequalled demonstration of hard rock soul from a collective soon-to-be supergroup. There was a tangible togetherness and camaraderie amongst (in the music press’ eyes) competing outfits. That collective power and mutual respect is still present to this day – see how Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron joined Pearl Jam in the mid nineties when Jack Irons left, yet he still performs with Soundgarden.
Now we are up to speed on the musical timeline and rock family tree in Seattle, we must now exclusively concentrate on arguably the orchestrator and linchpin of it all – Chris Cornell and Temple of the Dog is the perfect starting point. It is as a vocalist that he will rightly be remembered, and it was Temple of the Dog that catapulted him into the MTV world. At this point we knew of his high register metal capabilities but it was the soul within tracks like Reach Down, Call Me A Dog and the beautiful Say Hello To Heaven that set him apart from everyone else. He had soul and a willingness to explore the extremities of his capacity. Grunge by now was a category, a genre – but within it Cornell was never restrained either as a writer or a singer.
In 1994 Soundgarden released one of the all time great rock albums – Superunknown took rock to a place that it has never since returned. Close in magnitude to Physical Graffiti, the variety of The White Album and the transcending indulgent experimentation as Maggot Brain – this was a ‘grunge’ album of versatility and cavernous depth like no other. Later The Smashing Pumpkins, certainly influenced by Superunknown, followed Cornell’s lead with the epic Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Much like 15 years before when punk was the saving word in guitar music, Cornell’s multi-dimensional and progressive vision was bigger in content and idea than the ‘grunge’ label would have previously allowed, yet it was the press who implemented those restrictions themselves.
In a truly important and defining point in time for guitar rock, the action was almost exclusively centred around one city, but Cornell would later recall that the money men took what was marketable and disregarded top quality Seattle bands who didn’t fit their archetypal version of a far larger group of bands that history tells us. The labels and moguls were quick in identifying the Seattle sound that the genre is identified by: a dark, heavy, unclean punk sound built around grimy disassociation with society. The fashion followed suit and the word became a youth culture beyond music. Cornell was not only influential in inspiring others to follow Soundgarden, but his song writing and all conquering voice was able to take a typecast music form to new places.
Chris Cornell’s voice was a one off. While appearing to be screaming he was able to somehow hit notes at the highest register. Full of soul and capable of so many styles, he could cruise between octaves at ease. Say Hello To Heaven from Temple of the Dog was Motown soul, while Rusty Cage expressed huge power. But later, even after years of serious drug and alcohol abuse, tracks from Superunknown and Down On The Upside left fans in awe of Soundgardens lead man. Just listen to Overfloater – his voice alone is able to conjure an atmosphere of cinematic tension. In arguably their best track, Fresh Tendrils, Cornell navigates through his range effortlessly and in doing so takes you to the dark, dense and dreamed up worlds that he imagines.
Chris Cornell was always willing to broaden his talents and he later achieved gongs of all kinds for creating numerous movie soundtracks, most notably You Know My Name from the James Bond movie Casino Royale in 2006. He pursued a successful solo career and fronted super group Audioslave (boasting Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello). Soundgarden reformed and released King Animal in 2012 – many thought this would be the start of a renaissance for Soundgarden but that proved not to be. Chris Cornell, whilst allegedly intoxicated by large quantities of anti-anxiety drugs, hung himself in his hotel room. Although it is over 20 years on from Stayley and Cobain deaths, Cornell’s is no less disturbing.
Chris Cornell could not escape the fatal clutches of substance abuse and the reoccurring deprecating doom that Seattle’s grunge era has induced in shocking cases of drug overdose’s and suicide. He will be remembered as one of the greatest hard rock front men and vocalists and he will inevitably continue to inspire so many young aspiring rock musicians.
Words by Jimmy Gallagher
Quiffed Owl 