I'm in the same boat. Admired his voice but never connected to his music. Grunge music hit when I was in middle school so I am RIGHT in the target zone, but Soundgarden just never called my name. Some of his covers were beautiful though.

It's a sad loss and another figure from my childhood gone.

Professor Frick said:

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Stump02 said:

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I liked Rage and SG, so Audioslave was great.

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I guess that was kind of what I wondered. To me, they were so much less than the sum of their parts. Now, I'm only going by the AS radio hits, maybe the deep cuts sound something like Rage and something like SG.

Actually, I'm just now remembering Cochise. That was pretty legit. I guess my idea of Audioslave is colored mostly by 'Like a Stone' and 'Be Yourself'. To me those aren't necessarily bad or anything, just very bland, which Cornell never seemed to be in SG.

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Cochise was exactly how that combination should have sounded and it was incredible.

Philo B 93 said:

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I love Cornell's voice, but the music he played was never to my taste. Drop D tunings, weird chord structures, grunge, minor keys, etc.

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This is what differentiates him from so many others. His talent to form songs. He was a singerwriter, hands down. As a musician, I can listen to his songs, and not know what chord he's playing, or recognize the chord progression. Yet his vocal is accessible to the casual listener.

Just watched his performance on Fallon from April. The chorus is simple and approachable, F#m,D,A,E.. but then on third time, after the D, it strays off into some 9th or jazz chord, and he sings so effortlessly over those weird, uncommon chords. It's really what made him great. You can only do so much with C,G and D.

Most audioslave songs were definitely Rage with Cornell singing.

But, like a stone and I am the highway, those are undeniably Cornell. (With Tom doing his Tom solos)

Yeah, I liked Cochise the best.

I worked at Rother's Bookstore on George Bush when it first hit the radio. We would get in trouble for rocking out to Audioslave over the store radio speakers.

AggieOO said:

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Whos Juan said:

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I probably can't say anything that hasn't already been said in this thread, but we lost the greatest vocalist of our generation last night.

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we know each other well, and I don't in any way disagree with Cornell being nothing short of amazing on vocals. That said, I think Maynard is better.

Soundgarden is, was, and always will be more palatable to the masses over Tool, but Maynard's vocals are better.

We may disagree, but you know what I'm getting at, and know, despite what the above sounds like, i'm taking nothing away from Cornell.

not to get all sappy or whatever, but...

What bums me out about all of this is that I looked up to these guys (read: Staley, Weiland, Cobain, Cornell) b/c they put all their dark **** on paper and sang it to the world. It showed me that even though **** sucked, I could get through it. Things sucked, but it was just that. Life was more than dark, depressing ***** One by one, they are gone to their demons.

I'm not saying I had any deep, crazy demons or was ever suicidal, but it bums me out that they likely helped out thousands of people, yet couldn't help themselves.

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I'm a huge TOOL fanboy, but it's hard for me to say Maynard is 'better'.

This one has given me the blues big time. My two fav are Zep and TOOL and I thought SG was the fully evolved version of what a modern version (at that time) of what Zep's music would be.

I know Page thought a lot of CC.

Cochise has one of the best opening riffs in hard rock. Just kicked the door open when they started with that one.

Diggity said:

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Cochise has one of the best opening riffs in hard rock. Just kicked the door open when they started with that one.

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Except the riff was already written by Dimebag.. in I'm Broken

I keep going back to the Louder Than Love album. So ****ing amazing.

Junkhead said:

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I keep going back to the Louder Than Love album. So ****ing amazing.

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That's the album that got me on Soundgarden.

Professor Frick said:

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The 'discussion' of the greatest singers of our generation reminded me of another guy who died too young and happened to be really close friends with Cornell: Jeff Buckley. I think if Buckley had stayed around through the 90s the two of them would have continued to have a lot of influence on each other's music.

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Funny you mention this because Cornell and Buckley are my two favorite singers from my younger days. I believe Cornell's Wave Goodbye was written about Buckley. Vocal giants man.

Professor Frick said:

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One other thing that got me thinking while driving around today and hearing nonstop SG and Audioslave on the radio:

For you lifelong diehard Soundgarden fans who (like me) are old enough to have started listening at the beginning, how did you feel about Audioslave?

by the time of Audioslave came out I hadn't listened to SG in a while so I didn't really have any context for where Cornell's music was just prior to that, but just curious whether it was something a real SG fan enjoyed or not.

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I didn't listen right away, but once I sat down and listened to the first album, I was hooked. Morello and Cornell, c'mon now. It was like early 90s alt rock on steroids.

Canyon99 said:

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Professor Frick said:

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The 'discussion' of the greatest singers of our generation reminded me of another guy who died too young and happened to be really close friends with Cornell: Jeff Buckley. I think if Buckley had stayed around through the 90s the two of them would have continued to have a lot of influence on each other's music.

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Funny you mention this because Cornell and Buckley are my two favorite singers from my younger days. I believe Cornell's Wave Goodbye was written about Buckley. Vocal giants man.

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You can definitely hear some of Cornell's influence on some of the tunes on My Sweetheart the Drunk. Obviously not as heavy, but there's a kind of soundgardeny feel to a few of the tracks.

From his wife:

Quote:

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The family also said Cornell, who was 52, had a prescription for Ativan and might've taken a higher dosage. Ativan is a tranquilizer and anti-anxiety medication that often is used as a sleeping aid. According to the statement, Kirk Pasich, an attorney, said Ativan can cause paranoid or suicidal thoughts, not to mention impaired judgment.
Vicky Cornell, Chris' wife, said, "Chris' death is a loss that escapes words and has created an emptiness in my heart that will never be filled. As everyone who knew him commented, Chris was a devoted father and husband." There are three Cornell children in the pictureChristopher, 11, and Toni, 12, plus Lillian, a 16-year-old daughter from Chris' previous marriage to Susan Silver.
Vicky said Chris flew home from Soundgarden's tour the weekend before his death to spend time with his family before heading back to the Midwest for more shows.
"When we spoke after the [Detroit] show, I noticed he was slurring his words; he was different," Vicky said. "When he told me he may have taken an extra Ativan or two, I contacted security and asked that they check on him.

"What happened is inexplicable, and I am hopeful that further medical reports will provide additional details. I know he loved our children and he would not hurt them by intentionally taking his own life. The outpouring of love and support from his fans, friends and family means so much more to us than anyone can know. Thank you for that, and for understanding how difficult this is for us."

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Canyon99 said:

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Professor Frick said:

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The 'discussion' of the greatest singers of our generation reminded me of another guy who died too young and happened to be really close friends with Cornell: Jeff Buckley. I think if Buckley had stayed around through the 90s the two of them would have continued to have a lot of influence on each other's music.

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Funny you mention this because Cornell and Buckley are my two favorite singers from my younger days. I believe Cornell's Wave Goodbye was written about Buckley. Vocal giants man.

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One of my favorite rock stories: Thom Yorke couldn't finish "Fake Plastic Trees" and was on the verge of throwing it out when Radiohead went to see Buckley in concert. After the show, Yorke went back to the studio in a complete daze, recorded the vocals in 2 takes, and broke down crying.

That story contains one of my favorite singers, one of my favorite bands, and one of my favorite songs.

PLUM LOCO said:

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I know he loved our children and he would not hurt them by intentionally taking his own life.

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Not trying to be insensitive, but that's said about every person that commits suicide.

PLUM LOCO said:

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From his wife:

Quote:

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The family also said Cornell, who was 52, had a prescription for Ativan and might've taken a higher dosage. Ativan is a tranquilizer and anti-anxiety medication that often is used as a sleeping aid. According to the statement, Kirk Pasich, an attorney, said Ativan can cause paranoid or suicidal thoughts, not to mention impaired judgment.
Vicky Cornell, Chris' wife, said, "Chris' death is a loss that escapes words and has created an emptiness in my heart that will never be filled. As everyone who knew him commented, Chris was a devoted father and husband." There are three Cornell children in the pictureChristopher, 11, and Toni, 12, plus Lillian, a 16-year-old daughter from Chris' previous marriage to Susan Silver.
Vicky said Chris flew home from Soundgarden's tour the weekend before his death to spend time with his family before heading back to the Midwest for more shows.
"When we spoke after the [Detroit] show, I noticed he was slurring his words; he was different," Vicky said. "When he told me he may have taken an extra Ativan or two, I contacted security and asked that they check on him.

"What happened is inexplicable, and I am hopeful that further medical reports will provide additional details. I know he loved our children and he would not hurt them by intentionally taking his own life. The outpouring of love and support from his fans, friends and family means so much more to us than anyone can know. Thank you for that, and for understanding how difficult this is for us."

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That was my first thought is some prescription drug made him lose his mind.

Loved his voice. Only saw him once (lollapalooza 1996) and he sounded great live. I was a fan since 92 or so. Makes me feel old now.

Sad.

More details released - he attached a red exercise band to a carbiner (mountain climbing clamp thing) and attached that to the top of his bathroom door somehow.

I'm thinking combination of a couple of extra pills plus autoerotic asphyxiation session gone wrong. Accident, not suicide.

Not that it makes him any less dead but the pure suicide story just did not seem quite right and still doesn't..

you're not kidding. Hadn't heard that song in a while but pretty damn similar lick.

What if he was fully clothed?

spanky said:

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What if he was fully clothed?

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Exactly. At that point you lean more towards suicide or big time accident while setting up the Autoerotic asphyxiation.

I've been listening to an endless Cornell loop on amazon between solo, SG, TOTD, and AS and I'm amazed at how much more darker his lyrics are now and how much more I notice his talk of death.

Absolutely love this song. Been listening to a lot of his stuff the last couple days obviously, but it still gives me goosebumps sometimes when he hits certain notes. Just did things vocally that not many people have ever been talented enough to do.

NBC is re-airing SNL from '96 with Soundgarden as the musical guest right now.

He was awesome. All there is to it. Gone way to spon.

Ghost91 said:

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More details released - he attached a red exercise band to a carbiner (mountain climbing clamp thing) and attached that to the top of his bathroom door somehow.

I'm thinking combination of a couple of extra pills plus autoerotic asphyxiation session gone wrong. Accident, not suicide.

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If those are the details, I'd rather not know the details.

The family is definitely trying to save his reputation from being tarnished, that's for sure. Understandably. 25+ years of great music and talent is now shrouded with a suicide.

I don't think suicide tarnishes anybody's reputation, especially a musician

Also count me in the camp that thinks it may have been auto-erotic asphyxiation

Why do so many people think he pulled a Michael Hutchence?

if you want the ultimate

Junkhead said:

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Why do so many people think he pulled a Michael Hutchence?

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Seems cut and dry suicide to me. "I feel really sorry for the next city"

But... as a fan of another guy found on a bathroom floor that a small minority believe may have killed himself as well, I get wanting to make sure it was actually a suicide by ruling out other possible scenarios.