Chris Cornell, Soundgarden and Audioslave Frontman, Dead at 52 -

[Deinonychus]

This has now been reported by multiple news outlets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/arts/music/chris-cornell-dead-soundgarden.html

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/18/528900021/chris-cornell-of-soundgarden-dies-at-52

'Mr. Cornell died Wednesday night in Detroit, said his representative, Brian Bumbery, in a statement that called the death “sudden and unexpected” and that said the singer’s family would be “working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause.”'

Chris was one of the few 'grunge' artists from the '90s that I felt was the most talented and grew musically over the years. Just very sad to hear of his passing.

 

[cypocraphy]

I remember in the summer of 1994 "Black Hole Sun" was on MTV every 20 minutes.

 

[WeaponsGradeAutism]

This has now been reported by multiple news outlets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/arts/music/chris-cornell-dead-soundgarden.html

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/18/528900021/chris-cornell-of-soundgarden-dies-at-52

'Mr. Cornell died Wednesday night in Detroit, said his representative, Brian Bumbery, in a statement that called the death “sudden and unexpected” and that said the singer’s family would be “working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause.”'

Chris was one of the few 'grunge' artists from the '90s that I felt was the most talented and grew musically over the years. Just very sad to hear of his passing.

Appropriate song for any Soundgarden fans, it seems.

 

[Deinonychus]

I remember in the summer of 1994 "Black Hole Sun" was on MTV every 20 minutes.

So do I, I remember it first being on 120 minutes and Headbangers ball before it hit regular MTV rotation. And the video is trippy as hell!

Appropriate song for any Soundgarden fans, it seems.

It was the first song that hit my mind when I read the news, ya know?

 

[Absolutego]

Wow, I can't believe it. Rumors are it was a suicide. They played a show last night:

 

[Tootsie Bear]

Man, I remember getting Audislave's debut album when I was younger, listing to it while I cruise around my neighborhood on my bike.

Sad to hear of his passing.

 

[AnOminous]

I listened to Badmotorfinger over and over because a friend of mine (also now dead) would always play it in the car. Black Hole Sun was also a huge favorite. I was in a pretty dark frame of mind in 1994 and it really appealed to me. I'm not surprised if it was a suicide.

Another song from the album after.

The dude was a consummate professional. Note that he even did a show right before offing himself.

Other than Cobain, I haven't really cared much about the grunge idiots who destroyed themselves with drugs, but this guy is a true loss.

 

[MrTroll]

Superunknown is maybe one of the 5 or 10 best rock albums of all time. Zero filler whatsoever. Just one of those albums you can listen from start to finish without skipping anything. This is seriously fucked. RIP.

 

[Sergeant Politeness]

I had heard the last song they did at the show was "In My Time of Dying" by Led Zeppelin. Crazy shit. Superunknown was one of the first albums I really found on my own, and Badmotorfinger and Down on the Upside were favorites of mine too.

I figure I'll just leave this here, one of the best ends to any album ever:

 

[BurningPewter]

Did you know there was some mentally ill woman on the Something Awful website years ago, who was obsessed with claiming that she sent CC some manuscript of her poetry, and she said that every lyric he did since then was stolen from her manuscript and she kept confronting him at events, after posting on SA she graduated to stalking his family and was arrested. If you google "chris cornell manuscript woman" you get stories.

So shocked by this though... man..

 

[Very Honest Content]

Saw him with Kim Thayil, who for me was the best part of listening to Soundgarden, even though Cornell was the man from the grunge era surviving front-men if I had to choose between him and Vedder, when they reformed a few years ago with Nine Inch Nails and it was probably the best ticket money I ever spent as they played a bunch of Superunknown for the 20th anniversary of that album's release. They played Fresh Tendrils. It was amazing. I randomized all the Soundgarden albums when I woke up to find out the news and made it through everything up until Mind Riot came on before I had to excuse myself for something being in my eye. I'll probably go through the Audioslave stuff too and just burn the weekend now listening to his stuff.

Andy Wood, Cobain, Shannon Hoon, Layne Staley, Scott Weiland and now Cornell all before their time.

 

[Black Waltz]

I had no idea he was suicidal.. This is fucking depressing.

 

[Morose_Obesity]

Did they find him in a Jesus Christ pose?

 

[AnOminous]

In a sort of super irony, Perry Farrell is still alive. Sort of like how William S. Burroughs lived to be 83.

 

[AnOminous]

I had no idea he was suicidal.. This is fucking depressing.

Did you listen to Black Hole Sun, Fell on Black Days, Outshined, Spoonman, Blow Up The Outside World, Like a Stone, or any of his other songs that were almost entirely about being depressed?

 

[Sergeant Politeness]

Spoonman

That was about being depressed? I thought that was about a guy who played spoons. I remember an interview where Chris was like "it's about people who judge others based on their looks rather than their personality" or some shit like that. Black Hole Sun was about nothing, and Like a Stone was about trying to appeal to a god right before your death.

Dunno, it's kinda like how every Alice in Chains song is suddenly about heroin because Layne was a druggie. Just because it was what killed the artist doesn't mean every song they wrote was about that.

Edit: I don't feel good about that Informative unless I source the interview, so I went and found it.

It's more about the paradox of who he is and what people perceive him as. He's a street musician, but when he's playing on the street, he is given a value and judged completely wrong by someone else. They think he's a street person, or he's doing this because he can't hold down a regular job. They put him a few pegs down on the social ladder because of how they perceive someone who dresses differently. The lyrics express the sentiment that I much more easily identify with someone like Artis than I would watch him play.

 

[Mrs Paul]

"Fell on black days", indeed.
Depression is a fucking bastard. It's not cancer, but fuck it all the same.

 

[Mister Moo]

Living Colour did a nice tribute a day or two ago in Australia- Blow Up the Outside World

Vernon Reid (their guitarist) has been chatting with folks about it on twitter-
https://twitter.com/vurnt22/status/865240647791333376
"Growing up, whenever someone told me that white rock singers don't have soul, I played The Day I Tried to Live and watched em get quiet."

-EDITED to add some trivia-
Chris Cornell and Layne Staley had the same vocal teacher, Susan Carr. She's still teaching- she advertises on the back pages of "The Stranger," Seattle's hometown alternative/freaky newspaper.

-EDIT 2- One more lesser-known song to add-