I still find it hard to believe what I heard yesterday morning on the radio…
Chris Cornell has passed away, aged 52.
Twenty-four hours later and I learn that the cause of death was suicide and only hours after a performance.
So very tragic and sad.
I’m not going to pretend to be someone who has lived and breathed Soundgarden for many years – in fact, if we got back eleven years to when Audioslave recorded the soundtrack for Casino Royale, I distinctly remember asking my sister: ‘Who the f**k is Chris Cornell?!’.
I only began listening to Pearl Jam seriously in 2006. Two years later and I’d discover Temple of the Dog… It was only after discovering the following live performance that I realised Eddie Vedder wasn’t doing all of the vocals on that one album.
There I was, nine-years ago; willing to believe that this ‘Cornell’ bloke was staking a claim for further fame with another artist’s song (as so many talentless reality show contestants do today).
Oh, how I was wrong. This guy had a voice unlike many others. Scarred after years of alcohol abuse, maybe. But as an artist, he didn’t let it hold him back.
It’s almost ironic that someone should take their own life in the week following a mental health awareness campaign. We may never know the terrors that blighted his mind but we’ll always have his music.
