Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornellis an American singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter and rhythm guitarist for Seattle rock band Soundgarden and as former lead vocalist and songwriter for the supergroup Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1991, and as founder and frontman for Temple of the Dog, the one-off tribute band dedicated to his late friend Andrew Wood...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth20 July 1964
CitySeattle, WA
CountryUnited States of America
I had to teach myself to let go of the conventional rock way of playing guitar and singing. Some things you wouldn't expect to work, did and some things won't ever work.
I don't think there are too many rock bands in history that can look at the beginning and middle and ending of themselves and see what I see when I think of Soundgarden. I think from the beginning through the middle and the end it was such a perfect ride and such a perfect legacy to leave,
'The Beatles' did whatever they wanted. They were a collection of influences adapted to songs they wanted to write. George Harrison was instrumental in bringing in Indian music. Paul McCartney was a huge Little Richard fan. John Lennon was into minimalist aggressive rock.
The show was very emotional. We all have so much experience that we were trying to trick ourselves into believing we weren't nervous. Afterward, we were sitting around saying the normal things you say after a show. Then suddenly we all became quite overwhelmed as it dawned on us that we had just done a very special thing.
Probably before that record comes out we'll be out playing shows again. The idea is just to break down what has been the normal cycle of a year and a half on the road, a year and a half making a record, not get so far away from one world or the other world. I think that that makes better music, I think it makes for a better live show, I think it makes a better band.
When Soundgarden formed, we were post-punk - pretty quirky.
(Getting back together) would take the lid off that and could possibly change what up to now, to me, seems like the perfect lifespan of the band. I can't think of any reason to mess with that.
Nick and Vicky were raised in a restaurant family and they have a very familial Greek way of doing things. Nicholas was the one in charge at first, but bounced ideas off other people, particularly Vicky and I and my mother-in-law.
I was going to be a musician, no matter what it took. I supported myself with blue-collared jobs so I could write music and be in a band and play shows. I even got into an underground art scene. I was going to do whatever.
She's known how to walk for about three months but she would only take steps if she was holding onto my finger, ... Now she'll just take off and go anywhere.
Most of the time, reading through treatments, it's like it could be any band, any song -- it doesn't matter that it's you or your song. The ideas are completely disconnected from the music and the image of the band.
My head was much more in it. We were able to write very quickly, all four of us in the room, and to do that, you have to be very present and very open-minded.
What formed me as a musician, a songwriter, the sound and personality of my band, a whole lot of that happened well before 1991.
Tom and Brad and Tim were huge fans of Soundgarden before I ever met them. The (Soundgarden) songs we have played they play incredibly well, they take very seriously and they love,