This has hit me really hard. I'll miss you mate.
This has hit me really hard. I'll miss you mate.
I really hate the word "grunge". I think it's become meaningless. To me, Soundgarden is a rock band through and through. No different from whatever was considered rock music in the 60s, 70s, and 80s except they had this fusion of Sabbath-esque metal, classic hard rock, and something completely their own thing. Badmotorfinger is a fucking hard rock album to its core while Superunknown is really pure rock. You can't go wrong w/ those 2 albums at all as they're classics from start to finish.
TMZ reported he killed himself by Spoiler: Wrapping an exercise band around his neck, tied it to a carabiner and attached it to his hotel bedroom door and wedged the door closed. His body guard found him on the floor with blood coming out of his mouth after busting through 2 doors.
I can't get over how immensely sad and unexpected this is. Out of all the music legends amongst us, I thought Chris would be the very last one to go. I've been thinking about him and everything he's achieved constantly, since the news broke. I hope that his family and friends are being supported through this. Chris may have left us, but he's left behind a wonderful body of work that will continue to positively influence the lives of music fans all around the world.
I agree. Down on the Upside is an absolute gem of a record. I've always loved how Ben gets more of the songwriting spotlight on each song, his writing style and bass playing is so brilliantly unique. He really brought the band to the next level, and added to their awesome chemistry.
What makes me sad the most is the fact that it seems like a tragedy needs to happen to make you appreaciate certain things again. I remember buying superunknown and badmotortfinger a long time ago and getting absolutely into Soundgarden. Over the years I lost interest somehow and I have been following them casually. While I always had a tremendous amount of respect for Cornell I couldn't get into anything else while I was always amazed by his abilites. So now here I am listening to my favorite song "searching with my good eye closed" and I feel deeply sorry for what has happened. May he find his peace! I salute a great gentleman of rock n roll, at least he was for me whether his records were spinning or not throughout the years.
In absolute shock, i just can't believe it.
I just don't know how.
Another one of my favourite musicians is gone...
I've just been listening to his music not stop.
The songs from Temple of the Dog now have a totally different meaning now since he is now gone as well.
Down on the Upside was an underrated album. It was hard to top Superunknown. It's like The Dark Knight Rises vs. The Dark Knight.
This is a good read. http://smellslikeinfinitesadness.com...riatingly-sad/
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This is such a great song as well, recorded during the Badmotorfinger sessions but released when they re-formed.
I wonder how much of the new album they were working on was done.....
I can't believe it, i saw the topic bump and thought it's more news about UOK reissue or Audioslave tour. Then it's about Chris' death? What?
I'm not even feeling any sadness right now after 15 minutes from reading about it. I feel cheated - he won't make music anymore! Damn.
And now stuff from bands he was in is going to inflate in price. I was going to add something to the collection, now it'll get harder.
I have collected most of his output: four solo albums + Songbook, all of Soundgarden, including Superunknown Super Deluxe, five or six singles, Audioslave and Temple of the dog.
A weird story i have here, that struck me as i write this: one morning about a week ago, maybe Monday - not sure, i felt sudden urge to play loud the song "Moth" from "Revelations"
I generally don't play music before going to work AND i didn't listen to any particular record of his since Badmotorfinger reissue (kind of took a break from it) but that one time i put it on loud and sang along (and as i'm not as good, my throat hurt a little afterwards).
Not saying there's a sign of some stupid connection or anything, it got me so much that i sang some parts of the song along my walk to work (i take a 30-minute walk, most of the way beside the highway and with no people around i sang it: "Thought i was smarter as i flew into the sun, but is turned out the way it does with everyone .... Oooh--i don't fly around your fire anymore, burned and fallen down so many times before, i don't fly around, fly around..."
Fuck. Now it becomes heavy. I love his songs. Every last one. And he's apparently gone? Is that for real, again?
p.s.
Sorry for Not inserting any youtube links now like you guys tend to do a lot, most of his songs are forever in my heart.
Last edited by BenAkenobi; 05-20-2017 at 12:20 PM.
If you guys buy one album/download this week, I highly recommend the SINGLES reissue soundtrack. It includes six unreleased Chris Cornell recordings, four from the "Seasons" sessions, known as the The Poncier EP. These tracks are fantastic, and include an early version of "Spoon Man" and "Flutter Girl." His two other contributions are also quite good--including an instrumental score piece. The other tracks are also quite good, including songs from Truly and Blood Circus. I also really liked Paul Westerberg's until now unreleased material.
For later songs after the reunion Rowing and Live To Rise (I know everyone hates this song) are top notch.
Without dampening the mood (I know most here are genuine fans and have been for years), I LITERALLY CRINGE when any beloved musician dies because it drives out "fans" from wood works that act like they loved the artist for a long time. I'm laughing my ass seeing Soundgarden, Audioslave and Chris Cornell solo albums in Top Selling lists on iTunes this week. Why the influx of sales? Did you always like the bands and just never bought the music or are you a new fan that took a man's death for you to take notice? Bowie was different but more of the same. It drives me insane.
I'm so annoyed at this mentality every time someone dies.
People go through phases with music. There are times when you will listen to something very heavily and then move onto something else, sometimes never fully coming back to it. Then when that artist dies, it brings people back to that time in their life when they were so heavily into it, and revisit those memories and feelings. It's not a nostalgia thing or an "I'm a bigger fan" thing, it's a respect, appreciation, and retrospect thing.
So cool, if you've been a fan of Soundgarden your whole life and listen to them the same amount daily that you always have, good for fucking you. But not everyone is the same and everyone processes things differently. By mocking a fan for purchasing an artist's music after their passing, you're not just discrediting that artist's legacy, you're discrediting how that fan is coping with the loss.
So laugh all you want at iTunes sales charts, but that mentality just makes you look like a cold hearted ass, to be quite honest.
Agree with the above. I'd like to add that those albums that are trending were released long before the digital music era. People might be turning to those services (iTunes and such) out of convience and not knowing where their old cds are. The sudden surge of sales make me feel better about his death because I know I'm not alone in mourning him. Reading the sympathy comments has also helped me feel normal. I'm kinda shocked that his death has had such an impact on me. I didn't expect the grief at all and it helps to know I am not the only one.
Soundgarden for me have always been one of those bands that I still appreciated as I aged, that started me off in my youngest high school days, but sort of fell by the wayside along with AIC and my taste for grunge the more I got into NIN, Pumpkins, Manson, KMFDM, (industrial bands of choice etc.). If they'd still been around from 1998 onwards, that might not have happened. But they weren't and so while every now and then I'd toss on BMF, SU or DOTU, there was just more going on elsewhere I was following.
I was excited as fuck when they came back with King Animal though. I wouldn't say it was by the numbers exactly, but it felt like a band testing the waters to see if they still worked. Even so, I like it just fine.
Anyway, I was where I was and so when SG came back I was happy, but your formative years lodge your love for things in a certain way. So SG were never my number one favorites again like they were for a summer in 1995 or 6, obviously, but it still felt really good to know they were out there again. Was super happy that I got to see them with NIN.
I'm not sitting here in tears the way I was for Bowie, but I am still incredibly shocked by this, and saddened when I really think about it, which I'm trying not to.
I'm not going to lie; I ran out yesterday after work and picked up the new version of Ultramega OK, in part because I was spurred by this, but I'd been meaning to do it for like a month and just kept forgetting - it does sound way better, incidentally. It also helps that none of my local stores ever had the bloody original in stock and I've never owned it - a mistake that I took too long to rectify, but did at an opportune time.
So if I've gotta justify that; there you go. That's why I contributed to the postmortem sales. I'm a lapsed casual fan who still appreciates them, who would have picked up any new release without question the way I did with King Animal opening day, because SG were an old favorite of mine going back to my Beavis & Butthead MTV marathon days.
I have nothing more to contribute than that it really fucking sucks that things turned out this way. Just this last point. This justifies King Animal's existence alone:
Another good read. This one talks about mental illness and why someone like Cornell was successful in taking his life.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b07617ae4cbaac
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I get that everyone processes music intake and sorrow filled emotions differently. It's not a contest and never was, it just pains me to see people act this way in pack mentality because it occurred. Yes, I expect fans and music lovers to always do this. Every applauded artist has had this happen upon their death. I value the time fans and people remember and speak openly about what the music has had on their lives...
But it just seems misguided that this happens every time this tragic stuff occurs. I see and hear people that never once mentioned any of those bands or albums in my life name drop them after the 17th. I'll be a stone cold wretch then with my statement since I find people that had NO interest prior jumping in to the music now after the tragedy that befell the other day not true fans at all. iTunes charts are for consumerism and other shallow music walks but it's just funny to see them skyrocket out of no where to quickly fall away in about a week or two, just like Bowie's Greatest Hits sales were.
Plus fans own everything...usually. I know digital is different than hard copy but I own every album on CD minus Ultramega OK. I'd take it most fans would already. That's why when sales spike afterwards it always raises flags with me. I was on iTunes looking for ringtones and to update an APP and I seen the charts.
Glad to see I'm not alone in that thought! I also am on both sides of the argument. I was just prompted to post the devil's advocate side.
I seen that Badmotorfinger LP. It has a hologram/lenticular cover right?
Last edited by Space Suicide; 05-20-2017 at 08:01 PM.
I think Superunknown was one of the select albums that helped me through my teen years in the mid 90s. It was dark but so satisfying at the same time. And Chris's voice just always connects with something rather primal inside anyone who hears it and appreciates it. I'm pretty sure I bought Down On The Upside the day it came out and I always felt like that was a bit of a misunderstood album with some really fucking brilliant moments on it. Those two albums are like dear old friends to me.
Another one. These opinion pieces are helping me. https://thefirsttenwords.wordpress.c...hat-you-think/
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As an older member of Generation X, I bristle at these articles suggesting that Gen X has somehow suffered more tragedies and deaths than other generation; the only difference between now and "then" (pre-Internet) is the level of solipsism manifested so openly. Death - be it from tragedy, natural causes, illness, accidents - is a daily part of life. Eventually, every one of our heroes will be dead. So will we. This is reality. A member of ETS hanged himself (his second and successful suicide attempt), really hitting a lot of us on a very personal level of reality. None of us knew Cornell; his own wife does not believe he deliberately committed suicide; his death is, yet again (as with Bowie, Prince, and the countless other celeb deaths in the last few decades), causing journalists to proclaim the death of a generation, the death that is above all other deaths; a continued reminder that we can't go home again, and the repeating focus on nostalgia vs. the reality of aging and mortality. The reality is that Gen X - and all generations - will die and will be replaced by others. Our dogs, our parents, our revered heroes, our spouses, our children, our friends: all doomed to the same fate, some leaving us more grief-stricken than others. Our not truly "knowing" people like Cornell represents our not really knowing any of the mysteries of life, including our remaining time on this Earth (could be in 20 years, could be tomorrow). If Cornell's life and death are to serve any purpose at all, it's to not focus on the alleged death of grunge, or even a "Generation" (the notion of which is somewhat ridiculous and relatively unimportant) but to teach us to value each and every remaining day we have, and each of the people and animals we love, in this relatively short time we have here on Earth.
Good lessons for us all, Grasshopper.
Last edited by allegro; 05-21-2017 at 01:45 PM.
RE: The Singles soundtrack reissue--really liking the new remaster of "Birth Ritual." It's louder, but not brickwall loud, and the seperation of instruments sounds clearer.
I'm going to have to get that, it's already such a great soundtrack. The MOVIE hasn't aged very well - I watched it again a few months ago and cringed WAY more at the script and acting by Sedgwick and Scott, although I still like Fonda's and Dillion's roles and performances - but the soundtrack is still really good.
@allegro I agree with all you said. the "we're all gonna die" feelings have bubbled up for me in the wake of his death. I was definitely sad when prince died but cornell's self inflicted departure has me rattled bad. The "voice of a generation" and grunge topics are fodder for clicks but reading anything that attempts to make sense of what just happened has been soothing for me. I was really upset on Thursday. My four year old picked up on it and asked what was wrong. Of course I did not tell him. All I could think is why am I so upset about this person I didn't know. A few days out and I know it's because death is imminent. Whether it's now or 30 years from now, it will happen. You're right that his death should serve as a reminder that this is all temporary. My motto has long been "life is short. Hug it up". Maybe I should change to "life is short. Love it up. "
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@WorzelG , did you not like the Singles remaster? I couldn't tell a noticeable difference, but I did like the remastered "Birth Ritual" in particular. Do you feel it suffers from brickwall mastering? I thought it was of the same quality as the remastered Badmotorfinger, which I really liked, compared to the Superunknown remaster which I thought sounded pretty bad.