I share that sentiment.
Never a huge fan, but nobody can deny that he was a remarkable talent.
Dammit.
Saw Soundgarden a week ago yesterday in Indy. They were phenomenal just like they were when I saw them in '92. They set the stage for what became the ‘Seattle sound’ that many far less talented bands cashed in on. Incredible singer and songwriter. I’m really bummed today. RIP.
It was a huge bummer to hear that earlier. Saw them once maybe 92-93 at Lollapalooza I think. Loved the early stuff, Audioslave, and a couple of his solo singles. He will be truly missed. Have they released any theories on cause? Last I heard, suicide had not been ruled out, but that was hours ago
While I enjoy it, I’m not the biggest grunge/early 90’s rock fan (early 90’s metal is another story…), so I didn’t recognize his name at first…but I certainly recognized the bands he’s been in over the years. He was a common thread in many of my favorite songs from the genre.
I am very saddened by this. Superunknown is one of the best alternative rock albums ever in my opinion. As far as grunge is concerned, I always found Soundgarden to be unique as their sound relied more heavily on odd time signatures than other acts.
I was able to see Cornell with Audioslave when they played before Janes on lollapollooza around 2003 or so. He was amazing that night and audioslave completely outshadowed Janes.
RIP
Yep, for sure. Lots of cool, non-typical time changes. They were just fantastic last week. No rust on the instruments or vocals - he tore the place down with his voice at age 52. Got some pretty cool video and pics, too.
Gotta say, I’ve heard and read a lot in the last couple days about them being just a ‘metal’ band. Just a need to pigeonhole bands, I guess. They took elements of a lot of influences (including metal) and synthesized them into their own evolving, cool thing. Whatever.
Really cool that you got to see him/them so recently. They were scheduled to be here Monday but I had no plans to go. Good to hear that the vocals were solid as I had the impression they had tailed off significantly over the last few years.
I think all the ‘grunge’ bands didn’t actually have that much in common other than being from Seattle. Nirvana to Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden all sounded significantly different from each other. STP isn’t usually lumped in with them only because they came out of California.
Agreed on everything - the comparisons were more geographical than stylistic. Can’t speak for anything but the show I saw, but it was powerful and excellent. Seen a few hundred shows in all.
This has always been one of my favorites:
This new song is pretty cool:
But this one is awesome and one of the best versions I have heard:
Great tunes. I love this one (from the Singles soundtrack) - very Zeppelin III-esque, but amazing. One of his first solo acoustic tunes:
And the Temple of the Dog stuff (he wrote the whole album):
But of course old school Soundgarden stuff like this. Love how it builds from a slow Black Sabbath-style riff into a quicker and quicker tempo, then slows down again. Badass IMO:
