Chuck Klosterman has written about the social obligation to change one’s relationship with an artist’s work after they die. Deeper meanings are thrust onto old songs, using heartbreak and nostalgia as excuses for otherwise empty lyrics. Whether you’ve listened to Soundgarden recently or not, they were a great band, and Chris Cornell had one of the best rock voices of his generation.
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The heavy riffs of “Rusty Cage” and the terror of “Jesus Christ Pose” gave way to introspection on “Fell on Black Days.” Reading the lyric sheet to “Fell on Black Days” from a writer who would someday take his own life does add weight to an already profoundly sad song.
Whomsoever I’ve cured, I’ve sickened now
And whomsoever I’ve cradled, I’ve put you down
I’m a search light soul, they say
But I can’t see it in the night
I’m only faking when I get it right
When I get it right
Gray Aura Era
Soundgarden released Superunknown in 1994, the band’s commercial peak. Reading the above passage from “Fell on Black Days” is eerie. Cornell had been struggling for many years, but the despair was lost amongst the general depression surrounding the ’90s Seattle bands. Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam all sounded unhappy and looked miserable as they walked onstage to receive awards.
The depression broadcast across MTV led Noel Gallagher to write the songs for Oasis’ debut, Definitely Maybe. “Live Forever” was his response to rock stars openly wanting to die. Rock ’n’ roll’s mini revolutions are nothing more than reactions against what came before. Seattle was a reaction to Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, and Manchester, Sheffield, and London shot back with Britpop. England may share cloudy skies with the Pacific Northwest, but they imagined (pun intended) champagne-colored supernovas because they were already depressed by living on the dole (unemployment), and life in a rock band was better than repaving busted roads or working in a gas station.
Klosterman listened to “Jesus Christ Pose” the day Chris Cornell died, and he wasn’t the only one revisiting Soundgarden albums then. Cornell’s solo career never reached the doomy heights of Soundgarden, although the Jeff Buckley-inspired Euphoria Mourning is worth a listen.
His solo work later became defined by his cover songs.
[RELATED: Behind the Meaning of the Song “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden]
5. “Patience” by Guns N’ Roses
It is understandable if the thought of Chris Cornell covering “Patience” makes you slowly back away toward the door. But, thankfully, there’s no whistling in his version, so take that as a win. He turns the song into the songwriter side of Soundgarden with an Americana twist. The video’s montage of Polaroids is sad, thinking of his children. Anger and sadness followed his suicide, and, unfortunately, Cornell didn’t have more patience with himself. His voice was a gift, and it is missed.
4. “Imagine” by John Lennon
The world has changed since Lennon wrote his egalitarian wish list. But what hasn’t changed is the many ways people are divided. Humans haven’t outgrown tribalism; religions are still abused as excuses for violence; and hyper-nationalism and a general fear of others, race, and class survived NATO. Cornell ends his rendition with a soft falsetto vocal, hanging delicately over the final chord like a bird hovering above the ruins. “Imagine” lives in a space with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a song covered so often that banality snuffs its magic. But hearing Cornell give Lennon’s Bolshevik prayer the “Black Hole Sun” treatment sounds pretty good.
3. “The Times They Are A-Changin’” by Bob Dylan
When America decided to kick itself in the balls and hand the nuclear codes to a reality TV star, many people were in search of answers. Great songs don’t always carry answers, but they do offer comfort. Cornell reworked the lyrics to Dylan’s folk classic, reflecting the widening cracks in Western democracy.
2. “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinéad O’Connor
Watching Cornell’s daughter, Toni Cornell, sing “Nothing Compares 2 U” on The Late Late Show with James Corden is so heartbreaking that it’s difficult even to type this onto the page. The Soundgarden singer’s own cover is equally beautiful. There’s a tendency toward mawkishness when an iconic singer goes around singing cover songs, and Cornell did, at times, land in the schmaltzy pit. But his gorgeous version of Prince’s tender ballad lives under the dark cloud of Sinéad O’Connor’s—and his own—tragic ending.
1. “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin
As Cornell explained to Howard Stern, “Thank You” would have been any other group’s biggest hit. But Led Zeppelin has a colossal list of classic songs that overshadow this quaint reflection from the band’s second album. Soundgarden was a modern-day combination of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Cornell and guitarist Kim Thayil were Seattle’s Robert Plant and Tony Iommi. “Thank You” is a natural fit for Cornell; he sings it beautifully.
Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for CBS Radio
