He was <the> era when grunge hit in 91. Sure, when Kurt passed away, that was huge. When Weiland did (and Hoon and Layne), they werent as 'news worthy'. This has made waves with a lot of my friends today. If you're in the mid 40s, like me, when grunge hit, it was <THE> time for music for us.... When emo and punk were big, when it was ccalled 'new wave' or 'post modern'.... when MTV played music videos.... Sub Pop was big. Nirvana/Pearl Jam were big.. and Soundgarden hit... Big Dumb Sex.... god....
Man, this is absolutely devastating news. Cornell was among the greatest rock vocalists of all time in my book. He certainly had some chops.
I can't begin to overstate what a huge influence this man and his music had on me. I'm crushed right now. Only got to see Soundgarden once on that dream tour with Nine Inch Nails a couple years back, but I'll never forget the elation of finally getting to see them in person. Prayers go out to Chris' family, bandmates and loved ones.
With Cobain, Weiland, Staley, Hoon and Wood everyone could see what would happen with them in the end, still incredibly sad. But, Cornell always seemed like the survivor of that group, the one that cleaned up and turned his life around before it was too late. Unbelievably shocking.
Ive seen tweets from some musicians comment on his passing, but no one from Nirvana or Pearl Jam yet.... Im sure soon, if not already..... I can't imagine whats going through their heads. :/
Came here to say this. Incredible voice, lucky we still get to hear it in his recordings, but I'll always regret never seeing him live.
Couldn't believe this news when I woke up. Was a big Soundgarden fan growing up and liked a lot of Audioslave as well. So sad.
God damn. When I woke up around 7 am EASY to get ready for work, the first thing I read was this news. Thought it was a hoax, but then I oggled it and saw people like Rolling Stone reporting it and knew it had to be true. Soundgarden was one of the first grunge bands I ever got into when I was younger, my dad had all their albums, and played them in the car all the time. I remember when the local rock station premiered the first Audioslave single on the radio, and being blown away. That first Audioslave album is just a classic. I'm glad I got to see Soundgarden on tour a few years ago. I didn't think it would be the last time, though. Thank you Chris, for everything.
This one gutted me. Some of my formative years getting into music were spent with Audioslave and Soundgarden. He was my favorite vocalist for a long time and we have lost one of the best. RIP Chris.
While Soundgarden never hit me as hard as the other 90s alt/grunge bands, they definitely were in rotation. In fact I just blasted through Badmotorfinger a couple months ago at a family party. RIP. And fuck, Dillinger Escape Plan was opening for them on this tour as well :(