My life with Chris Cornell has been an abnormal one. While most people grew up with him during the Soundgarden era, I can’t say that I was ever a big Soundgarden fan back in the day. Sure, I knew their hits and I could recognize his voice instantly on the radio (who couldn’t?), but they weren’t on my radar.
Until Audioslave came around and I really started understanding why this guy, this rock god was worthy of respect. This gentleman can SING. To the heavens and beyond. Name me the Top 10 singers out there and he’s on that list every time.
I did manage to see Soundgarden a few years back at Bluesfest and it was a great show, but like I said before, they were still off of my radar.
It wasn’t until a few years ago that I popped in the Soundgarden Superunknown album into the cd player and something finally clicked for me and I instantly fell in love with it. Soundgarden has become my world in the past few years. I find it really odd sometimes how it takes a long time to get into a band/album but when it does, it’s like your brain rewards you for the effort you put into trying to like it. You have a stronger bond to the things you work harder for.
It’s a very sad day in the music world with Chris now gone. A force to be reckoned with, his voice will forever be ringing inside our head.
I read the following passage on the Pearl Jam message board and it pretty well nails how I feel.
For people who don’t understand why others mourn the death of artists, you need to understand that these people have been a shoulder to cry on. Our rock. They’ve been family, leaders, teachers and role models. Many have taught us what we need to know and what to do when times get rough.
They’ve helped us move on. They’ve pushed us out of bed. They’ve helped us live when nobody else had the time to.
Artists have inspired us in endless ways and have been with us through stages in our lives.
We’ve made memories with them. So when they die, part of us dies.