With all due respect to religious fanatics, Chris Cornell is a God among men in the music industry. Seriously, the man performs miracles every time he performs in concert or makes a new album. When he came out with "Cochise" with Audioslave, that was his equivalent of parting the Red Sea. When he recorded "Call Me a Dog" with Temple of the Dog it could be compared to God's "Let There Be Light" moment. I'd like to think that "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgardgen, is one of God's most played song's on his iPod. On the seventh day, God didn't rest, he created Chris Cornell's voice. I'm not trying to commit blasphemy here, but I'm just trying to make the point about how awesomely talented Cornell is. Yes, Chris Cornell is a music icon, very popular, and well-known, but is he appreciated for his talent, success, and awesomeness in a way that he deserves? I think not because for some reason the only people who really appreciate him that much are either his die-hard fans or those in the music industry. It's about time we change that and make Chris Cornell appreciated world wide, and not just by his hardcore fans, for what he truly is; the greatest male singer and the man responsible for some of the best bands and music in rock of our generation.
I will repeat for emphasis, Chris Cornell is the greatest male singer of our generation. You can have your Michael Bubles or John Legends, and every American Idol winner, I will take Cornell. Every time I hear Chris Cornell sing I always say to myself, "Damn, I wish I had his voice." Whenever I'm listening to "Shadow of the Sun" alone and I try to scream like he does, I know I sound like a nasally dork, because I, and frankly no one, has the awesome raw vocal power that Cornell has. His voice is everything you can want and need in a Hard Rock singer. It's original, intense, loud, and in your face. His voice is what you should hear when you think of a rock vocalist. He belts out screams and yells that are so perfect, they are they equivalent to Shakira's belly dancing moves. Both blow your mind on how insanely awesome they are. It is a scientifically proven fact that every song that Cornell has sang is automatically better just because he was singing on it, and you can't argue with science. It's pretty much impossible to sing a Chris Cornell song for karaoke because you are only going to severely embarrass yourself and butcher the song in the process. The rage in his voice can't be matched with the way it fits in with the power chords of the song. Also, I bet you didn't know his voice is so awesome that he and Mariah Carey are the only two people in the history of life to ever reach the fifth octave. I'm sorry, but when you accomplish something that only one other person in the history of the world has, that's extremely impressive and you deserve mad props for it. Again though, unless you count his die-hard fans or those within the music industry, this recognition escapes Cornell for some unknown reason. Maybe it's cause society can't accept someone so awesome or because he isn't a pop artist. Either way it's a travesty because Cornell's voice is literally one of a kind. However, Cornell is not just all vocal ability. Did you know that Cornell is also a male model? Sure, he's no Jesse Palmer (Side Note: No one is), but he has great hair, surprisingly ripped abs, and apparently a mysterious side to him that the camera just loves. This is why John Varvatos tapped Cornell to be the face of his 2006 ad campaign. It was nice to see Cornell be recognized on something outside of his musical talent, even if it was his musical talent that got him the gig in the first place.
How many singers, or artists in general can say that they were in three highly successful bands, two of which were the top bands of their respective genre in the era in which they played? Not many I'm sure, but Chris Cornell can. Keep in mind, this doesn't include the success Cornell had during his solo career either. Soundgarden, Cornell's first band, is considered one of the four founding fathers of grunge along with Nirvana, Alice In Chains, and Pearl Jam. In fact, Soundgarden was actually the first grunge band to ever sign with a major label, when they signed with A&M Records in 1990. This was right after they were nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Soundgarden's first big album Badmotorfinger was among the top 100 selling albums of 1992 and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. After this album came out, they were personally selected by Guns N' Roses themselves to open for them on their Use Your Illusion Tour. For the biggest band in the world to ask you open for them on the tour of their second best album has to be one of the best feelings ever. They had to know that this was going to help them blow up, and blow up they did. Their next album, Superunknown debuted as the number one album on the Billboard 200 and went on to go quintuple platinum in the US, triple platinum in Canada, and gold status in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands. It was nominated for the Best Rock Album Grammy and two singles off Superunknown, "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman" went on to win Grammys. Rolling Stone also ranked Superunknown as the 336th greatest album of all time. .Soundgarden released one more album before they broke up, Down On The Upside. It was nominated for Grammys, but didn't win any. It wasn't as successful as Superunknown, but still produced the hits "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand", and "Blow Up the Outside World." Either way, their impact on music in the 1990s was tremendous. They were not only ground breaking, but helped influence almost every rock band you hear on the radio today. While none of the other members of the band found the same success they found in Soundgarden in their other bands, their frontman and most talented member, managed to stay in the limelight with other bands. I don't think this is a knock on the other members of Soundgarden, as much as it is due to the awesomeness of Cornell.
Temple of the Dog was a side band Cornell was in while he was also in Soundgarden. Besides Cornell, the other members of the band were Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, Matt Cameron, and Eddie Vedder. If these names seem familiar to you they should, because they are the five members of Pearl Jam. Yes, Chris Cornell and Pearl Jam were in a band together, and unfortunately they only released one album together. As you can probably guess, this album was awesome. While you would think Temple of the Dog's songs would be the blueprint of grunge and rock, it actually wasn't. If you listen to their songs, you notice they are actually slower and softer because they are singing about Cornell's former roommate who died of a heroin overdose. You can tell that this clearly had a profound effect on Cornell, because besides starting a band to honor him, his voice sounds better on this album than it does at any point of his career. His vocals sound powerful, yet soft and fit the melody perfectly. I like to think it shows Cornell's awesomeness that he can use his voice in a dynamic way, yet in a softer tone, and not just in a hard rock setting. David Fricke of Rolling Stone praised Temple of the Dog's only album when he wrote the album "deserves immortality." It was among the 100 top selling albums of 1992 and wound up going platinum by selling more than a million copies. Even more impressive was the fact that when Temple of the Dog was released it was critically acclaimed, but didn't sell too well. It wasn't until after Soundgarden and Pearl Jam got popular that A&M Records really started to market the album. Working with Pearl Jam helped Cornell's career after Soundgarden was over too. According to Cornell, Temple of the Dog's success was the reason why he joined Audioslave. Cornell stated in an interview that the experience made him "keep an open mind" about collaborations with musicians from other bands.
I will never forget the day I found out about Audioslave. I probably said awesome more that day than I have in this entire blog so far. Just the idea of the Cornell forming a band with the guitarist, bassist, and drummer of Rage Against The Machine almost made me pass out. With one of the best guitarists of our era, Tom Morello, teaming up with the best vocalist of our era, Cornell, I knew they were going to make hard rock magic together because they were a perfect match. The power chords Morello plays would go perfectly with Cornell's famous raw wailing. I think a lot of people myself included, figured they would be a mix of Soundgarden and RATM, however it turns out they kind of created a sound of their own. If you listen to their songs, you can hear a combination of 1970s hard rock with 1990s alternative rock. Audioslave's first album, Audioslave debuted number seven on the Billboard 200 and sold 162,000 copies in its first week. Within a month, it was certified gold and wound up becoming triple platinum. Their second album, Out of Exile, debuted at number one on the U.S. charts and has achieved platinum status. The crazy thing about this album, was how awesome and fresh Cornell's voice sounded, due to the fact he became sober and quit smoking, which is kind of crazy. Could you imagine how much better Cornell's voice would sound if he wasn't smoking, drinking, and partying for a good part of his life? I can't even comprehend how awesome it would be. Audioslave was also so awesome that they became the first American rock group to perform a concert in Cuba, playing in front of an audience of 70,000. They wound up producing a DVD on this concert and it was certified platinum in less than two months. Their third album Revelations was its least successful, and only reached gold status. While Audioslave was a great band, they were clearly not as good as Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine. Part of it was due to the fact they just had a lot to live up to and had very high expectations. However, you can make the argument that Audioslave's songs put Cornell's voice to better use. That's not to say that Audioslave's songs were better than Soundgarden's, (Side Note: They weren't) but Cornell's voice fits Audioslave's songs better than they do Soundgarden's. If you don't think so, I implore you to please listen to my favorite Audioslave song, "Shadow on the Sun." I defy you to find a Soundgarden song that utilizes Cornell's vocal ability better than it does here. I wish you luck. Cornell wound up leaving the band in 2007 to work on his solo album and when RATM got back together.
Cornell has also released three solo albums. The first Euphoria Morning had its single, "Can't Change Me" nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Cornell received the honor of producing the song in the James Bond film Casino Royale. James Bond films are famous for having an original song played during its opening credits by one of the best artists in music, and its obvious why they would choose Cornell. "You Know My Name" won a Satellite Award for Best Original Song, and a 2007 World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film. The song was also nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Even my dad loved it. "You Know My Name" was the first single off his second album Carry On. What makes this album awesome, is that a bunch of songs on the album are played acoustically, giving Cornell a different medium to make his voice stand out. Cornell worked with all-world mega producer Timbaland on his most recent album, Scream, which was released in 2009. This is Cornell's most interesting album because it gets away from the hard rock sound Cornell is known for and focuses on the electronic hip-hop sound Timbaland is famous for. Everyone I know either loves this album, or hates it. Regardless of what you think of the album, you have to give Cornell credit for trying something new, whether it worked or didn't. It truly takes someone awesome to try something that is exactly the opposite of what they are known for and attempt to be successful at it.
The thing that I find most awesome about Cornell is the talent who wanted to work with him because I believe this shows not only how talented other musicians find him, but how much they respect him as well. As previously mentioned, he was in bands with members of Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine. Guns N' Roses and Metallica, the two biggest rock bands of the 1980s and 1990s demanded that his bands tour with them. He contributed vocals on the Alice in Chains song "Right Turn" and Alice Cooper's "Stolen Prayer" and "Unholy War," which he also wrote. He also has performed in concert with Linkin Park and Aerosmith. Timbaland referred to his recording sessions with Cornell as "The best work I've done in my career." I also think it says a lot about an artist when an artist decides to release a cover song about an other artist. That's why it is awfully impressive that such big name singers like Johnny Cash, Peter Frampton, and Paul Anka have all covered songs that Cornell made. Even though he isn't as big as a name as those artists, when David Cook decided to cover Cornell's version of "Billie Jean," and not Michael Jackson's to help him score some votes on American Idol, it put Cornell's awesomeness on display. However it's possible that we haven't even seen the best of Cornell yet. On January 1, 2010 Chris Cornell's official Facebook and Twitter page confirmed a Soundgarden reunion after a 12 year hiatus. Lord only knows what their new sound will be like, but I know that the expectations will be high and I will be listening to whatever they come out with. Hopefully, more people can appreciate the awesomeness of Chris Cornell, and not just those in the music business and his die-hard fans. The best way to do that would be to do what he does best; sing, wail, and belt out words with raw power and emotion. Once Soundgarden steps into the studio, that's exactly what's going to happen.
