CHRIS CORNELL TOP 5 TRACKS: SOUNDGARDEN & AUDIOSLAVE
- May 18, 2017
- 4 min read
Tragic news surfacing this morning as we learn about the passing of Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman, Chris Cornell. The Seattle born rock legend died in circumstances that were said to be “sudden and unexpected” leaving his wife and family in a state of shock. At a prime age of 52 this disastrous passing is premature to say the least. Over the years Cornell bought such a wealth of talent and inspiration to the music industry acting as one of the figureheads for the Pacific Northwestern grunge scene emergence of the late 80’s; early 90’s. He not only helped sculpt a genre of music that is still inspiring and living in today’s era but he redefined the way in which rock music was interpreted. The atmospheric contrast of heavy, powerful riffs and airy, melodic choruses were a revolutionary finding that swept across the whole world in such astronomic fashion. Not to mention his voice, we would go as far as to argue that he had one of the best voices in rock history. That gravelly but sweet tone he achieves is enough to send shivers down the spine of even the most anti-rock devotee.
Cornell has been on the road touring with his birthchild band Soundgarden and took to social media just hours before his untimely death to tweet about his excitement of playing their upcoming sold-out show at Detroit’s Rock City. Over the years the band sold over 10 million albums worldwide being nominated for nine grammy awards of which they won two. They first dispersed back in 1997 and reformed in 2010 releasing most recent album, ‘King Animal’, in 2012 and had allegedly been working on new material over the past few years. Sadly, records we will probably never get to hear! During the period between 1997 and 2010 Cornell joined member of Rage Against the Machine to form the formidable supergroup known as Audioslave. Their debut self-titled album was released back in 2002 and went triple platinum in the US. It goes without saying that Chris Cornell was a role model to many young aspiring musicians and his passing has shook the world of rock considerably. In ode to the great man we have put together our TOP 5 Chris Cornell tracks for you all to sink your teeth into (in no particular order). Listen, love, feel and lose control as you work your way through our short but sweet list and remember the man, the music and the legend. RIP!
COCHISE
What a better place to start then the opening track from his super groups debut self-titled album. Cochise is a delicious slice of rock at its most ballsy and confident, the track drops in with an almighty riff, so meaty it sings its own tune throughout. Its Audioslave in full peacock mode, flashing those feathers, waving to the critics and showing the world they mean business. The song is named after Cochise and Apache Indian who declared war on the Southeast of America and drove out thousands of settlers. I feel proud in the fact that most of you aren’t even reading this right now because you’re probably too busy headbanging.
BLACK HOLE SUN
This beauty was released all the way back in 1994 from Soundgarden’s fourth studio album “Superunknown”. It’s arguably the bands most recognised and renowned track, the music video is both nostalgic and prolific for anyone that spent their school summers sat watching Kerrang, Scuzz or any other relatable music channel. Black Hole Sun really is the epitome of everything 90’s rock music strived to create and stood for, it’s a glorious record that’ll live on for years, years and years to come!
SPOONMAN
Released on February 15th 1994 ‘Spoonman’ was Superunknown’s first single. This track is supposedly the song that launched Soundgarden’s career into the ‘mainstream’ making them highly regarded across the globe. It’s not as grungy as some of their other tracks but it has those vibrant power chords that bop the track along in such a fluid and seamless style. It’s catchy as fuck and again as can be expected with any Cornell track, the vocals are on POINT!
SHOW ME HOW TO LIVE
This one is brimming with attitude, typical Morello style heavy funk guitar riffs accompanied with what we would argue are some of Cornell’s best EVER vocals. That voice could make any man, woman, alien weak at the knees! It was released back in 2003 as the third single from the bands self-titled debut album. We’re just gunna stop talking, this song speaks for itself!
RUSTY CAGE
Even the music video for this track screams grunge, everything about it just oozes with that 90’s style. It was the third single from the bands third studio album “Badmotorfinger” back in 1992 and was even included on the bands greatest hits album in 1997. This one’s got a tasty bit of adrenaline about it throughout breaking towards the end with a lovely little drop. Rusty Cage featured some pretty wacky effectsand tunings to acheive that deep thick sound. The E was down tuned all the way to a B making it really ‘wobbly’ and they used a wah wah pedal as a filter. Immerse yourself into this piece of rock history!
Remember kids these are just our selections, if you think they’re any tracks we missed out and should have been in the TOP 5 let us know in the below comments! Also just because we're notorious for never being able to keep within the parameters of these TOP TRACKS articles we're gunna throw in one more special treat for you all. We just couldn't leave this one out so here it is our 'Thunderball' if you will........ Jesus Christ Pose!
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