Talk:Chris Cornell

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• I look back at bands like the Small Faces, the Yardbirds, Free, the Byrds -- what came out of those bands? If you look at the family trees of some of the British Invasion groups, a lot of those guys wound up in the most successful groups of the '70s. So you do find a lot of super-groups in that era. In a sense, Led Zeppelin was that.

• When I was maybe nine years old, I listened to the entire Beatles catalogue, non-stop, for about a year, being a naive child, I didn't know who sang what song. I didn't know it was a different guy. I didn't know it was Paul singing Helter Skelter. I didn't know it was John singing Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey.

• There's a tendency for people to want to be led. I've touched on that subject a few other times in other songs I've written. But this one was more personal, and it also suggests that people find their true strength at a point where they seem to be at their biggest weakness. And I think that's when you can really find inspiration from someone. When someone is living high on the hog and someone can do no wrong and everyone loves them, that's really not the time to look at them and see what they're really made of or really worth. The time to be inspired by someone is when they're dealing with tragedy and negative aspects of themselves and the world around them. When I'm confident and filled with understanding and strength, I'm probably not really exhibiting anything that's worth following. But if I'm knee deep in shit and I'm managing to get through it, maybe I'm setting an example that someone else can benefit from.

    -On "Follow My Way" from Euphoria Morning

• I think we all carry a depressive streak in us but most people just hide it. A lot of people think that entertainment has to be something loud, cheerful and happy. I don't buy into it. Depression can be very inspiring. At least for me it can be. The quiet aspects of life are very important, because let's face it, life is pretty difficult.

• Follow My Way is one of my favorites. It describes the idea that a person's true strengths and positive sides are really found more in their weaknesses and their trying times, than in their greatest successes or brightest moments. You're receiving accolades and people are patting you on the back, but the moments that define you as a person are when you're in really bad circumstances. When there's been deaths, there's been a really serious problem in your relationship, or you've lost yourself as a person. That's when you have to be strong and rise to the occasion.

• I don't think that fans of RAGE or Soundgarden will be disappointed.
  • Talking about Audioslave's debut album

• Music driven by money deserves to fail.
  • Talking about 'Selling Out'.

• I'm not suicidal, except when I drink. That's why we don't all drink at the same time, there'd be no-one alive to drive home.
  • Talking about Soundgarden.

• I'm not this together, well adjusted rock star guy, that's not true: I'm as fucked up as anybody.

• I don't think a band should compromise themselves for anything. Not for an audience, not for a record label. Because if you compromise yourself, I don't think a fan is gonna believe in what you do.

• I don't think there are too many rock bands in history that can look at the beginning and middle and ending of themselves and see what I see when I think of Soundgarden. I think from the beginning through the middle and the end it was such a perfect ride and such a perfect legacy to leave

• I didn't have the same focus (when I was in Soundgarden) I have now. Now everything has come together. The focus on my wife and my children, it really helps me make sense of the music side of it somehow

• The only criteria I apply when making music is 'Does it make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end? It doesn't matter what style it is, what it reminds me of, what it doesn't remind me of. If it doesn't give me that feeling of inspiration, then it's not there yet.

• In a lot of ways being a rock musician is an oppurtunity just be be a kid, to stay irresponible.

• Making this video was fun because we were in a steel foundry. And there was like a black cancer dust all over everything. We're all gonna get cancer from it and die. so I hope you enjoy it. This will be the video that killed Soundgarden.
  • Talking about the making of the video for Soundgarden's Hands All Over.

• Wow. As long as the checks we send him clear, he seems to keep saying good things about us.
  • Talking about the fact that Axl Rose seems to like Soundgarden.

• Whatever you do and however you do it and however famous you become, you still came out of some woman. You're still part of the human race. You're still as much responsible for what's going on as anybody else. If anything, you become more aware.

• I'm not gonna tell people what they should and shouldn't take...unless they get too high and step on my toes - then I'll punch them in the face and they'll learn that way.

• My job isn't to create a body of work that can be understood by anyone. I don't think it's the artist's job to worry about it. When I was making records, and no one knew who I was, it wasn't an issue, so I don't see why it would be an issue now. You can't give any indication, at any point in your career, that you're willing to conform or take direction. If that is common knowledge, then they'll leave you alone, and their options are really only to accept you and leave you alone entirely, or tell you to fuck off. And you have to be willing to accept that possibility. If you're willing to accept that,it creates a certain amount of confidence and shows a certain amount of strength that people are attracted to, and they want to be a part of it.

• If I wrote a line then questioned it, do I really want people to hear me say that? Is that too personal? That moment of fear meant I should keep it.

• Susan was really busy with one of her bands, and there was about a month when I never left the house. I didn't go out in public; I didn't talk to anyone on the phone -- I went a little psycho. If I hadn't been alone so long, I would not have gone as far as I actually went. But one day I went from wondering what I would look like with a shaved head to 'That's pretty cool.' Then I put my hair in a big envelope and mailed it off to my wife. The funny thing was, I did this really silly, personal thing for no reason, and then all of a sudden it was on MTV News and in Newsweek, and I still hadn't left the house. I thought it was strange, because I don't know how anyone found out about my hair, and I don't know why they cared.

• Oh god, that was like f--king 1112 years ago. Do you miss it?
  • Talking about whether he misses his long hair.

• I have really early memories of life, so don't freak out. As a child I'd get caught up in how words didn't make any sense. I remember hearing the song "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes," trying to figure out what the fuck the guy was talking about.
  • Talking about his first musical memory.

• The Beatles were my first love. My friend John Zimmer's oldest brother was kicked out of his house, and his parents put all of his stuff in the basement, where it was getting destroyed by flood waters. He had about fifteen Beatles records. So I stole the whole stack -- lovingly put paper towels between each of them. For over a year I listened to nothing but the Beatles. It was my music school.

• At a talent show in sixth grade at Christ the King, my Catholic school in Seattle. I remember being incredibly nervous and also bringing the house down. Teachers were crying. I sang a song called "One Tin Soldier." A girl in my class knew it on piano and accompanied me.
  • Talking about the first time he peformed in front of a crowd.

• He was always hidden somewhere having a personal crisis -- always. One time I was in the room when he was talking to his manager, Doug Goldstein, about wanting the Goodyear blimp for the show. I said this as a joke -- even though it was true -- that the Fuji blimp was the largest blimp in the world. Axl was like, "That's it! It's gonna be the Fuji blimp!"
  • When asked whether he had a good story about touring with Axl Rose.

• And at Wembley, with G n' R, I saw a guy die and be resuscitated. It was an enormous fat guy. While he was dead, he pissed in his pants. Paramedics were banging on his chest, and one of them hit him good, and he woke up swinging. I remember thinking, "I don't like this."
  • Talking about the worst injury he had seen from stage.
• It wasn't because we had no future. It wasn't because we had no perspectives, but because of the way we handled things in the past. We always did things our own way, as a band and because we liked it that way. It was how Soundgarden worked. I think we're in a phase now where we just don't have enough enthusiasm to record another Soundgarden album and to tour. I think it's all very natural, just like everything that Soundgarden ever did. We always did what was best for the band. So if it's best not to record an album and to stop being a band, then that be it. It's not a problem for us.
  • Responding to why Soundgarden ended.

• Of course, there are hard rock fans who only like hard rock and that's OK, but I think the majority of the people out there are rather open minded. I always liked a lot of different styles and hard rock was just one of them.

I think Euphoria Morning is an album you can always listen to, even in a couple of years; it isn't dated. That's what I was striving for with every Soundgarden album, something lasting, something you want to listen to, again and again. Since it was always part of my approach it wasn't too difficult to record an album like Euphoria Morning. I didn't have to re-invent myself.

• It's strange, simply because when the format changed, it wasn't really an organic change. It was a forced change. If you go into Tower Records, Sam Goody or Musicland, the places where 80% of people buy their music, there's no option to buy vinyl. It's not there and it's too bad. The funny part is, I remember when I was younger, the only shops that would sell CD players were the audiophile shops where everything was really expensive. Now the only place you can buy a new turntable is those same places that were responsible for switching the format. A lot of the audiophiles like the vinyl so much more.
  • Discussing the change of music's medium from Vinyl to CD.

• Our record company wanted us to do a greatest hits album. Well, we thought it would be really funny to put out an album and call it B-sides instead of A-sides. We were never a band who tried to produce hit singles. I don't even think we've got something like 12 top-20 singles. That's one of the reasons why we all think the compilation should consist of rare recordings.

• It's quite funny; Soundgarden were always part of a certain scene but now two years after our split, things seem to have changed. They're playing our songs on the radio, but they label us as classic rock. I'm really proud. After all, it means that they regard us as an important band. I didn't think it would happen so quickly.

• The story of Soundgarden is my own story in a way, so why should I be afraid to talk about it? There's always a question that leads back to Soundgarden and I'm proud that I was part of the band, so why should I mind talking about it? After all, it was a great time for the most part of it.
  • Talking about whether it bothers him to discuss Soundgarden.

• I had offers from at least 20 different bands. It wouldn't be fair to mention names, but some bands were really known, some were not, and there were countless calls from musicians who wanted to be on my album.
  • Responding to whether he had offers from other bands after the break-up of Soundgarden

• I think we all carry a depressive streak in us but most people just hide it. A lot of people think that entertainment has to be something loud, cheerful and happy. I don't buy into it. Depression can be very inspiring. At least for me it can be. The quiet aspects of life are very important, because let's face it, life is pretty difficult.

• I think everybody, no matter how rich or poor, how young or old, has a phase in his life when he's depressive. It's reality. Not a lot of people want to talk about it. Most people rather hide that fact, but it's just one of the facts of life that absolutely fascinates me.