Farewell Chris Cornell, Soundgarden Singer Dies @ 52

Posted by On May 18, 2017 0 Comment

Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell was found dead last night, and, as of now, police are investigating his death as a suicide (UPDATED: medical examiner has ruled his death a suicide). The singer was reportedly found dead on the bathroom floor of his MGM Grand Detroit hotel room after Cornell’s wife had called a friend “and asked him to check on Cornell.” The suicide reports stem from the police telling the New York Times that “a white man whose birthday matches Cornell’s was found on a bathroom floor with a band around his neck,” however, they would not confirm his identity.

Personally, I am at a loss for words. One of my true…..and few heroes has left the building. The world has lost a piece of its integrity.

Former Audioslave bandmate Tom Morrello:

You’re a prince, you’re a snare, you’re a shadow

You’re twilight and star burn and shade

You’re a sage, you’re a wound shared, you’re masked

You’re a pillar of smoke, you’re a platinum heart

You’re a brush fire, you’re caged, you’re free

Your vision pierces, you do not see

You are pieces strewn on the hillside

You’re open armed, you’re armed, you’re true

You’re a revealer of visions, you’re the passenger, you’re a never fading scar

You’re twilight and star burn and shade

You’re the secret veiled, you’re the secret revealed, you’re surrounded no more

You’re not there, now you’re always here

You’re a handsome groom, a loving father, a haunted stairwell

You’re the clear bell ringing, the mountains echo your song

Maybe no one has ever known you

You are twilight and star burn and shade”

Jimmy Page:

RIP Chris Cornell
Incredibly Talented
Incredibly Young
Incredibly Missed.

Heart’s Nancy Wilson:

Ladies and Gentleman
I would like to induct Chris Cornell into my personal Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
No one is ever prepared to hear about a death in the family.
And today Chris Cornell my brother from my Seattle music family is gone.
Devastating.
He was such an unwitting and reluctant BIG STAR.
Such a purist with a problem.
What we used to call “the Seattle musicians disease”.
Chris was among the greatest of Seattle’s most reluctant rock heroes.
Like Elvis Presley in the wrong decade, Chris was way too handsome and way too talented. He was never going to be a poster boy.
Instead, he raged and railed like all of us in the 90s against the blatant 80s commercialism and marketing with the pure Seattle punk guitar rock ethic.
We were not tan and squinting at cameras, just soul searching sequestered souls, indoors from the ever present blue Seattle rain.
From those basements garrets phosphorescent rehearsal rooms came the soul of a sound like no other.
The Seattle Explosion.
Chris Cornell’s astounding god gifted voice cut through all that thick grey weather like a sun bolt.
His beyond good looks and beyond talent were an embarrassment of riches.
I knew that was his big problem before I hardly ever had a chance to hang with him.
He was so moody, singular and complex.
From all accounts he was self absorbed and hard to love.
Like the best lead singers are required to be.
I thought he was judgmental of Heart since we had succeeded through a cultural system that he pushed against.
I thought his voice would forever grace the world of music.
But today the grey clouds rain tears.
And the tears taste salty.
Just like the ocean.”