Rock World Mourns the Loss of Cornell

I couldn't believe my ears this morning when I heard the news of the passing of Chris Cornell, once the singer for Soundgarden and for Audioslave (among others, like Temple of the Dog). I've always thought he had one of the coolest voices in modern rock. Too young to leave this world. 

Unfortunately, my knowledge of Cornell has always been scant. I liked the few Soundgarden tunes I heard on the radio back in the 90's, like Black Hole Sun, Rusty Cage, and Spoon Man, and I enjoyed the song and music video for Jesus Christ Pose - metallic and pummeling. I read a little about the band's guitarist Kim Thayil in guitar magazines back then, too.... pretty cool, but I just never got the full treatment with those guys. Maybe now? It's not too late.

I also knew a bit about Cornell through his music in the 1992 movie Singles, which featured a lot of Seattle scene tunes at the time. I was never a huge fan of any of his bands, though I must confess I wasn't really exposed to much of his music, other than the obvious radio singles. Neither my friends nor I really got much into the "grunge" stuff back then. Some of us, including me, did latch onto Nirvana big-time, but even that interest waned after their handful of roger-dodger albums. Alice in Chains had a more lasting effect for me.

A bit more recently, in 2006, Cornell's song You Know My Name was nominated for a Grammy for its appearance in the James Bond film Casino Royale. That tune was the one that really won me over. Cornell belted out a powerful performance on probably the best Bond theme song in recent years. Yeah, I love Adele's more traditional style of Bond song on Skyfall, too. You Know My Name charted around the world and did win some awards. In fact, this was the first song I thought of when I heard of Cornell's death. 

Well, here's to a great vocalist moving on from our little dirt ball Earth and joining the rock pantheon in the afterlife. Rest in peace, Chris.