Chris Cornell

[SorgFamily]

Cornell's been linked to a lot of different musical endeavors in his long career. Starting with Soundgarden he helped bring grunge to the forefront with a slew of others. Then while still in Soundgarden he recorded with what would become Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder only had co-vocals on two songs) in a project titled "Temple of the Dog" in a tribute to late Mother Love Bone front man Andrew Wood. Following Soundgarden's break-up in '97 Cornell went on to record three solo albums which were broken up by his run with Audioslave (Rage Against the Machine sans Zack De La Rocha).

My question to you is, out of the three bands he's been tied to along with his solo stuff which is you're favorite?

His first solo album almost pulls me to vote for his solo stuff but the other two album's were mostly crap. I think while I was making this I was convinced I'd vote for Soundgarden but Audioslave made such a bunch of stuff in such a short amount of time a lot of it gets overlooked. The first Audioslave album was pure gold. From start to finish it didn't have a bad song on it. In the end though, classics like "Black Hole Sun" and "The Day I Tried to Live" made Soundgarden the choice for me. I'm glad they are back together and have hopes that they perform with Pearl Jam at the 20th anniversary "weekend bash" that Pearl Jam are planning later this year. If I could score tickets to that and Soundgarden shared the bill I think I'd be ready to die.

 

[Alex]

Its kind of wierd, I love the guy and yet I only have three albums he's on (Temple Of The Dog, Badmotorfinger and Superunknown) I've listened to some of his solo stuff and Audioslave stuff, and yet I'm leaning toward Soundgarden.

If we're going by albums I'm leaning toward Temple Of The Dog, it was just great with no real 'meh' tracks, they were all great.

While I like his cover of Billie Jean and You Know My Name, songs like Outshined, Rusty Cage, Jesus Christ Pose, Black Hole Sun, Spoonman, Fell On Black Days, their cover of Fopp and Black Rain make me lean toward Soundgarden

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

I am HUGE SG fan, so my choice is academic.

Cornell's body of work is astounding, his roots from punk/grunge to alternative and back to grunge is amazing. His soaring voice can only be matched by few in rock history. His lyrics are extremely deep and deal with some very close subjects. But his early work (till Superunknown) is just astounding! Something as contemplative as 'Flower' is then paralled by a 'Big Dumb Sex' a satire to glam.

The man has a gift, and he's back to his roots, and I'm grinning ear to ear.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Soundgarden definitely.

While i enjoyed 'Euphoria Morning' i haven't heard the other two solo albums in any way shape or form, and the only Audioslave album i actually liked was the first one, whereas I love just about every Soundgarden album from start to finish with Ultramega OK being the only exception.

 

[LSN80]

Soundgarden, without a doubt.

BadMotorFinger and Superunknown are two of my favorite albums of all time. There are few discs I can listen to from start to finish without skipping through, and both of these are on the short list.

Temple of the Dog was a great Tribute album/band but with only ten songs, its hard to tell who the real star is here when both Vedder and Cornell sang together. My argument would be Vedder, but that's for a different thread.

Cornell's solo work, especially Scream, is some of the biggest crap Ive ever had the unfortunate pleasure of listening too, let alone paying for. I bought it as a Cornell fan, but it was just awful. The collaboration with Timbaland here just didn't work, and he supposedly wrote the album in 6 weeks. If so, it showed. Carry On came right after the split with Audioslave, and Cornell showed no direction whatsoever in this album, both musically and lyrically. I never got into the pshcyedelic or blues aspects of the album.

The first two Audioslave records were great stuff, but Revelations was pure trash. Nothing on there felt like it had a distinct beginning, middle, and end, it was just music that climaxed and never came down. While I enjoyed the first self titled Audioslave album and the Out of Exile follow-up, it just didnt have the grunge rock appeal to me that Soundgarden did. Some of it was too popp-ish for my liking. Ive always appreciated Cornell's incredible range but felt it at times was outshined by his fellow bandmates. Still, great stuff for the most part.

But for the reasons mentioned above, I voted for Soundgarden. It's here that Cornell really is the star, evidenced no further then in Black Hole Sun and Outshined. Soundgarden never made a bad album to me, which is why I consider Cornell's earliest work to also be his best.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Soundgarden and Audioslave are two of my favourite bands, while I also love Cornell's work in Temple Of The Dog, that was a magnificent album.

I think though, I am gonna vote for Soundgarden in this one, Cornell's voice was at its best here, and they have produced far more great songs than Audioslave. SuperUnknown and Badmotorfinger are two phenomenal albums, and there isnt a bad track on either. I am not a big fan of their last album, but almost everything else they released was brilliant. I hope we get a new release from Soundgarden soon, now they have reformed.

"Outshined", "Room A Thousand Years Wide", "Spoonman", "Black Hole Sun", "Rusty Cage", "Fell On Black Days", "Holy Water", "Black Rain", "Fopp", "Big Dumb Sex", "Let Me Drown", "Loud Love", "Hands All Over", "The Day I Tired To Live", "4th July"......all absolute classic tracks.

Audioslave were great, I am a huge fan their first and third albums, the 2nd didn't do it for me. As good as they were through, and they did write a few of my favourite tracks such as "Like A Stone", "Cochise" and "Shape Of Things To Come", the quality and complexity of the music cannot really compare to Soundgarden.

And apart from a couple of tracks, Cornell's solo work is awful. I just cannot get into it, "Scream" sickened me. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a Chris Cornell track on an R 'n' B compilation CD, just terrible.

 

[Oracular Spectacular]

Soundagarden by a quarter mile. Even though he should have left it dead and buried because he sounds like shit now.

Audioslave had potential, with Tom Morello, but really the first album was just "meh" and the next two were just "guhhhh."

Temple of the Dog was hardly a band, only a few live shows ever played and really it was just a precurser to Pearl Jam. Got Eddie Vedder exposure so its ok with me.

His solo stuff is pretty much garbage. The song "Seasons" off the soundtrack for the film Singles is fantastic, but then he went way too adult-contemporary.

But easily Soundgarden is the winner. Its just a shame they decided to crap on there legacy and return.

 

[SorgFamily]

Soundagarden by a quarter mile. Even though he should have left it dead and buried because he sounds like shit now.

But easily Soundgarden is the winner. Its just a shame they decided to crap on there legacy and return.

[YOUTUBE]crILNt7-kj8[/YOUTUBE]

Seriously? I mean his voice is no where as close to where it used to be and on some songs you think, "Ouch c'mon get passed the high notes", but he has gained a lot of his range back. He is miles ahead of where he was on the Audioslave stuff. I didn't know if you'd actually heard some of the recent Soundgarden stuff or if you were going off his performances before their reformation. Either way this video is the one I'd show to people that think he's lost it.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Soundagarden by a quarter mile. Even though he should have left it dead and buried because he sounds like shit now.

Whooaaaaah!! Sounds like shit now? Come on man, Cornell may not be able to hit all the high notes that he used to, but thats only because he could sing higher than any other vocalist I have ever heard. Just because he isnt capable of doing that as well as in the early 90s doesnt mean that he is shit now. His vocal range is still by far better than 90% of other singers, and not all Soundgarden songs require him to hit those notes. He still had a top quality voice in Audioslave and is still excellent in the re-formed Soundgarden.

Its only natural his voice will weaken over time, he is alot older than he was in Soundgarden, so it has to be expected.

Cornell is still the fucking man