Chris Cornell
Montreux Jazz Festival, 2005
Montreux Jazz Festival, 2005
When Andrew Wood died of a heroin overdose in 1990, a day after Chris Cornell came off tour with his band Soundgarden, Cornell dealt with the grief at the loss of his friend and vocalist for the band Mother Love Bone by writing a couple songs in Wood’s honor. “Reach Down” and “Say Hello 2 Heaven” had a softer, more melodic sound than the music Soundgarden was putting out, so Cornell approached Wood’s former bandmates, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, with the idea of a one-off collaboration as a tribute to their mutual friend. With the addition of guitarist Mike McCready, backing vocalist Eddie Vedder, and Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, Temple of the Dog was formed. Named after a line in the Mother Love Bone song “Man of Golden Words”, the band released the self-titled album Temple of the Dog, which included the aforementioned singles as well as “Hunger Strike”, a duet between Cornell and Vedder that still receives regular airplay.
Released in 1991, Temple of the Dog was praised by critics but failed to catch on until a year later, when Vedder, Ament, Gossard, and McCready broke commercially with Pearl Jam. At that time, A&M Records re-released Temple of the Dog, realizing that what they had in their catalog was essentially a Soundgarden/Pearl Jam collaboration. The album has gone on to sell more than a million copies. Temple of the Dog didn’t tour as a band but performed short sets together on a handful of occasions when both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam shared a concert bill.
Cornell began work on his first solo album after the demise of Soundgarden. Euphoria Morning, released in September 1999, was a critical success but didn’t fare as well as his albums with Soundgarden. He did, however, earn a Grammy nod for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the single “Can’t Change Me”, and a revamped version of the track “Mission” was used on the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack. Euphoria Morning also included “Wave Goodbye”, a song Cornell wrote for his late friend, singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeff Buckley, who drowned in Tennessee’s Wolf River in 1997.
While still with Audioslave, Cornell and soundtrack composer David Arnold collaborated on the theme song for the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale. “You Know My Name” became only the second Bond theme to be sung by a male vocalist since 1987's The Living Daylights. The track was included on Cornell’s second solo effort, Carry On, which he began working on after leaving Audioslave. Released in June 2007, the album debuted at #17 on the Billboard charts but received mixed reaction from the public and critics alike. Although considered an alternative rock album, Carry On dabbled in various musical genres and even included a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”.
In the final installment, a controversial collaboration backs Cornell in a corner--the brouhaha over Scream.
