RIP Chris Cornell

[sparker]

One more rock icon gone -- carrying with him one of the greatest and most distinctive voices of not only Northwest/"grunge" rock, but popular music as a whole!  Chris Cornell, it's just so sad that you apparently had some hidden demons you couldn't shake, regardless of -- or maybe even due to -- your public success.  As a vocalist and songwriter you could do it all -- Soundgarden, Audioslave, and even the odd and unexpected (who'd have thought you'd co-write and sing a James Bond theme!)  At least the rest of us have a quarter-century of your music to carry us through your passing.  Farewell -- with our perpetual thanks & admiration!

[hbelkins]

I had a love-hate relationship with Soundgarden. I really liked some of their songs, but I thought most of what was on their albums was filler stuff. I certainly skip through most of it when I'm listening to my iPod, going album to album using the "cover flow" option, and Soundgarden's albums come up.

My favorite grunge band was Alice in Chains. And I also thought Nirvana was overrated.

[Takumi]

I also thought Nirvana was overrated.

This is a hot take, but one I sort of agree with. I think part of Nirvana's mythos is that Cobain died when he did, when the band was still popular, and never had that decline in popularity in its time that most of the other 90s bands did. Imagine if Kurt had lived, and, say, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins had died in 1996. (Or even if Layne Staley had died around the same time instead of 2002, after AIC's popularity started to wane.) Their bands would likely have the same "disappeared on top" aura that Nirvana does to a lot of people, and Kurt may well have been just another aging rocker.

[tchafe1978]

http://loudwire.com/chris-cornell-widow-ativan-may-have-contributed-to-death/

His widow believes the seizure and anxiety drug Ativan may have contributed to his death. Potential side effects of the drug include paranoid or suicidal ideation and can impair memory, judgement and coordination.

Sad sad story. Soundgarden was one of my all time favorite bands. I couldn't tell you a bad song. I was disappointed when they first broke up, and was excited when they reunited and made another animal. I wish I would have had the chance to see them live. I was also a big fan of Temple of the Dog and Audioslave.

[DandyDan]

I got to see Soundgarden live last Saturday in Somerset WI. It came as a total shock to find out Chris Cornell died Thursday morning. I wonder what the people who saw them in Detroit are thinking. Probably the same thing my old college roommate did after Stevie Ray Vaughan died.

[renegade]

I am so sorry that Chris felt the need to do what he did.  It is a shame that he felt he needed to do it here in Detroit.  Chris is free now ... his vision is infinite.  May his soul be forever blessed.   

[sparker]

Got an unusual albeit brief (2 songs) album that should be a must for all Chris Cornell fans:  it's the 2006 recording of the song "You Know My Name" from the film "Casino Royale", co-written by film-score composer David Arnold.  Because of copyright issues, the song never was included with the film's soundtrack recording; the Cornell recording is the only commercially available version of the song.  It uses Cornell's own arrangement of the song, while the actual title-track version used in the film itself was Arnold's arrangement -- which was much more hard-edged than Cornell's version.  But it's the 2nd song on the disc that's a real treat -- a live solo acoustic recording of "Black Hole Sun" from Cornell's 2005 European tour, recorded in Sweden.  Amazing performance and really well-recorded.  Hard to find these days, but well worth seeking out!

[bugo]

Nirvana sounded nothing like Pearl Jam sounded nothing like Soundgarden sounded nothing like Alice in Chains. "Grunge" is a term that referred to a clothing style and the media co-opted the term and hastily applied it to a motley crew of bands that shared little more than loud guitars and hometowns. There is no such thing as "grunge music". How can you say those four bands are from the same subgenre?

[Rothman]

Bugo has a unique view of 1990s music.  The term "grunge music" has been used ever since Nirvana first graced the airwaves.  The quality of music prior to the bands' emergence is exactly why grunge was considered a musical genre all its own.

Tilt against those windmills all you want, though, silly man.

[bugo]

Those bands sound NOTHING alike! They use loud guitars and have drums, bass and vocals. Is Iron Maiden a "grunge" band? Nine Inch Nails? Poison?

My view is FAR from unique. Everybody I have discussed this with has agreed with me.

I'm a musician, and I gigantic music fan, so I know what I'm talking about. Alice in Chains was a metal band, Nirvana was a punk band, Pearl Jam is a bluesy rock band, and Soundgarden was a weird quirky sludge band. None of them sound remotely alike. It's like putting Bassnectar, Neil Young, Enya and Cannibal Corpse in the same genre.

"Grunge" is a clothing style, not a musical style. I'll defend that opinion to the death. If he were still here, you could ask Cobain what he thought of the "genre".

The media likes to put everything in a neat little box so the idiot rubes can easily digest it without thinking for themselves. You have fallen for their bullshit.

[Rothman]

Okay, Don Quixote.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge

[OracleUsr]

Not a big Nirvana fan here, either.  Do have the Live on I-5 album by Soundgarden.

[bugo]

I am passionate about artists not being pigeonholed or grouped with a certain subgenre that they have little to do with. The Deftones are a great example. They were initially lumped in with the nü-metal genre. They had a couple of songs on the first album with some rapping on them and they had some elements of nü-metal but they were on a whole other planet than Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Disturbed. After their third album, White Pony, other than a track with some rapping cynically recorded by the band and the record label slapped it onto a reissue which royally upset the band, they had very little nü-metal influence on their album. Their last two albums have zero nü-metal influence. I didn't give them a chance when they first came out because they had been lumped in with that garbage. Now they're one of my favorite bands. Chino Moreno said "We told motherfuckers not to lump us in with nu metal because when those bands go down we aren't going to be with them." He was correct. Those bands mostly stagnated and got less popular while the Deftones are still at their creative peak and have an extremely consistent discography. Their music transcends genre. I wish I had known about them when Adrenaline came out in 1995. I've seen them 5 times since 2011. Fun times.

[US-175]

Saw this the other night.  The Granada is a former single-screen theater on a previous/historic section of US 75 in Dallas.  In recent years it has been transformed into a live-music venue.

[bugo]

I saw Failure at the Granada back in October. I loved the venue. It's nice and cozy and the sound was phenomenal. I didn't realize it was on old US 75. I hope somebody I like plays there soon so I can visit it again.

[bugo]

I certainly don't think Soundgarden's albums were loaded with filler. Most of their albums are good from start to finish.

Ativan didn't contribute to his suicide. Benzodiazepines don't work that way. I think his wife is just trying to look for something to blame and won't take any responsibility that she might have. She is in denial. She claims that he took 2 extra pills. Two extra lorazepam tablets aren't enough to have a major impact. If anything, benzos cause sleep, not suicidal impulses. I don't buy it for a second. Sure, in extremely rare cases they can cause suicidal thoughts but the chances that 2 extra Ativan tablets drove him to suicide is very low and her claim is outrageous. She's not a doctor and she's just making stuff up.

Dandy Dan: You're fortunate. Soundgarden is one of the bands I never got to see live. I regret that I didn't go to the Kansas City show a couple of weeks ago.

[gilpdawg]

Those bands sound NOTHING alike! They use loud guitars and have drums, bass and vocals. Is Iron Maiden a "grunge" band? Nine Inch Nails? Poison?

My view is FAR from unique. Everybody I have discussed this with has agreed with me.

I'm a musician, and I gigantic music fan, so I know what I'm talking about. Alice in Chains was a metal band, Nirvana was a punk band, Pearl Jam is a bluesy rock band, and Soundgarden was a weird quirky sludge band. None of them sound remotely alike. It's like putting Bassnectar, Neil Young, Enya and Cannibal Corpse in the same genre.

"Grunge" is a clothing style, not a musical style. I'll defend that opinion to the death. If he were still here, you could ask Cobain what he thought of the "genre".

The media likes to put everything in a neat little box so the idiot rubes can easily digest it without thinking for themselves. You have fallen for their bullshit.

You got killed for this take, but you are absolutely right.


iPad

[Rothman]

Two Don Quixotes.

[gilpdawg]

Two Don Quixotes.

Apparently you can't read links you post.

Rolling Stone noted the genre's lack of a clear definition.[23] Robert Loss acknowledges the challenges of defining "grunge"; he states that one can recount stories from the grunge scene to try and explain it, but as soon as you try to define grunge this way, "it slips out of your hand".[24] Roy Shuker states that the term "obscured a variety of styles."[16]Stetson states that grunge was not a movement, "monolithic musical genre", or a way to react to 1980s-era metal pop; he calls the term a misnomer mostly based on hype.[22] Shuker states that the "'Seattle sound' became a marketing ploy for the music industry." [16] Stetson also states that prominent bands considered to be grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and Hammerbox) all sound different.[22] Mark Yarm, author of Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge, pointed out vast differences between grunge bands, with some being punk and others being metal-based.[21]

[bugo]

Those bands sound NOTHING alike! They use loud guitars and have drums, bass and vocals. Is Iron Maiden a "grunge" band? Nine Inch Nails? Poison?

My view is FAR from unique. Everybody I have discussed this with has agreed with me.

I'm a musician, and I gigantic music fan, so I know what I'm talking about. Alice in Chains was a metal band, Nirvana was a punk band, Pearl Jam is a bluesy rock band, and Soundgarden was a weird quirky sludge band. None of them sound remotely alike. It's like putting Bassnectar, Neil Young, Enya and Cannibal Corpse in the same genre.

"Grunge" is a clothing style, not a musical style. I'll defend that opinion to the death. If he were still here, you could ask Cobain what he thought of the "genre".

The media likes to put everything in a neat little box so the idiot rubes can easily digest it without thinking for themselves. You have fallen for their bullshit.

You got killed for this take, but you are absolutely right.

Not to sound like an arrogant dick, but I am right. All of my friends agree with me. Everybody I've ever had a discussion with about it has agreed with me. The whole "grunge" thing was created by some tricksters working for Seattle record labels who trolled the mainstream media when they started reporting on Seattle bands. They made up a bunch of nonsense about the Seattle scene and the idiotic parroting media picked up on it and spread the lies and the gullible sheep who consume music rather than enjoy it believed every word of it. Anybody who has actually listened to these four bands (Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains) knows that they are all quite different bands and the only genre that they fall under is the generic catch-all umbrella term "alternative rock", which can mean anything from Ministry to Tori Amos to Tool to Radiohead. They are not very similar other than loud guitars and place of origin.

[Rothman]

Those bands sound NOTHING alike! They use loud guitars and have drums, bass and vocals. Is Iron Maiden a "grunge" band? Nine Inch Nails? Poison?

My view is FAR from unique. Everybody I have discussed this with has agreed with me.

I'm a musician, and I gigantic music fan, so I know what I'm talking about. Alice in Chains was a metal band, Nirvana was a punk band, Pearl Jam is a bluesy rock band, and Soundgarden was a weird quirky sludge band. None of them sound remotely alike. It's like putting Bassnectar, Neil Young, Enya and Cannibal Corpse in the same genre.

"Grunge" is a clothing style, not a musical style. I'll defend that opinion to the death. If he were still here, you could ask Cobain what he thought of the "genre".

The media likes to put everything in a neat little box so the idiot rubes can easily digest it without thinking for themselves. You have fallen for their bullshit.

You got killed for this take, but you are absolutely right.

Not to sound like an arrogant dick, but I am right. All of my friends agree with me. Everybody I've ever had a discussion with about it has agreed with me.

This is not the way truth is found.  It sounds like you ranted about your pet topic and your friends nodded and moved onto something more important.

[Rothman]

Two Don Quixotes.

Apparently you can't read links you post.

Rolling Stone noted the genre's lack of a clear definition.[23] Robert Loss acknowledges the challenges of defining "grunge"; he states that one can recount stories from the grunge scene to try and explain it, but as soon as you try to define grunge this way, "it slips out of your hand".[24] Roy Shuker states that the term "obscured a variety of styles."[16]Stetson states that grunge was not a movement, "monolithic musical genre", or a way to react to 1980s-era metal pop; he calls the term a misnomer mostly based on hype.[22] Shuker states that the "'Seattle sound' became a marketing ploy for the music industry." [16] Stetson also states that prominent bands considered to be grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and Hammerbox) all sound different.[22] Mark Yarm, author of Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge, pointed out vast differences between grunge bands, with some being punk and others being metal-based.[21]

Heh.  Identifying them as grunge bands when you're arguing against the fact the genre doesn't exist doesn't help your argument out.

It's nice that you pulled out some articles written by silly critics from the sources of the article.  The article still concludes, just like the millions who actually lived through the 1990s, that grunge is a genre of music. 

[gilpdawg]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Sonically grunge isn't a thing. It was a marketing term, much like "hair band."

And FWIW, I did live through the 90s. I am 39.

XT1575

[Rothman]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Sonically grunge isn't a thing. It was a marketing term, much like "hair band."

And FWIW, I did live through the 90s. I am 39.

XT1575

No problem.  Keep tilting at those windmills on this one.

[bugo]

Those bands sound NOTHING alike! They use loud guitars and have drums, bass and vocals. Is Iron Maiden a "grunge" band? Nine Inch Nails? Poison?

My view is FAR from unique. Everybody I have discussed this with has agreed with me.

I'm a musician, and I gigantic music fan, so I know what I'm talking about. Alice in Chains was a metal band, Nirvana was a punk band, Pearl Jam is a bluesy rock band, and Soundgarden was a weird quirky sludge band. None of them sound remotely alike. It's like putting Bassnectar, Neil Young, Enya and Cannibal Corpse in the same genre.

"Grunge" is a clothing style, not a musical style. I'll defend that opinion to the death. If he were still here, you could ask Cobain what he thought of the "genre".

The media likes to put everything in a neat little box so the idiot rubes can easily digest it without thinking for themselves. You have fallen for their bullshit.

You got killed for this take, but you are absolutely right.

Not to sound like an arrogant dick, but I am right. All of my friends agree with me. Everybody I've ever had a discussion with about it has agreed with me.

This is not the way truth is found.  It sounds like you ranted about your pet topic and your friends nodded and moved onto something more important.

I've actually had friends bring it up before I even mentioned it to them.