Hear Chris Cornell’s isolated vocals on ‘Like Suicide’
One of the most revered songwriters and vocalists of the grunge era, Chris Cornell won critical and commercial success with three iconic bands, perhaps the most beloved of which was Soundgarden. Formed in Seattle, the group’s innovative blend of classic rock musicality and punk attitude made them the first of the Seattle bands to sing to a major label in 1989, shifting the limelight onto bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Mudhoney. Here, we’ve bought you an isolated vocal recording of Soundgarden’s 1994 Superunknown cut, ‘Like Suicide’.
By ’94, Soundgarden were at the height of their fame. The creative freedom the band experienced during the making of Badmotorfinger gave Cornell and his bandmates the opportunity to hone their recording style. As a result, their next album, Superunknown, boasted a more radio-friendly sound, allowing the band to reach a wider audience than ever before. Tracks like ‘Spoonman’, ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘Fell On Black Days’ were all instant hits, driving the album’s chart domination.
‘Like Suicide’ arrived when Cornell was sitting in his basement working on material for the new Soundgarden album. Hearing a loud thud at the front door, he got up and went to investigate. On opening the door, he looked down and saw a robin writhing around on the floor. In ‘Like Suicide’, the bird is a “broken gift” that lies “dazed out in a garden bed with a broken neck.” Cornell decided to put the bird out of its misery, so picked up a brick and finished it off. “And my last ditch was my last brick lent to finish her,” he later sang.
Released just a month before Kurt Cobain’s death by his own hand, ‘Like Suicide’ struck many as a remarkably prescient piece of songwriting. In truth, the song has little to do with suicide. In 1994, Cornell spoke to Melody Maker about the inspiration behind the track, describing the incident with the bird. “Then I went back downstairs, and with the title of that song in mind I just wrote about the incident,” he said. “It seemed opportune – someone, or someone else’s misery, can often be a great opportunity for a song.”
The original Soundgarden recording is a fuzzed-out affair. In this isolated vocal recording, the elasticity of Cornell’s vocals is dizzyingly apparent. Make sure you check it out if you haven’t already.
