The frontman Stone Gossard called the best singer ever: “He does it all”
Chris Cornell had a real eureka moment when he first wrote ‘Black Hole Sun’, as he realised that while he had been steering away from the singer/songwriter approach to writing for the majority of his life, he went the other way on ‘Black Hole Sun’. The result? A song that people felt as though they could connect with, but also move to and be swept up in.
The song came about when Cornell was watching the news and misheard the reporter. He thought that they said “black hole sun” but had actually said something completely different. Even when he realised he had misheard, though, the song had already started writing itself, and he was penning lyrics, attaching thought-provoking sentiment to this fictional disaster.
It was the first time Cornell had taken an approach that embraced a specific feeling. ‘Black Hole Sun’ is a dark track, one with bleak connotations and that seemed to come from a deeply personal place. It was also one of the band’s most popular tracks, and Soundgarden’s guitarist Kim Thayil said it’s because of this personal attachment to the lyrics.
“We’d had singles before. But that was easily our biggest hit. That was more singer/songwriterish. Chris went that direction of singer/songwriter guy, and the band was more accepting because of the success of singer/songwriting stuff as opposed to more guitar-oriented rock,” he said, “It was more vocal accompaniment rock, some guitar. So we started utilising a little bit more of that.”
There is something about vocal-oriented rock that appeals to listeners on a broad scale. People have the chance to talk about the likes of emotions, society and politics, while creating music that can reflect frustration, euphoria or doom. Rock is one of the best genres to put emotion to, and there are a number of bands, as well as Soundgarden, who do this. One of the best examples is Rage Against The Machine.
Rage Against The Machine are one of the most political bands in the world, and they use rock music in a bid to talk about the disdain they feel towards authority. Their on-and-off-stage antics have gotten them in trouble on many different occasions, but they have never shied away from making their point of view clear for everyone.
Given the fact that both they and Chris Cornell used their lyrics as a means to express how they felt about something, it made sense that they collaborate. This came in the form of Audioslave, a supergroup formed of Cornell and Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk. When rumours of this collaboration were circulating, other big names in music were asked about it, and all of them couldn’t contain their excitement. When Stone Gossard’s Pearl Jam was asked, he said he was excited, given that Cornell is one of the greatest singers and writers on the planet.
“It’s gonna be exciting, isn’t it?” He said, “He’s kinda the best singer out there. Pretty much if you kinda uh, he does it all. He sings great, writes great lyrics, plays guitar great. So, I can’t think of a better person for them to play along with.”
