The tour that made Chris Cornell want to end Soundgarden: “I didn’t want it”
Soundgarden never had plans to become the biggest band in the world. Their music could have resonated with millions or never left the confines of their Seattle scene, and chances are everyone in the band would have been perfectly fine either day. Once things started to get out of control, though, Chris Cornell knew the grunge icons wouldn’t be long for this world, and their tour with Guns N’ Roses became one of the final straws.
Because, let’s face it, the entire Seattle scene seemed to be a reaction to what acts like Guns N’ Roses stood for. Some groups on the LA club scene were meant to be a little bit too polished by rock standards, but Guns N’ Roses seem to take things too far in another direction, with many fans up North calling out Axl Rose for his misogynist lyrics and borderline insane behaviour whenever he took to the stage.
Then again, it’s not like Soundgarden were that far off in terms of sound. When listening to a song like ‘Loud Love’ or ‘Outshined’, it’s no surprise why a band like GNR would want them as their opening act, considering the massive riffs and Cornell’s booming voice sounding like a latter-day Robert Plant.
Yes, Soundgarden did have some influence from Led Zeppelin, but Cornell was more interested in the rock icon’s eclectic side than just playing ‘Rock and Roll’ style songs over and over again. Despite their reputation as a stadium rock act, Soundgarden continues to be one of the most interesting acts until the end of the grunge movement, always playing around with time signatures and inventing strange tunings to make some of their classics off records like Superunknown.
Once they got the call to open for Guns N’ Roses on the road, Cornell knew things were getting out of proportion. It’s one thing to be able to play stadiums one day and clubs the next, but how is anyone supposed to take their job seriously when their headliners are making gigantic balloons to recreate their album covers and making fans wait for hours just to hear an hour of music?
For Cornell, this was when he started to get disenchanted with the entire scene, saying, “We saw what it was that they were doing to present this enormous show. I remember looking and thinking, ‘This is where we will end up. Sort of the height of where it is that you go.’ I didn’t want it, and to me, that was kind of the beginning of the end.”
While Soundgarden would continue throughout the rest of the 1990s, everything had become far too overblown by the end of their final tour together, culminating in bassist Ben Shepherd storming off the stage and leaving Cornell to finish the show alone for the encore. It seemed like the kind of drama that every group gets into at some point, but it wouldn’t be all that shocking if it was all by design.
Cornell certainly had the chops to be the boisterous frontman, but the only way to keep Soundgarden pure at that point was to leave everything where it was. And considering they were there at the beginning before grunge had a name, their breakup may have been the most fitting end that the genre could have asked for.
