WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.419 Okay, I want you to close your eyes for a second. 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:05.919 Imagine a sound. It's not just a voice. It feels 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:11.140 more like a force of nature. It starts low, like 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:13.439 this rumble in the floorboards that you feel 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:15.759 in your chest before you even hear it. And then 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:18.820 without even taking a breath, it just shoots 00:00:18.820 --> 00:00:21.879 up. It just tears through the ceiling, turning 00:00:21.879 --> 00:00:25.320 into this pitched, glass -shattering shriek. 00:00:25.820 --> 00:00:29.890 It's terrifying, but it's also... Beautiful. 00:00:30.170 --> 00:00:32.210 It's the sound of a man who could command nearly 00:00:32.210 --> 00:00:34.729 four octaves. And you're right. Terrifying and 00:00:34.729 --> 00:00:36.509 beautiful is, I think, the perfect description. 00:00:36.789 --> 00:00:39.130 It's a voice that didn't just sing notes. It 00:00:39.130 --> 00:00:41.710 devoured them. Devoured them. Wow. That is a 00:00:41.710 --> 00:00:43.149 heavy image. But we aren't just talking about 00:00:43.149 --> 00:00:44.969 a singer with a good set of pipes today. We are 00:00:44.969 --> 00:00:46.710 talking about someone who I feel like defined 00:00:46.710 --> 00:00:48.829 the emotional landscape for a whole generation 00:00:48.829 --> 00:00:51.369 of rock fans. We are talking about Chris Cornell. 00:00:51.530 --> 00:00:53.990 We are. And honestly, this one feels different. 00:00:54.030 --> 00:00:56.310 It feels heavier. Because when you look at the 00:00:56.310 --> 00:00:59.340 pantheon of rock gods and... Make no mistake. 00:00:59.539 --> 00:01:02.579 He is in that pantheon. Cornell stands apart. 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:04.640 He's the architect of Grunge, sure. But he's 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:08.060 also a study in contradictions. He bridged the 00:01:08.060 --> 00:01:11.219 gap between the raw, ugly power of heavy metal 00:01:11.219 --> 00:01:16.019 and the melodic, sensitive soul of the Beatles. 00:01:16.299 --> 00:01:19.379 That is such a weird combination, right? Metal 00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:21.859 and the Beatles. It shouldn't work. Yeah. On 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:25.019 paper, it's oil and water. But Cornell made it 00:01:25.019 --> 00:01:27.299 the standard. We're going to explore how he did 00:01:27.299 --> 00:01:29.319 that. But we're also going to look at the cost. 00:01:29.459 --> 00:01:31.879 Yeah. We have to talk about the darkness that 00:01:31.879 --> 00:01:34.879 fueled that creativity. His incredible capacity 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:37.540 for reinvention, which I think it's overlooked. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.819 And, of course, the tragedy that cut it all short 00:01:40.819 --> 00:01:43.500 in 2017. And we have a massive stack of sources 00:01:43.500 --> 00:01:45.879 today. We've got articles, biographies, interviews 00:01:45.879 --> 00:01:48.120 from way back in the 80s, all the way up to the 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:50.340 coverage of his posthumous induction into the 00:01:50.340 --> 00:01:53.420 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025. Which, by 00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:55.420 the way, was so long overdue. Oh, we'll get to 00:01:55.420 --> 00:01:57.579 that. But I want to start with the why. Why are 00:01:57.579 --> 00:01:59.680 we doing a deep dive on Cornell now? I mean, 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:01.959 is it just nostalgia for the 90s? I don't think 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:04.159 so. I really don't. I think it's because Cornell 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:06.859 wasn't just a poster on a wall. He was a complex 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:09.819 figure who balanced vulnerability and volume. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.199 Vulnerability and volume. I like that. Yeah. 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:14.300 He proved you could be the loudest guy in the 00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:17.080 room and also the most fragile. He wrote lyrics 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:19.740 about despair and existentialism that resonated 00:02:19.740 --> 00:02:21.819 with millions of people who felt the exact same 00:02:21.819 --> 00:02:25.189 way. Understanding him isn't just about understanding 00:02:25.189 --> 00:02:27.770 a band like Soundgarden. It's about understanding 00:02:27.770 --> 00:02:31.090 the internal struggle of a huge chunk of modern 00:02:31.090 --> 00:02:33.120 history. Okay, so let's rewind the tape. Let's 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:35.340 go back before the stadiums, before the music 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:38.659 videos. Let's go to Seattle. And not the Amazon 00:02:38.659 --> 00:02:40.879 Tech Hub Seattle we all know today. No, no. This 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:42.979 is a very different Seattle. This is the 1960s 00:02:42.979 --> 00:02:46.219 and 70s. It's gray. It's blue collar. It's kind 00:02:46.219 --> 00:02:48.419 of isolated. Right. You have to remember, before 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:50.319 the internet, Seattle was tucked away in the 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.680 corner of the map. It was a logging town, a fishing 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:55.479 town, an aerospace town with Boeing. It had this 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:58.340 sort of dreary working class ceiling over it. 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:00.800 And in the middle of this gray city, you have 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.710 Christopher John Boyle. Right. Born in 1964, 00:03:04.129 --> 00:03:07.030 he was raised Irish Catholic. His dad was a pharmacist. 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:09.830 His mom was an accountant. But here is a detail 00:03:09.830 --> 00:03:12.610 I found fascinating in the research. His mom 00:03:12.610 --> 00:03:15.030 also identified as a psychic. Wait, hold on. 00:03:15.250 --> 00:03:18.490 A psychic? Like crystal balls and tarot cards? 00:03:18.650 --> 00:03:22.569 For real? A self -proclaimed psychic. It's a 00:03:22.569 --> 00:03:25.370 small detail, but it paints a picture of a household 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:28.469 that wasn't strictly conventional, you know, 00:03:28.490 --> 00:03:30.550 even if they were Catholic. There was a sense 00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:33.469 of the other, of the mystical. Okay. But Chris, 00:03:33.569 --> 00:03:36.650 Chris was a handful. A troublemaker. Not in the 00:03:36.650 --> 00:03:38.870 throwing rocks at windows sense. He was more 00:03:38.870 --> 00:03:40.949 of an intellectual troublemaker. Yeah. He was 00:03:40.949 --> 00:03:44.789 inquisitive to a fault. There's this great story 00:03:44.789 --> 00:03:47.150 about his time in Catholic school. He was in 00:03:47.150 --> 00:03:49.490 the seventh grade. The awkward years. The peak 00:03:49.490 --> 00:03:52.789 awkward years. And he and his sister were constantly 00:03:52.789 --> 00:03:54.629 raising their hands in the back of the class. 00:03:54.770 --> 00:03:56.990 They weren't being disruptive for the sake of 00:03:56.990 --> 00:03:59.069 it. They were asking, explain this to me. This 00:03:59.069 --> 00:04:01.250 doesn't make sense. Why is this a rule? Where 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:03.509 is the logic? Oh, I can just imagine how that 00:04:03.509 --> 00:04:07.090 would annoy a nun in like... 1976. It drove the 00:04:07.090 --> 00:04:09.150 school absolutely crazy. They couldn't answer 00:04:09.150 --> 00:04:11.530 the question satisfactorily. It apparently got 00:04:11.530 --> 00:04:13.610 so bad that his mother actually pulled him out 00:04:13.610 --> 00:04:15.370 of the school. His mom pulled him out. Usually 00:04:15.370 --> 00:04:17.850 parents side with the school. Sit down, shut 00:04:17.850 --> 00:04:19.889 up, do your homework, that kind of thing. Not 00:04:19.889 --> 00:04:22.470 his mom. She basically said, if you can't answer 00:04:22.470 --> 00:04:25.149 their questions, you aren't doing your job. And 00:04:25.149 --> 00:04:28.170 that's a pivotal moment. It shows that from age 00:04:28.170 --> 00:04:31.889 12, Cornell had this deep -seated need to question 00:04:31.889 --> 00:04:34.709 authority. He needed to understand the why of 00:04:34.709 --> 00:04:37.449 things. He couldn't just accept a norm because 00:04:37.449 --> 00:04:39.629 someone told him to. Which is pretty much the 00:04:39.629 --> 00:04:41.769 job description for a grunge lyricist, isn't 00:04:41.769 --> 00:04:44.329 it? Exactly. That foreshadows everything. His 00:04:44.329 --> 00:04:46.870 lyrics are never about partying and having a 00:04:46.870 --> 00:04:49.769 good time. They're about existentialism. They 00:04:49.769 --> 00:04:51.850 are about questioning reality, questioning God, 00:04:51.990 --> 00:04:54.490 questioning the self. He was a philosopher in 00:04:54.490 --> 00:04:56.810 a flannel shirt, and I think it's largely because 00:04:56.810 --> 00:04:58.930 he never lost that inquisitive streak. But he 00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:01.410 wasn't the class clown type, was he? He wasn't 00:05:01.410 --> 00:05:03.290 the guy standing on the table demanding attention. 00:05:03.490 --> 00:05:05.990 Oh, far from it. He describes himself as a loner. 00:05:06.009 --> 00:05:08.209 He had intense anxiety around people. He felt 00:05:08.209 --> 00:05:10.829 like an observer, not a participant. And for 00:05:10.829 --> 00:05:13.370 a kid like that, in a rainy city, you need an 00:05:13.370 --> 00:05:16.740 escape. And the escape was music. It was. but 00:05:16.740 --> 00:05:18.779 not the cool, edgy music you might expect right 00:05:18.779 --> 00:05:22.100 away. He traces his musical DNA back to Little 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:24.740 Richard, but the real catalyst came from the 00:05:24.740 --> 00:05:27.399 neighbors. The neighbors? Yeah, he found a collection 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:29.579 of Beatles records abandoned in a neighbor's 00:05:29.579 --> 00:05:31.779 basement. Just sitting there. Just sitting there. 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:34.879 Between the ages of 9 and 11, he spent hours 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:39.079 upon hours in this basement, just absorbing Lennon 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:43.180 and McCartney. Wow. That is such a vivid image. 00:05:43.259 --> 00:05:45.680 A little kid probably hiding from the rain, listening 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:48.819 to I Am the Walrus or Strawberry Fields in some 00:05:48.819 --> 00:05:51.500 damp, dark basement. But think about what the 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:54.459 Beatles do. They love melody. They love harmony. 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:58.339 They love weird, unexpected chord changes. Cornell 00:05:58.339 --> 00:06:01.689 soaked all of that up. So later, when he's playing 00:06:01.689 --> 00:06:03.810 these heavy metal riffs that sound like a tank 00:06:03.810 --> 00:06:06.410 rolling down the street, he's singing these beautiful 00:06:06.410 --> 00:06:09.550 Beatles -esque melodies right over the top. That 00:06:09.550 --> 00:06:12.269 contrast starts in that basement. Now, most people 00:06:12.269 --> 00:06:14.629 know Chris Cornell, the frontman, the guy with 00:06:14.629 --> 00:06:17.050 the microphone, looking like a Greek god. But 00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:19.170 that's not how he started playing in bands. No, 00:06:19.290 --> 00:06:20.949 not at all. He was the guy in the back. He was 00:06:20.949 --> 00:06:22.889 a drummer. A drummer? I always forget this part 00:06:22.889 --> 00:06:24.889 of the story. It's crucial to understanding his 00:06:24.889 --> 00:06:27.610 music, I think. His mother bought him a snare 00:06:27.610 --> 00:06:30.259 drum. And he credits that moment with saving 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:33.399 his life. It gave him a physical outlet for all 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:35.720 that anxious energy he was carrying around. So 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:37.620 before he's a rock star, he's just a working 00:06:37.620 --> 00:06:40.180 class kid in Seattle playing drums. He's grinding. 00:06:40.259 --> 00:06:42.120 I mean, he's working these blue collar jobs to 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:44.360 pay the rent. He was a busboy. He was a dishwasher. 00:06:44.740 --> 00:06:47.720 And get this, he was a fishmonger. A fishmonger, 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:49.980 like at Pike Place Market, throwing the fish 00:06:49.980 --> 00:06:53.079 around. And a seafood wholesaler. Yeah. Can you 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:56.579 imagine that? Cold, wet, smelling like fish guts 00:06:56.579 --> 00:06:59.519 all day, slitting the bellies of salmon, then 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:02.500 clocking out, washing his hands, probably scrubbing 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:05.040 them raw to get the smell off, and going to play 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.319 drums in a cover band. That is the most Seattle 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:09.939 origin story I have ever heard. He grounds him, 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.279 you know. He wasn't some rich kid with connections. 00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:15.639 He was a sous chef in a place called Ray's Boathouse. 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:18.660 He knew what it meant to work. And while he's 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:20.939 doing all this, he joins a cover band called... 00:07:21.149 --> 00:07:23.829 The Shemps. The Shemps. Not exactly a name that 00:07:23.829 --> 00:07:26.110 screams Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It really 00:07:26.110 --> 00:07:28.389 doesn't. But The Shemps is where the chemistry 00:07:28.389 --> 00:07:32.009 starts. In that band, he meets a bassist named 00:07:32.009 --> 00:07:35.250 Hiro Yamamoto. And after Yamamoto leaves for 00:07:35.250 --> 00:07:37.750 a bit, they recruit a guitarist named Kim Thiel. 00:07:38.170 --> 00:07:41.050 And just like that, the ingredients for Soundgarden 00:07:41.050 --> 00:07:43.610 are in the room. Pretty much. The Shemps eventually 00:07:43.610 --> 00:07:46.670 break up, but Cornell and Yamamoto keep jamming. 00:07:46.689 --> 00:07:50.110 They bring tile back. This is 1984. They name 00:07:50.110 --> 00:07:52.550 themselves Soundgarden after a wind -channeling 00:07:52.550 --> 00:07:55.449 pipe sculpture in Seattle. Very artsy. Very artsy. 00:07:55.470 --> 00:07:58.209 But here's the kicker. Cornell is still the drummer. 00:07:58.730 --> 00:08:01.470 He's playing drums and singing lead vocals. How 00:08:01.470 --> 00:08:03.529 is that even possible? I can't even pat my head 00:08:03.529 --> 00:08:05.589 and rub my belly at the same time. Playing these 00:08:05.589 --> 00:08:07.970 complex rhythms and singing these full -throated 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:09.850 vocals. It's incredibly physically demanding. 00:08:10.129 --> 00:08:12.670 And it shapes his phrasing. When you drum, you 00:08:12.670 --> 00:08:15.089 have a very strong sense of the one. You know, 00:08:15.110 --> 00:08:17.149 the downbeat. Cornell's singing always locked 00:08:17.149 --> 00:08:19.269 in with the rhythm section in a way that pure 00:08:19.269 --> 00:08:21.879 singers sometimes don't. But eventually, the 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:24.100 music just got too complex. They needed to free 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:27.420 him up. Exactly. In 1985, they hired a guy named 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:30.139 Scott Sundquist to play drums so Chris could 00:08:30.139 --> 00:08:32.179 come out from behind the kit and just grab the 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:34.639 mic stand. And that is when the Chris Cornell 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:38.179 we all know was truly born. So enter the front 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:41.039 man. And eventually, they get Matt Cameron on 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:44.299 drums, which cements the classic lineup. Now, 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.419 I want to clear something up. When we talk about 00:08:46.419 --> 00:08:49.600 the Seattle explosion. Everyone talks about Nirvana. 00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:52.559 Everyone talks about Nevermind in 1991. But Soundgarden 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:55.000 was actually first, weren't they? In a business 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:56.960 sense, absolutely. They were the icebreakers. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:59.120 They were the battering ram. Soundgarden was 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.860 the first grunge band to sign to a major label, 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:04.940 A &M Records. Why was that such a big deal? I 00:09:04.940 --> 00:09:08.100 mean, today, signing a record deal is just what 00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:10.860 you do. In the late 80s underground scene, it 00:09:10.860 --> 00:09:13.159 was treason. It was considered selling out. The 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:15.620 indie scene in Seattle was very insular, very... 00:09:15.870 --> 00:09:18.730 Do it yourself. Signing to a corporate behemoth 00:09:18.730 --> 00:09:20.669 like A &M meant you were sleeping with the enemy. 00:09:20.809 --> 00:09:22.909 So they took the arrows for everyone else. They 00:09:22.909 --> 00:09:26.509 did. They took all the heat so that Nirvana and 00:09:26.509 --> 00:09:29.289 Pearl Jam could get those massive checks a few 00:09:29.289 --> 00:09:32.970 years later. Soundgarden proved that this weird, 00:09:33.009 --> 00:09:36.429 heavy punk metal hybrid could actually sell records 00:09:36.429 --> 00:09:39.230 globally. And sell they did. Let's talk about 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:42.519 the sound. 1991, Bad Motor Finger. This is the 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:44.279 breakthrough. This is where the world really 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:47.200 wakes up. You have Outshined. You have Rusty 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:49.519 Cage. Rusty Cage is just a monster of a track. 00:09:49.659 --> 00:09:51.720 It's an absolute monster. And look at the legacy 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:54.580 of that song. Johnny Cash, the man in black, 00:09:54.700 --> 00:09:56.840 covered it years later on his Unchained album. 00:09:57.059 --> 00:09:58.759 That has to be the ultimate seal of approval. 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:01.399 It really is. It proves the songwriting holds 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:04.070 up. If you can strip away the distortion, the 00:10:04.070 --> 00:10:06.389 screaming, the heavy drums, and play it on an 00:10:06.389 --> 00:10:08.730 acoustic guitar with a country twang, and it 00:10:08.730 --> 00:10:11.110 still sounds profound, that means the bones of 00:10:11.110 --> 00:10:13.029 the song are perfect. But it wasn't all smooth 00:10:13.029 --> 00:10:14.970 sailing. They had some controversy pretty early 00:10:14.970 --> 00:10:18.450 on. Jesus Christ, Pose. Oh yeah. MTV banned the 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:21.909 video. Banned it. What was so bad about it? Well, 00:10:21.929 --> 00:10:24.409 they felt it was anti -religious. The imagery 00:10:24.409 --> 00:10:26.710 was really intense. You had burning crosses, 00:10:26.730 --> 00:10:30.049 a cyborg crucifixion. The band argued it wasn't 00:10:30.049 --> 00:10:32.049 attacking religion, but attacking the exploitation 00:10:32.049 --> 00:10:34.990 of religion by celebrities. You know, that whole 00:10:34.990 --> 00:10:37.990 martyr complex. Right. But MTV didn't care about 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:39.809 the nuance. They just saw a burning cross and 00:10:39.809 --> 00:10:42.250 said, nope. Which, of course, just makes teenagers 00:10:42.250 --> 00:10:45.149 want to see it even more. Every single time. 00:10:45.950 --> 00:10:49.210 Controversy is currency. Yes. But then 1994 hits. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:52.759 And we get super unknown. The big one debuted 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:55.480 at number one on the charts. This is the masterpiece. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:57.740 And this is where we go back to that Beatles 00:10:57.740 --> 00:11:00.440 in the basement idea. Critics like John Prellis 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:02.899 at the New York Times noticed something. This 00:11:02.899 --> 00:11:05.179 wasn't just heavy metal. It was smart. It was 00:11:05.179 --> 00:11:07.820 breaking the rules of the genre. Black Hole Sun. 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:10.039 You couldn't escape that song in 1994. It was 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:11.659 everywhere. It was the anthem. And it's such 00:11:11.659 --> 00:11:14.539 a weird song to be a massive radio hit. It's 00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:18.279 psychedelic. It's slow. It's dreamy, but also 00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:20.480 kind of nightmarish. I want to pause here and 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:22.379 get technical for a second because you mentioned 00:11:22.379 --> 00:11:25.600 breaking the rules. What makes Black Hole Sun 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:29.899 sound so strange? Like it makes you feel a little 00:11:29.899 --> 00:11:32.539 seasick, but in a good way. That is a great way 00:11:32.539 --> 00:11:34.740 to put it. It's the seasick quality. Okay, so 00:11:34.740 --> 00:11:37.929 imagine you are watching a movie. A romantic 00:11:37.929 --> 00:11:40.289 comedy. Everything is bright, sunny, predictable. 00:11:40.429 --> 00:11:42.870 That's a diatonic scale. The notes all belong 00:11:42.870 --> 00:11:45.129 to the same family. They get along. Okay, I'm 00:11:45.129 --> 00:11:47.830 with you. A happy family of notes. Cornell didn't 00:11:47.830 --> 00:11:49.830 care about the happy family. Right. In Black 00:11:49.830 --> 00:11:52.509 Hole Sun, he uses what we call non -diatonic 00:11:52.509 --> 00:11:55.289 chords. So imagine in that rom -com, suddenly 00:11:55.289 --> 00:11:58.149 the sky turns purple and the gravity shifts sideways 00:11:58.149 --> 00:12:00.750 for three seconds, then snaps back to normal. 00:12:00.870 --> 00:12:02.450 Okay, that's unsettling. That's what he's doing 00:12:02.450 --> 00:12:04.789 musically. He uses chords that... Technically 00:12:04.789 --> 00:12:06.570 shouldn't be there. He does these huge melody 00:12:06.570 --> 00:12:10.070 jumps. And he uses major chords in sequences 00:12:10.070 --> 00:12:13.110 where your ear expects a minor chord. It creates 00:12:13.110 --> 00:12:16.230 this constant tension. It feels wrong in a way 00:12:16.230 --> 00:12:17.990 that hooks your brain because your brain is trying 00:12:17.990 --> 00:12:20.610 to solve the puzzle of the melody. So he's basically 00:12:20.610 --> 00:12:23.570 hacking our brains with music theory. He's using 00:12:23.570 --> 00:12:26.009 the Beatles trick, that unexpected chord change. 00:12:26.409 --> 00:12:28.409 But he's playing it with the heaviness of Black 00:12:28.409 --> 00:12:30.750 Sabbath. That's the Soundgarden secret sauce. 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:33.720 But even with all that success... You know, bands 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:36.840 are like pressure cookers. By 1996, they released 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:38.860 Down on the Upside, and things were getting a 00:12:38.860 --> 00:12:40.899 little shaky. The cracks were definitely showing. 00:12:41.019 --> 00:12:43.179 Down on the Upside is a brilliant album, but 00:12:43.179 --> 00:12:46.320 it sounds different. It's less sludgy. There 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:48.500 are more acoustic textures. And not everyone 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:50.820 in the band was happy about that direction. No, 00:12:50.940 --> 00:12:53.840 this is the classic singer versus guitarist battle. 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:57.679 Cornell wanted to explore. He was getting tired 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.399 of the heavy riff trademark. He wanted to strip 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:02.700 things down, get weird, get softer sometimes. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.679 Kim Thayil, the guitarist, he wanted to keep 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:08.159 the beast heavy. He wanted to protect the Soundgarden 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:11.299 identity. Creative differences. The silent killer 00:13:11.299 --> 00:13:14.840 of so many bands. It became toxic. They were 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:17.179 arguing over the creative direction. In 1997, 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:20.299 they just, they stopped. They dissolved. Thayil 00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:22.379 admitted later that everyone was just dissatisfied. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:24.980 They were totally burned out. So the Soundgarden 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:27.919 era ends. At least for a while. But we can't 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:30.000 move on without talking about the emotional glue 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.700 of that whole Seattle scene. Because Cornell 00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:35.100 wasn't just in his own lane. He was looking out 00:13:35.100 --> 00:13:36.840 for everyone else. We have to talk about the 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:39.220 brotherhood. And specifically, we have to talk 00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:41.879 about Andrew Wood. Andrew Wood. The lead singer 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:44.100 of Mother Love Bone. Right. If you don't know 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:46.980 Andrew Wood, just imagine the charisma of Freddie 00:13:46.980 --> 00:13:49.279 Mercury mixed with the style of a glam rocker. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:52.639 But living in grunge Seattle, he was Cornell's 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:55.590 roommate. They were Beth's friends. He was poised 00:13:55.590 --> 00:13:57.629 to be the biggest star in the world. And then, 00:13:57.750 --> 00:14:02.490 tragedy. March 1990. Heroin overdose. He died 00:14:02.490 --> 00:14:04.870 just days before Mother Love Bone's debut album 00:14:04.870 --> 00:14:07.110 was set to be released. God, that is just heartbreaking. 00:14:07.549 --> 00:14:10.590 Cornell was devastated. Absolute crushed. He 00:14:10.590 --> 00:14:12.049 said later he couldn't even listen to the radio 00:14:12.049 --> 00:14:13.889 for two years because he was afraid he'd hear 00:14:13.889 --> 00:14:16.730 an Andrew Wood song. But, being Chris Cornell, 00:14:16.990 --> 00:14:19.549 he processed his grief through music. He started 00:14:19.549 --> 00:14:22.029 writing songs for Andy. He wrote Reach Down. 00:14:22.669 --> 00:14:25.789 and Say Hello to Heaven. These weren't Soundgarden 00:14:25.789 --> 00:14:28.309 songs. They were too tender, too specific. So 00:14:28.309 --> 00:14:30.769 he approached the surviving members of Mother 00:14:30.769 --> 00:14:33.570 Love, Bonestone, Gassard, and Jeff Hammond. Who 00:14:33.570 --> 00:14:35.610 were trying to pick up the pieces and start a 00:14:35.610 --> 00:14:38.210 new band at that time. Exactly. They were jamming 00:14:38.210 --> 00:14:41.110 with a new guitarist, Mike McCready, and they'd 00:14:41.110 --> 00:14:44.070 just flown up this shy surfer kid from San Diego 00:14:44.070 --> 00:14:47.389 to audition as a singer. A guy named Eddie Vedder. 00:14:47.490 --> 00:14:49.570 So you have Cornell, who's the established star, 00:14:49.789 --> 00:14:53.450 and Vedder, this shy new guy. And this is where 00:14:53.450 --> 00:14:55.669 the magic happens. They decide to record these 00:14:55.669 --> 00:14:57.909 tribute songs under the name Temple of the Dog. 00:14:58.409 --> 00:15:01.190 There's a song called Hunger Strike. Oh, an iconic 00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:03.450 song. I don't mind stealing bread. So Cornell 00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:05.529 is in the studio, and he's struggling with the 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:07.769 verses. They're really low. He's a baritone. 00:15:07.929 --> 00:15:10.409 But he wanted a specific resonance he wasn't 00:15:10.409 --> 00:15:12.850 quite getting. Eddie Vedder is literally sitting 00:15:12.850 --> 00:15:15.269 in the corner of the rehearsal space, just waiting 00:15:15.269 --> 00:15:17.350 for his turn to practice with his new band. Just 00:15:17.350 --> 00:15:19.330 watching the master at work. And he sees Cornell 00:15:19.330 --> 00:15:21.950 struggling. So Vedder, without asking, just walks 00:15:21.950 --> 00:15:24.210 up to the microphone and sings the low part. 00:15:24.509 --> 00:15:27.549 Whoa. Bold move for the new guy. Incredibly bold. 00:15:28.110 --> 00:15:31.990 But Cornell didn't get mad. He loved it. He looked 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:34.409 at him and said, You sing the low part, I'll 00:15:34.409 --> 00:15:37.370 sing the high part. And boom, one of the greatest 00:15:37.370 --> 00:15:40.509 duets in rock history is born right there on 00:15:40.509 --> 00:15:42.809 the spot. That gives me chills. And it wasn't 00:15:42.809 --> 00:15:44.490 just in the studio, right? There's a story about 00:15:44.490 --> 00:15:46.330 their first live show that's just incredible. 00:15:46.690 --> 00:15:48.889 This is my favorite Cornell story. It tells you 00:15:48.889 --> 00:15:51.250 everything about his character. It was an early 00:15:51.250 --> 00:15:53.549 show for Vedder's band. At the time, they were 00:15:53.549 --> 00:15:55.669 called Mookie Blaylock. But they would become 00:15:55.669 --> 00:15:58.320 Pearl Jam. The crowd in Seattle can be tough. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:00.480 Right. They didn't know this San Diego surfer. 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:02.600 They were skeptical. Who is this guy trying to 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:04.919 replace Andy Wood? The arms were crossed. Exactly. 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:08.080 So what does Cornell do? During the Temple of 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:10.980 the Dogs set, he literally puts Eddie Vedder 00:16:10.980 --> 00:16:13.580 on his shoulders and carries him onto the stage. 00:16:13.860 --> 00:16:16.559 Like a piggyback ride in front of everyone. Like 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:18.700 a king. He paraded him in front of the crowd. 00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:21.179 He was sending a signal. This is my friend. I 00:16:21.179 --> 00:16:23.580 endorse him. If you like me, you give this guy 00:16:23.580 --> 00:16:26.379 a chance. That is incredible mentorship. He basically 00:16:26.379 --> 00:16:28.919 handed the keys to the city to Eddie Vedder. 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:32.840 He did. And Vedder never forgot it. He said he 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:35.320 was indebted to Chris eternally for how he welcomed 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:37.659 him. It wasn't about competition. It was about 00:16:37.659 --> 00:16:40.659 brotherhood and processing grief together. I 00:16:40.659 --> 00:16:43.759 love that. Okay, so let's jump forward. Soundgarden 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:46.500 is done. It's the late 90s. Cornell releases 00:16:46.500 --> 00:16:49.259 a solo album, Euphoria Morning. Which is such 00:16:49.259 --> 00:16:51.340 a hidden gem. I feel like nobody talks about 00:16:51.340 --> 00:16:53.039 this album. It was a commercial flop compared 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.580 to Soundgarden, for sure. But artistically, it's 00:16:56.580 --> 00:17:00.139 stunning. It's darker. It's moodier. It has this 00:17:00.139 --> 00:17:02.779 song, Wave Goodbye, which was a tribute to Jeff 00:17:02.779 --> 00:17:04.740 Buckley, another friend who died tragically young. 00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:07.640 Man, he just kept losing people. He did. It's 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:10.470 a recurring... Terrible theme. But let's fast 00:17:10.470 --> 00:17:12.970 forward to 2001. We have the next big reinvention. 00:17:13.089 --> 00:17:15.369 Wage Against the Machine. One of the most political, 00:17:15.430 --> 00:17:18.410 aggressive rap rock bands on the planet. Their 00:17:18.410 --> 00:17:21.690 singer, Zack De La Rocha, quits. The rest of 00:17:21.690 --> 00:17:23.910 the band, Tom Morello, Tim Comerford, Brad Wilk, 00:17:23.990 --> 00:17:25.930 they want to keep playing. But who can possibly 00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:27.990 replace Zack De La Rocha? Those are enormous 00:17:27.990 --> 00:17:30.630 shoes to fill. So Rick Rubin, the legendary prisoners 00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:32.650 who looks like a wizard, suggests they talk to 00:17:32.650 --> 00:17:34.849 Chris Cornell. That sounds like a terrible idea 00:17:34.849 --> 00:17:38.400 on paper. Rage is rap metal. Cornell is a classic 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:40.539 rock singer. It's apples and oranges. Everyone 00:17:40.539 --> 00:17:42.920 was skeptical, but they got in a room together. 00:17:43.140 --> 00:17:44.920 Cornell stood at the mic and they played the 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:47.700 instrumental to Slaves and Bulldozers, an old 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:50.359 Soundgarden track. Tom Morello said watching 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:54.200 Cornell sing that day was transcendent. Transcendent. 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:56.400 You don't use that word lightly. And the chemistry 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:59.539 was just nuclear. They wrote 21 songs in 19 days. 00:17:59.700 --> 00:18:03.019 19 days. That's more than a song a day. It was 00:18:03.019 --> 00:18:05.480 frantic energy. They were just pouring it out. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.680 And Audioslave was born. And this wasn't just 00:18:08.680 --> 00:18:11.019 some little side project. They became massive. 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:15.259 Huge. And they made history. In 2005, Audioslave 00:18:15.259 --> 00:18:17.480 became the first American rock band to play an 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:19.900 open -air concert in Cuba. In Castro's Cuba. 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:22.680 Yes. The embargo was still in full effect. It 00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:24.720 was a diplomatic nightmare to set up, but they 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.960 pulled it off. They played for 70 ,000 people 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:29.259 in Havana. Cornell said he hoped it would help 00:18:29.259 --> 00:18:31.279 open the borders culturally. He was always thinking 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:33.940 about the bigger picture. But while he's on top 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:36.609 of the world with Audioslave... playing Cuba, 00:18:36.789 --> 00:18:40.710 selling millions of records. Personally, he was 00:18:40.710 --> 00:18:42.730 falling apart. This is the part of the story 00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:46.089 where vulnerability meets volume in a very dark 00:18:46.089 --> 00:18:49.730 way. The Audioslave years were the peak of his 00:18:49.730 --> 00:18:51.150 addiction struggle. What was he dealing with? 00:18:51.670 --> 00:18:54.670 Alcohol and oxycodone. He said later that during 00:18:54.670 --> 00:18:56.410 the recording of that first Audioslave album 00:18:56.410 --> 00:19:00.190 in 2002, he was in a horrible personal crisis. 00:19:00.410 --> 00:19:02.759 Did it affect the band? It almost derailed everything. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:05.380 They were supposed to play Ozzfest, which, for 00:19:05.380 --> 00:19:07.420 listeners who don't know, is basically the Super 00:19:07.420 --> 00:19:10.259 Bowl of heavy metal touring. A huge moneymaker, 00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:12.700 they had to cancel it. Cornell checked himself 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:15.940 into rehab for two months. Wow. That takes courage 00:19:15.940 --> 00:19:18.039 to step away when the machine is just starting 00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:20.240 to roll. It saved his life. Yeah. And he committed 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.200 to it. By the time they did their third album, 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:25.039 Revelations, Tom Morello noted that it was the 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:27.619 first record Cornell had ever made, stone sober. 00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:30.740 No booze, no cigarettes, no drugs. So we get 00:19:30.740 --> 00:19:32.680 the sober era, and this leads to some really 00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:34.880 interesting choices. We have to talk about 2009, 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:38.599 the album Scream. Scream. Oh, boy. The elephant 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:40.440 in the room. I remember when this came out, I 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:43.880 was so confused. It was Chris Cornell, produced 00:19:43.880 --> 00:19:46.480 by Timbaland, the guy who does Justin Timberlake 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:50.779 beats. It was polarizing. That is the polite 00:19:50.779 --> 00:19:53.920 word for it. Critics hated it. Fans were baffled. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:56.579 They wanted heavy guitars and they got drum machines 00:19:56.579 --> 00:19:59.319 and synthesizers. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:01.460 even tweeted something snarky about it being 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:04.480 embarrassing. Ouch. But here's the thing. Cornell 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:07.420 stood by it. He called it a highlight of his 00:20:07.420 --> 00:20:11.480 career. Nearly. Why? Because he was bored. He 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:13.660 didn't want to be the grunge guy for 30 years 00:20:13.660 --> 00:20:15.480 straight. He wanted to see if he could write 00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:17.619 a pop song. He wanted to see if his voice worked 00:20:17.619 --> 00:20:20.140 over a hip -hop beat. He was fearless. He didn't 00:20:20.140 --> 00:20:22.160 care if it failed. He cared that he tried something 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:24.140 new. You have to respect the boldness, even if 00:20:24.140 --> 00:20:26.339 you don't love the album. Exactly. And that same 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:29.640 boldness made him the soundtrack king. Yes. Casino 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:32.859 Royale. You know my name. This is a huge gamble. 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:35.839 They were rebooting James Bond with Daniel Craig. 00:20:36.099 --> 00:20:40.220 They needed a new sound. Gritty, tough. But sophisticated. 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:43.400 And Cornell absolutely delivered. It's arguably 00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:45.740 one of the best Bond themes ever. It captures 00:20:45.740 --> 00:20:48.000 that specific aggression of the Daniel Craig 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.220 Bond. And it opened him up to a whole new audience 00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:54.240 who. Maybe he didn't listen to Soundgarden or 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.640 Audioslave. He also did The Keeper for Machine 00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:59.039 Gun Preacher and The Promise. And The Promise 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:01.380 is so important because all the proceeds from 00:21:01.380 --> 00:21:04.519 that song went to refugee charities. He was deeply 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:06.700 involved in philanthropy in his later years. 00:21:06.819 --> 00:21:09.980 He was trying to use his platform for good. So 00:21:09.980 --> 00:21:11.839 on the surface, everything looks great. He's 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:14.660 sober. He's reunited with Soundgarden in 2010. 00:21:14.819 --> 00:21:17.980 He's touring. He's a legend. But we need to talk 00:21:17.980 --> 00:21:19.680 about the darkness. We mentioned it at the start. 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:22.319 This wasn't just some phase for him. No. And 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:24.480 I think this is where we need to be really careful 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:27.380 and really honest. Cornell's mental health struggle 00:21:27.380 --> 00:21:30.319 wasn't a rock star problem. It was a biological 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:32.619 lifelong battle. It started when he was just 00:21:32.619 --> 00:21:35.579 a kid, right? 14 years old. He had a bad experience 00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:39.759 with PCP. PCP. That is heavy stuff for a 14 -year 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:41.740 -old. It is, and it triggered something in his 00:21:41.740 --> 00:21:44.119 brain, a panic disorder. He developed severe 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:47.180 agoraphobia. Agoraphobia, the fear of leaving 00:21:47.180 --> 00:21:50.000 the house. Fear of open spaces, fear of social 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:52.119 interaction. He said he didn't leave his house 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:54.799 for two full years. Think about that. From age 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:56.839 14 to 16, when you're supposed to be meeting 00:21:56.839 --> 00:21:59.319 friends, dating, learning how to be a person, 00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:02.720 he was locked in his room, terrified. That's 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:05.079 developmental trauma. That rewires your brain. 00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:08.579 It does. He missed out on crucial social development. 00:22:08.859 --> 00:22:10.740 He said he had no friends at all during that 00:22:10.740 --> 00:22:13.140 time. And even when he came out of it, depression 00:22:13.140 --> 00:22:15.700 was always there. There is a quote from him in 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:18.400 a 1999 interview that when I read it now, it 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:21.099 just makes my stomach drop. What did he say? 00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:23.440 He said, you'll think somebody has run -of -the 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.279 -mill depression, and then the next thing you 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.420 know, they're hanging from a rope. He said that 00:22:27.420 --> 00:22:31.819 in 1999? Almost 20 years before his death. He 00:22:31.819 --> 00:22:34.349 knew. He understood the lethality of the disease. 00:22:34.430 --> 00:22:36.890 He understood that it waits for you. And the 00:22:36.890 --> 00:22:39.750 alcohol, the drugs, that was all just self -medication. 00:22:39.970 --> 00:22:41.990 He was explicit about that. He said alcohol is 00:22:41.990 --> 00:22:44.009 what leads you to everything because it takes 00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:46.430 away the fear. He wasn't partying to have fun. 00:22:46.490 --> 00:22:49.650 He was drinking to numb the terror of just existing 00:22:49.650 --> 00:22:52.630 in public. But he was sober in the end. Soundgarden 00:22:52.630 --> 00:22:55.670 had a strict no alcohol backstage rule during 00:22:55.670 --> 00:22:58.269 the reunion tour. It did. He was protecting his 00:22:58.269 --> 00:23:01.099 recoverer. fiercely, which is why what happened 00:23:01.099 --> 00:23:04.000 in Detroit is so confusing and so tragic. Let's 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.380 walk through that night, May 17, 2017, Detroit. 00:23:07.880 --> 00:23:10.140 Soundgarden is playing the Fox Theater. It's 00:23:10.140 --> 00:23:12.519 a sold -out show. By most accounts, it was a 00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:14.960 good performance. Maybe a little rough in moments, 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:17.240 but nothing catastrophic. He was interacting 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:20.440 with the crowd. He quoted Led Zeppelin. In my 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:23.740 time of dying. Yeah, which people read into later, 00:23:23.819 --> 00:23:26.079 but it's a standard song reference. After the 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:28.670 show, he goes back to the MGM Grand Hotel. Just 00:23:28.670 --> 00:23:31.349 a normal night on tour. It seemed like it. His 00:23:31.349 --> 00:23:33.789 bodyguard, Martin Kirsten, goes to his room around 00:23:33.789 --> 00:23:36.789 11 .30 p .m. to help him fix his computer. Cornell 00:23:36.789 --> 00:23:39.190 gives him two Ativan pills, which the bodyguard 00:23:39.190 --> 00:23:41.589 took for his own anxiety. Cornell seemed fine. 00:23:41.789 --> 00:23:44.470 Then he talks to his wife, Vicki. At 11 .35 p 00:23:44.470 --> 00:23:47.430 .m. And this is where the switch flips. They 00:23:47.430 --> 00:23:50.130 are on the phone. Vicki notices immediately that 00:23:50.130 --> 00:23:52.390 something is wrong. He's slurring his words. 00:23:52.470 --> 00:23:54.809 He's aggressive. He's looping, repeating the 00:23:54.809 --> 00:23:57.430 same things over and over. I am just tired, that 00:23:57.430 --> 00:23:59.769 sort of thing. He told her, I may have taken 00:23:59.769 --> 00:24:02.769 an extra Ativan or two. Okay, let's pause. Ativan. 00:24:02.990 --> 00:24:06.970 What is that exactly? Lorazepam. It's a benzodiazepine. 00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:10.130 It's prescribed for anxiety. But, and this is 00:24:10.130 --> 00:24:13.190 a huge debt, if you take too much or if your 00:24:13.190 --> 00:24:16.849 body chemistry reacts weirdly, it can cause disinhibition. 00:24:17.170 --> 00:24:20.029 It can make you confused, suicidal, or aggressive. 00:24:20.390 --> 00:24:23.289 It can impair your judgment significantly. So 00:24:23.289 --> 00:24:26.549 his wife is panicked. She hangs up. And immediately 00:24:26.549 --> 00:24:28.670 calls the bodyguard. She says, he's not okay. 00:24:28.690 --> 00:24:30.750 Go check on him. This is around 12, 15 a .m. 00:24:30.750 --> 00:24:32.450 The bodyguard goes back to the room. He can't 00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:34.289 get in. The door is latched from the inside. 00:24:34.549 --> 00:24:36.890 He kicks it open. Then he gets to the bedroom 00:24:36.890 --> 00:24:39.150 door. It's also locked. He kicks that one open. 00:24:39.289 --> 00:24:40.849 And that's where he finds him. In the bathroom. 00:24:41.890 --> 00:24:44.369 Unresponsive. He'd used an exercise band. God. 00:24:44.789 --> 00:24:47.329 Medics arrived, but it was too late. He was pronounced 00:24:47.329 --> 00:24:49.990 dead at 1 .30 a .m. The medical examiner ruled 00:24:49.990 --> 00:24:53.299 it a suicide by hanging. But the family. They 00:24:53.299 --> 00:24:55.200 pushed back on that. Right. Not the fact that 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:58.119 he died, but on the why. Right. The toxicology 00:24:58.119 --> 00:25:02.339 report came back. It showed butalbidol, a barbiturate, 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:06.079 caffeine, pseudofedrine, and naloxone, which 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:08.640 the medics use, and of course the Ativan. The 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:11.359 medical examiner said drugs did not contribute 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.309 to the cause of death. meaning he didn't overdose, 00:25:14.670 --> 00:25:17.710 the drugs didn't kill him, the hanging did. But 00:25:17.710 --> 00:25:20.170 the family's argument was that the Ativan caused 00:25:20.170 --> 00:25:22.730 the hanging. Exactly. They argued that he was 00:25:22.730 --> 00:25:25.190 in an Ativan -induced delirium, that he wasn't 00:25:25.190 --> 00:25:26.809 in his right mind, that he wouldn't have done 00:25:26.809 --> 00:25:29.390 this if he hadn't taken those extra pills. They 00:25:29.390 --> 00:25:31.730 sued the doctor who prescribed them without seeing 00:25:31.730 --> 00:25:34.150 him in person. They eventually settled that lawsuit 00:25:34.150 --> 00:25:36.769 in 2021, but they have always maintained that 00:25:36.769 --> 00:25:38.930 it was an accidental tragedy caused by medication, 00:25:39.250 --> 00:25:42.769 not a premeditated suicide. It's a nuance, but 00:25:42.769 --> 00:25:45.410 a heartbreaking one. The idea that a pill meant 00:25:45.410 --> 00:25:47.750 to help his anxiety might have lowered his defenses 00:25:47.750 --> 00:25:49.950 enough to let the darkness win. It's terrifying. 00:25:50.269 --> 00:25:52.170 And then there are the coincidences. Who dates? 00:25:52.490 --> 00:25:55.089 May 18th, the day he died. That is the exact 00:25:55.089 --> 00:25:57.589 same day Ian Curtis of Joy Division died by suicide 00:25:57.589 --> 00:26:00.089 in 1980. And Soundgarden covered Joy Division 00:26:00.089 --> 00:26:02.950 songs. They did. And then there's the ripple 00:26:02.950 --> 00:26:06.430 effect. Chester Bennington. The singer of Linkin 00:26:06.430 --> 00:26:09.150 Park. A very close friend. He was the godfather 00:26:09.150 --> 00:26:12.759 to Chris's son. Chester sang Hallelujah at Chris' 00:26:12.859 --> 00:26:15.660 funeral. It was a beautiful, gut -wrenching performance. 00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:20.059 Amen. Two months later, July 20th, which would 00:26:20.059 --> 00:26:23.400 have been Chris Cornell's 53rd birthday, Chester 00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:26.059 Bennington died by suicide. It's just too much 00:26:26.059 --> 00:26:28.940 tragedy in one circle. It was a shockwave. It 00:26:28.940 --> 00:26:30.940 showed how connected these guys were and how 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:33.119 fragile they were, despite the screams and the 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:35.809 tattoos and the fame. The reaction from the world 00:26:35.809 --> 00:26:37.970 was immediate, though. It was massive. Streams 00:26:37.970 --> 00:26:40.549 jumped 550 % that week. The Space Needle went 00:26:40.549 --> 00:26:43.970 dark. Every band from U2 to Guns N' Roses stopped 00:26:43.970 --> 00:26:47.150 their shows to play Black Hole Sun. Norah Jones 00:26:47.150 --> 00:26:49.349 did a piano cover of it that will just break 00:26:49.349 --> 00:26:51.049 your heart. It proved that he wasn't just a grunge 00:26:51.049 --> 00:26:53.470 singer. He was a musician's musician. He was. 00:26:53.670 --> 00:26:56.910 And the legacy is secure now. There is a bronze 00:26:56.910 --> 00:26:59.470 statue of him in Seattle, right outside the Museum 00:26:59.470 --> 00:27:02.190 of Pop Culture. Soundgarden is finally in the 00:27:02.190 --> 00:27:04.470 Hall of Fame. His catalog is being managed by 00:27:04.470 --> 00:27:07.329 Hypnosis. But beyond the statues and the business 00:27:07.329 --> 00:27:11.490 deals, what's the takeaway? When we look at this 00:27:11.490 --> 00:27:13.970 inquisitive kid who became a rock god and then 00:27:13.970 --> 00:27:16.750 left us too soon, what do we learn from it all? 00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:19.269 For me, it comes back to that theme we started 00:27:19.269 --> 00:27:22.970 with, vulnerability and volume. Chris Cornell 00:27:22.970 --> 00:27:25.970 taught us that you don't have to choose. You 00:27:25.970 --> 00:27:28.250 can be powerful and broken at the same time. 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:30.500 You can scream at the top of your lungs about 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:32.799 how scared you are. He validated that feeling 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:35.759 for millions of people. He did. He gave a voice 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:39.460 to the internal demons of a generation. He made 00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:42.220 it okay to not be okay, even if you look like 00:27:42.220 --> 00:27:44.700 a superhero on the outside. I want to end with 00:27:44.700 --> 00:27:46.960 a thought about his lyrics, because looking back, 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:49.660 they seem like warning signs. You know, the day 00:27:49.660 --> 00:27:52.420 I tried to live, pretty noose. Like a stone. 00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:54.420 It's hard not to read them that way now, but 00:27:54.420 --> 00:27:57.019 I'll leave you with this. In 1994, after Kurt 00:27:57.019 --> 00:27:59.380 Cobain died, Cornell gave an interview. He said 00:27:59.380 --> 00:28:02.039 that lyrics are just a stream of thought. He 00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:03.759 said they aren't necessarily a prophecy. He was 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:05.799 trying to say, just because I write about death 00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:07.799 doesn't mean I want to die. He was trying to 00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:11.019 separate the art from the artist. He was. But 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:13.700 when we look at the whole picture now, the anxiety, 00:28:13.900 --> 00:28:17.759 the depression, the lyrics, the end, we are left 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:20.710 with that lingering question. Was he writing 00:28:20.710 --> 00:28:22.970 his biography the whole time? Or was he just 00:28:22.970 --> 00:28:25.809 exercising demons that in the end finally won? 00:28:25.970 --> 00:28:27.910 That is a question we will never be able to answer. 00:28:28.009 --> 00:28:30.769 But we have the music. We have the music. And 00:28:30.769 --> 00:28:32.730 that voice. Thanks for listening to this deep 00:28:32.730 --> 00:28:34.690 dive on Chris Cornell. Take care of yourselves. 00:28:34.809 --> 00:28:35.269 Keep listening.