The Hope of Chris Cornell
The late Soundgarden singer frequently voiced pain, but also optimism, wit, and a sense of justice.
1994 was the year that Soundgarden’s fourth album introduced Chris Cornell’s distinctive yowl to international audiences with smashes like “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman.” It was also the year that Kurt Cobain killed himself, the most dramatic in a line of shocking deaths visited upon Seattle’s commercially booming music scene. In December of that year, Cornell for an interview with . He sounded deeply ambivalent about his success and the cost of grunge’s success to Seattle’s rock community. “You’ve written more than a few doom-laden song lyrics,” the writer Alec Foege asked him. “Is it legitimate to read a songwriter’s demise into his
