We’ve lost a genuinely talented artist.
Also, Roger Ailes has dropped dead, but fuck him.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
We’ve lost a genuinely talented artist.
Also, Roger Ailes has dropped dead, but fuck him.
Chris was genuinely awesome and talented. I will even give him a pass for performing at the 13 Hours (Michael Bay’s Benghazi movie) patriot wank-fest in Dallas a few years back.
And at #3 – Powers Boothe, excellent actor, great at playing bad guys. People don’t know this, but he had an MFA, and the first 10 years of his acting life was Shakespeare on the stage.
BTW: Fuck Roger Ailes. With a rusty porcupine. While being slowly rotated on a spit over the everlasting fires of hell. And that’s just for his sexual harassment charges. Wait until he sees what Hell has for him as a punishment for founding Fox News.
I think Roger Ailes died decades ago, and has been a lurching, soulless automaton ever since. It’s just that today Rupert Murdoch’s necromancers stopped their ministrations and the borrowed animation finally drained from his limbs.
I am genuinely shocked. Soundgarden was the music of my youth, about the fifth band I discovered I really REALLY liked (after Green Day, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin and Rush). Down on the Upside and Superunknown were both legendary albums, but Cornell was rare in that he was truly fearless, and kept on pushing the boundaries. His Bond theme (for Casino Royale) is, in my opinion, the best modern theme – it helped to define the Daniel Craig era. And Audioslave was a pretty decent band too, though I don’t think they lived up to their potential.
Man this sucks; the world lost a true artist last night, and we are all poorer for it.
I would say Ailes died of shame. But I doubt he ever knew the emotion.
A shame for him he had to die while we are having this shit as US president. Not the best of times to depart in…
I was shocked and saddened this morning to hear that Chris Cornell had died. What a great talent.
And yes, fuck Roger Ailes.
Admittedly I wasn’t the biggest Soundgarden fan. I do have Badmotorfinger on my shelf though. I mostly liked the stuff I heard on the radio and the Black Hole Sun video was cool. Cornell’s voice was awesome. I was saddened and shocked to hear he died.
I’ve been remembering him today by listening to Temple of the Dog. Hunger Strike is as powerful today as it was 26 years ago. Cornell and some guy named Vedder together exhibiting their iconic voices before becoming legendary in different bands. And the song strikes a social justice chord.
Wooden Jesus was great too. “Wooden Jesus I’ll cut you in on twenty percent of my future sin.”
Watching the Black Hole Sun video PZ posted I am not sure if I have explicitly made the connection but it seems to have a similar but more comprehensive or encompassing outcome than Tool’s Aenema:
https://youtu.be/uCEeAn6_QJo
Both are apocalyptic, but I think Maynard’s focus was LA and Hollywood where Cornell’s may have been more global? Or was the black hole sun more focused on a neighborhood with the creepy pushup guy? Maynard suggested “learn to swim”. Could water take out the planet as effectively as a black hole sun?
And #5 VolcanoMan- all your bands are cool. Green Day gets political when needed. I prefer Hole’s first album to Nirvana though. And Rush was always a top band for me, but Tool would be Rush if they were really dark, morbid, and pissed at the world. Actually Tool does stuff that I emote to that Rush never could.
I have some Rage Against the Machine around here. Audioslave is pretty much Rage with Cornell right? I should get some Audioslave stuff.
@hemidactylus
I didn’t discover Tool until a bit later, but they have some incredible music. Gradually, I cooled on Nirvana (though I still think they were a truly transformative band, like the Beatles of my generation). I eventually got into metal through the dual paths of prog rock (mainly Rush) and blues rock (mainly Led Zep); the path I took wound through Tool to Dream Theater (I own like, 10 DT t-shirts, attended all the tours I could, they were *my favourite band* for about 8 years), and a bunch of other prog metal, which led me to power metal, then folk metal, viking metal, black metal, avante garde metal, schizo metal…*. There are some wild aural experiences out there if you are prepared to be screamed at. But I still listen to the bands that started me on my musical journey (even Nirvana when the mood hits me) and Soundgarden was one of the key ones.
*As an aside, some people complain at the incessant genre-ization of metal but I like it: subdividing sonic features ever further appeals to my rational personality.
Losing Cornell definitely stung for me. When I think of legendary vocalists, he’s always on my list. I enjoy playing bass guitar, and two of my favorite tracks are Outshined and Show Me How To Live.
Nice to hear I’m in the company of other Tool fans, as well.
13-dout
All I have to reference is Tool’s sing Triad. On an album with other great songs leading into it that masterpiece ices the cake. Never heard anything so perfect. It is as if Pink Floyd’s Astronomy Domine and Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, plus Rush’s Cygnus X-1 mixed with Sabbath’s Into the Void in a very transcendent manner. Case closed.