![]() ![]() ![]() And at the point I was like, 'People like this, and I've got 20-plus years of material that I can play in the context of acoustic songs. "When I got home," he says, "people were playing it on the radio. He did a one-hour show in Stockholm back in 2006 that was recorded without his knowledge and made available for download under the title Chris Cornell: Unplugged in Sweden. ![]() Then it became two, and eventually, a medley. During his years with Audioslave, Chris would insert an acoustic version of one of the band's songs into the set to break it up. After all, it can be awfully intimidating to face an audience armed with only a guitar and a set of vocal chords, albethey some of the finest in rock. Getting comfortable performing unplugged was a process for Cornell. In an interview with Spinner, Cornell says he that it was when he first set out on his solo career with the release of Euphoria Morning that fans began asking for an acoustic record. The song did surprisingly well and received a lot of airplay and positive response from fans, which led to him doing an acoustic version of Soundgarden's "Like Suicide" for yet another film. The somber ballad and fan favorite "Cleaning My Gun," which Chris has been playing live for years but never had occasion to include on an album, is also here.Ĭhris had his first brush with acoustic work back in the early '90s after he'd written and recorded the song "Seasons," which was included on the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe film Singles. The record also includes acoustic covers of Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" and John Lennon's "Imagine," as well "The Keeper," an original number written for the soundtrack of the 2011 film Machine Gun Preacher, and contender for Best Original Song at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards. A collection of those songs, and the stories behind them, were recorded during various stops along the tour and comprise Cornell's recently released live album, Songbook. This past spring Chris Cornell hit the road on the first leg of his solo Songbook Tour, performing music from his storied career to sell-out crowds in intimate venues all across the US. Make that transcendent acoustic musician. And now he can add acoustic musician to his resume. He's written for film, including the theme song to the 2006 James Bond movie, Casino Royale, and placed 4th on the list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" by Hit Parader. Cornell also embarked on a solo career that took him into pop and hip-hop territories. He fronted the rock supergroup Audioslave and the one-off tribute band Temple of the Dog, which he founded to honor his former roommate, the late Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. I gave up trying to like his stuff.Chris Cornell is probably best known as the vocalist and songwriter for Soundgarden, one of the seminal bands of the Seattle grunge movement. Euphoria Morning was more of an Eleven-album, Audioslave a managers wet dream, the James Bond-song contract work aso aso. Cornell was one of my favorite singer in the late 80s/early 90s but none of his post-Soundgarden-output felt like he really was into it. Acoustic Cornell-20 years ago-was a pretty good thing to me, especially since he'd proven that the Temple of the Dog stuff could be ballad-y, but good ballad stuff, y'know? As the years have progressed, it's seemed more and more forced, like it's done because that's the sort of thing that he's supposed to be doing to sell more records, I guess. He's long sort of been probably holding himself to some sort of level of commercial acclaim, and even the Audioslave stuff seemed a bit like he was under the gun (managers, fans, his own ego, etc) to deliver something heavy or "rock" enough, but also saleable enough where he can maintain his lifestyle (and divorces). I've felt a bit sorry for Chris, post-Soundgarden, because I suppose that he's permanently wedged into the rocker territory, so the "Scream" fiasco didn't actually shock me as much as it may have shocked others. ![]()
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