3 years ago, we lost a rock icon.
This day 3 years ago, we discovered what a world without Chris Cornell was like, as he passed away this day 3 years ago.
I only got to see Chris once, and that was at Northern Invasion that same year in Somerset, WI. Soundgarden was performing, and I’ll honestly admit I wasn’t SUPER excited to see them, but when they popped up on stage and those opening chords to ‘Spoonman’ showed up, I got excited. Then Chris started to sing, and things just kinda felt off…he was missing cues and it just didn’t seem right. I regretfully ended up leaving about 5 songs into the set because I was tired and had a 2nd full day ahead of me, so I needed rest.
Northern Invasion came and went, and Soundgarden performed in Detroit, MI that night where a good amount of my friends attended the show. Then the following night in the Greek Hotel in downtown…that’s where it all happened, and I woke up that following morning knowing that it was gonna be one of those days on the air where I had to tell an audience another rock hero had passed due to suicide. I hate those days…
Many of us never met Chris, neither have I…and oddly enough, I was extremely close to locking down an interview with him at Northern Invasion that year. I had the emails, the confirmation, and then about a day before the interview I got the email saying ‘Hey man, sorry but with load in times and such we are unable to meet our original deadline.’ That would have been interesting in retrospect.
While Chris may be gone, his music continues. I am sadly one of the fans that got more into Soundgarden after his death, ‘Badmotofinger’ is a fantastic album, but who cares…as long as you enjoy it in some shape or form? That’s what an artist truly wants.
I filmed this video that year and posted it, enjoy.
