Dave Grohl revealed what Foo Fighters had planned to do with Soundgarden in 2017, and why he ‘loved’ Chris Cornell in a new Rolling Stone interview.
I ask if there was anyone they tried to book [for the Cal Jam festival in October] and couldn’t. Grohl falls uncommonly silent. “You know,” he says after several seconds. “We wanted to have Soundgarden. They had agreed to do it. And, um …” His voice catches. “It didn’t happen.”
Chris Cornell had been a friend of Grohl’s since their Seattle grunge days. “I loved him,” Grohl says, voice breaking. “He was a really sweet guy. Full of life. And he had so much to offer. That one hurt,” he says through tears. “Over the years you sort of count your blessings that you survived, and when you see another one go down …”
The nature of Cornell’s death dredged up particularly painful memories for Grohl, who knows what it means to lose a bandmate to suicide. “I felt for his family,” he says. “And I felt for his …” He chokes up again. “And I felt for his band, you know? Because that’s a long road, man.”
Grohl is quiet a long time. “Every time it happens, the same feeling comes up,” he says. “It’s shocking and confusing and I just don’t get it. You get into this with a love of music, and sharing it with people, and you hope everybody feels the same way. I know it’s more complicated than that … but, fuck. It just sucks.”
Just then, a car pulls up in the driveway below us. It’s Grohl’s wife, Jordyn, and Harper, home from camp. He stands up, sniffling. “But, yeah,” he says. “I’ve always felt like the most important thing is just to get home safe. You just gotta keep on keeping on.” He starts down the stairs, wiping away tears as he goes.
Chris Cornell’s widow Vicky reacted to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins’ tribute to her late husband in a recent tweet.
Thank you @foofighters @taylorhawkins for your support and continuing to honor Chris’s memory pic.twitter.com/9qm5F73Y2Z
— Vicky Cornell (@vickycornell) August 22, 2017
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins had a photo of a young Chris Cornell on his drum set to honor the legendary Soundgarden frontman at a recent Foo Fighters show in Japan. See the photos below that Alternative Nation tracked down, followed by what Dave Grohl had to say about Chris Cornell’s death.
Foo Fighters members Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins discussed Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington’s suicides in a new The Rock FM interview. Alternative Nation transcribed their comments.
Grohl said, “When it comes to someone like Chris Cornell or Chester, depression is a disease. Everybody kind of goes through it their own way. I can’t speak for anybody else’s condition, but the hardest part is when you lose a friend. I just always immediately think of their families and bandmates, because going through something like suicide, it’s a long road. Chris was such a beautiful guy, he was the sweetest person, he was so talented, he had so much to offer.
It was a real shock to hear he had gone. I think that mental health and depression is something people should take seriously. There’s a stigma attached to it, which is unfortunate. Just as you take care of yourselves in every other way, I think it’s important that people really try to take care of themselves in that way. It ain’t easy, life is hard.”
Taylor Hawkins said, “Like you said, people [seem to] got it so together. It just goes to show you, it doesn’t matter what’s in your bank account, or how many hits are on your YouTube page, all that kind of crap, it all goes out the window if, like Dave said, you’re not feeling right. Not to get to hear Chris Cornell make another record again is my selfish version of it, and there’s such a bigger hurt beyond my own selfish [reasons]. I barely knew him, a little bit, but from what I know, he was super cool, I didn’t know Chester very well at all, but I knew Chris a little bit, and Dave knew him a bit too.”
He added, “I can remember as far back as when I joined the band, you and I playing Soundgarden riffs together. I remember making There’s Nothing Left To Lose with the guy who engineered and produced some of their records, and we would just listen to their records a lot. They were a big inspiration to us a lot as musicians, Chris Cornell was just a master. The loss is a bummer, but like Dave said, that’s a real thing. Look after yourself, and if it looks like someone is down, way down, check up on them.”
If you are dealing with mental health issues, you can call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or enter their live chat.
