Kim Thayil discussed the decision to omit the Soundgarden classics “Pretty Noose”, “Like Suicide”, and “The Day I Tried To Live” from the new Chris Cornell retrospective album in a new Rolling Stone article.
For Thayil, a huge consideration when picking out the tracks for the box is how they might be viewed now given the nature of Cornell’s death. “One of my concerns was just making sure there weren’t any difficult lyric or themes. Just keep that off,” Thayil says. “There’s lyrics, or titles that may not be appropriate in this context. That might be difficult for friends, family.” That presumably meant that Superunknown cuts like “The Day I Tried to Live,” “Like Suicide” and Down on the Upside standout “Pretty Noose” were left out of the discussion entirely.
The music video for Chris Cornell’s 2015 Higher Truth lead single “Nearly Forget My Broken Heart” was removed from YouTube for similar sensitivity reasons, as it depicted Cornell being hanged in a western. Thayil told Rolling Stone though that he remembers the lighter side of Chris’ personality.
Because of the darker content of a lot of Cornell’s writing, many people got a sense of him as a brooding loner, but that’s not exactly the guy that Thayil remembers. “He was like a normal kid,” the guitarist says. “Very funny and very fucking goofy.”
You can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
