Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, and Mad Season guitarist Mike McCready wrote touching liner notes for the new Chris Cornell retrospective album:
Chris was undoubtedly one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time. When he first came on the scene, it was like: ‘God, that guy’s good-looking AND he can play drums, AND he can play bass AND on top of that, he can sing like no one else?!’
But as I quickly learned – even more importantly, Chris had a beautiful heart and soul and was an amazing and encouraging friend.
I will always love Chris for giving me a chance very early on and letting me play leads on the Temple of the Dog album. He handed me a dream in actually getting to play on incredible songs and influenced how I would play on Pearl Jam records in the future. He gave me the break into the music business I’d wanted since I was 11. I feel so extremely blessed and lucky that we were able to finally tour the Temple of the Dog album 25 years later. I wish we could have continued down that road, but am forever grateful for what we had.
I miss Chris every day and will forever sing his praises.
Love and respect.
Mike McCready
January 2018
