Former Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello discussed Chris Cornell in a new BT interview.
“In my view he, Chris specifically, but his band Soundgarden along with one or two other bands redeemed hard rock music. It unapologetically embraced the great parts of it which is riffle and volume and excitement and shirts off and hair and all of that, but it was intelligent.
Chris had a great voice, he was super handsome, he was a very, very sweet guy, but his brilliance lay in the shadow prince part. Read any Chris Cornell lyric, he’s been writing about how dark it is inside for him, and that’s one of the reasons why I think he connected with millions of people.
He was a voice for people who feel like there’s something just not right within themselves, and yet he rode that, he rode the part that was tearing him apart his whole life to make some of the greatest rock and roll music of all time, and we were blessed to have 52 years of it.”
Tom Morello discussed Audioslave’s January 20, 2017 reunion performance at the Anti-Inaugural Ball in a new Rolling Stone article, and how Chris Cornell had hopes for future Audioslave reunion performances.
Cornell was “shining” at that gig, Morello insists. “We hung out after the show – just laughed, took pictures. The last thing he said to me was, ‘I had such a great time. I would love to do this again. You just let me know.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s figure it out!’
“It’s unbelievable,” Morello says of Cornell’s death. “I don’t know what the phases of mourning are, but I’m in the first one. I still expect this to be some kind of mistake” – that Cornell will soon be in touch with a text or phone call “where it’s ‘I’m cool. I’m so sorry. That was a scare. Everything is going to be all right.’ ”
“Soundgarden took the riff rock I love and made it smart,” Morello says, recalling that band’s profound impact on the early sound and direction of Rage Against the Machine. “Cornell’s dark, poetic intellect was not something you found in heavy metal.”
