Audioslave - The Chris Cornell Story - Documentary 2020

audio slave to me was in a sense an opportunity like temple of the dog was temple the dog taught me i could write songs and exist in an environment creatively with people other than sound garden who i knew was special chris john cornell a high school dropout turned rock star front man for the iconic band sound [Music] garden and singer of supergroup audioslave he's also considered to be one of the founders of the seattle grunge movement [Applause] but despite an incredibly successful musical career his time on earth was still short-lived from soundgarden to audioslave and temple of the dog this is audioslave the chris cornell story chris was such a beautiful guy man he was the sweetest person he was so talented he had so much to offer that it was a real shock to hear that he had gone going off the road waiting for you to buy the record he doesn't like to be touched on july 20 1964 chris cornell was born in seattle washington although he was born as christopher john boyle and would later adopt the surname cornell from his mother karen a self-proclaimed psychic of jewish descent [Music] chris's father was of irish catholic descent so cornell attended a catholic elementary school during his early years cornell was born into a family of five siblings and despite attending a strictly religious school started to show early signs of troublesome behavior coming out of the baby boom era of america cornell's neighborhood was full of other children of all ages chris would spend most of his time hanging out with kids older than him and being exposed to darker temptations as well as music [Music] although his parents seemed to have put him on the right path at an early age with religious teachings and even piano lessons it was a path chris would quickly deviate from a path that would not only become incredibly creative but also extremely self-destructive chris would discover music at a very early age when he was around six or seven he would regularly raid his neighbor's brother's vinyl collection where he would discover bands like alice cooper the beatles and leonard skynyrd chris would spend weeks on end as a child going through different artists from frank zappa to ac dc to black sabbath and the beatles one particular song that could be considered a turning point in cornell's life is hey jude [Music] he once said this song gave him a strange sense of euphoria one he'd never felt before however unfortunately for chris this musical euphoria would soon be replaced by something far more sinister when chris was just 12 years old he started to experiment with mind-altering substances such as lsd and pcp as well as being exposed to drinking and smoking weed this heavily contributed to chris developing depression and even agoraphobia an anxiety disorder which in its simplest form is a fear of open spaces however it can be much more complex than this this new lifestyle was a daily occurrence for chris on and off for the next few years during his early teens chris would be thrown out of school several times and his anxiety disorder forced him to stay mostly indoors so he no longer had any friends on top of this his parents divorced at age 14 and his mum had all but given up on keeping chris on a straight path chris cornell's childhood had been a troubled one to say the least with substance abuse depression and regularly being in trouble for stealing there wasn't much hope for him however by the age of 15 his mum decided to buy him a snare drum something that chris would later define as a life-saving moment he was already spending most of his time listening to music in his room so it made sense to encourage this behavior this was a pivotal turning point in chris cornell's life just two weeks after this cornell had managed to buy an entire drum kit for around 50 and had joined his first band whilst this could be seen as a silver lining to chris's early struggles it certainly wouldn't put an end to them and i had this idea or this ambition that if i were a fantastic drummer and just focused on what i did was very great um some fantastic band that wrote great songs would knock on my door and say come be in my band are you saying you don't like it yeah well i like it bro come on he's lying to you no no no i'm gonna say screw this it's good looking but i don't like it what would you i had this image of some band like you two at the time being this is what i want to do and i was in several bands and it was just one bad band after another chris's dream from this point on was to focus on becoming an incredible drummer in the hope that one day he'd land a big gig with a famous band and travel the world as a rock star it wasn't music that i liked really and i came to the conclusion i think at the same time as kim and hiro that if you want a band where you're playing music that you love you just pretty much have to start it yourself after moving out of his mother's house cornell would spend several years between the ages of 17 and 20 playing in bar bands as a drummer but quickly became tired of playing other people's songs the music just didn't resonate with what would become chris's soulful songwriting although cornell didn't know it this would be the catalyst for the birth of soundgarden with no previous experience on guitar cornell decided to pick up the instrument purely for the purpose of writing songs he wanted to actually play on stage and all the records that i bought i bought in like mom and pop stores that sold only indie music my ambition really at the time was to be part of that that hopefully at some point somebody would let us make a record and that that was really the focus at the time cornell was living with kim thyle and hiro yamamoto who would become the founding members of soundgarden along with chris they were already living together and after chris decided to write his own songs they managed to write around 15 songs in the space of two weeks although chris still wasn't the charismatic front man we've all come to know and love ambition was to become part of the indie rock scene with the main focus of just hoping at some point a record label would let them record an album a small dream but a dream that would drive chris to stardom soundgarden was not a band that was immediately liked by any stretch although chris had laid the foundations of his future as a global rock star there was still a long road ahead record labels weren't exactly running to sign bands in seattle in fact no one had really heard of the seattle scene and it was predominantly made up of other bands in the crowd the seattle music scene at the time was really sort of made up of other bands as your audience the term grunge hadn't even been coined yet at the time soundgarden and other bands in seattle were simply known as alternative music which was essentially anything that wasn't commercial so although cornell had found his calling he was still yet to be discovered [Music] after the birth of heavy metal in the 1960s with black sabbath who led the way for the new wave of british heavy metal in the 1970s for bands such as judas priest and iron maiden the 1980s would see yet another iteration of metal music that was influenced by its predecessors the late 70s and early 80s saw the birth of bands such as metallica guns and roses motley crew kiss and bon jovi whilst metallica carried on the legacy of metal legends from the 70s other bands played a more glamorous style of rock and metal music a style that chris cornell was not a fan of it became heavily commercialized and somewhat polished into a pretty boy image an image that dominated the 80s lipstick leather and latex became the norm although the guitars were distorted and aggressive lyrically most of these bands were singing about good times partying all day and night and living the rockstar lifestyle it was poppy and positive on the face of things very commercially wave bands and then there was the the hair metal bands like bon jovi and poison was coming out things like that that we weren't fans of however during the 1980s there was a completely different outlook on life taking hold in its residence in the small community of seattle washington a much darker angrier and destructive force a free-for-all musical movement had taken over local music venues that combined elements of punk rock hardcore punk and metal music for many it was a form of escapism from troubled childhoods dissolutions of youth and a coping mechanism for depression this was the era of grunge and this is where chris cornell and his band soundgarden would get their big break when i first started singing in a band i realized at some point that i had a pretty tremendous range because i would reach for that scream to completely break my voice up and one day i'd be screaming the next day there'd be a note there and so i'd go higher to get the scream and then the next day there'd be a note there and it just seemed like i just just kept going suffering from an anxiety disorder substance abuse and depression would have been enough to suppress even the slightest hint of creativity in most people chris however would find solace in his own mind [Music] turning to music at every opportunity he could spending weeks on end hunting down obscure records i would compare to myself as a as a young teenager my my hobby became and my passion became finding somewhat obscure records as an early teen i was not a fan of the rolling stones i was not a fan of led zeppelin i was not a fan of a lot of bands that i that i love now growing up in seattle was difficult for chris his father was physically and mentally abusive showing him no sign of affection or encouragement in pursuing his interests chris's brother peter cornell once said about their father my father was a tyrannical alcoholic and a physically abusive man he used to beat me and my brothers during his early teens chris was more interested in bands such as pink floyd and was fascinated by sid barrett's lyrics although his childhood was traumatic to say the least his outlook on life combined with the urban decay and despair that gripped seattle at the time would be his biggest muse when it came to starting his own musical journey even though it would often be a very dark one a young person's relationship to music is completely different it's a badge it's it's the outfit you wear it's the group that you have decided to either reject or to join or you know reject everything it's it's how you separate yourself from everyone else i've never been to prague before but it's nice to be back to mtv you have that decision to make i think at that time when you believe in the music that you're writing and that you're playing and you may not necessarily be liked by everyone but we had the perseverance and the attitude that we believed in what we were doing and so we just kept doing it anyway yeah well there's no guarantee that if you spend a quarter of a million dollars on a record it's going to sound better than if you spent 500 bucks after being in several bands that chris described as awful for so many years he decided to form a band with kim thyle and hiro yamamoto the trio recorded 15 songs on a four-track cassette recorded in the rehearsal space they'd created in the house they shared this cassette tape would become known as the first 15. this same cassette tape would also help them to land their first record deal chris kim and hiro would make their live debut performance on december the 21st 1984 cornell would be playing drums whilst also singing but would move on to vocals the following year soundgarden would be one of the first bands that started to get attention of record labels in the seattle scene we just stuck around there and made as big a noise as we could and uh happened as fast as we could have ever wanted it to soundgarden would go on to play a show with faith no more and chris would give a copy of the early four-track demo tape of soundgarden songs to faith no more drummer mike borden screaming trees alice in chains mud honey you think that we're gonna start to get a real big scene coming from seattle i hope so great the tape then found its way into the hands of a woman called faith henshaw who ran a local college radio station faith would compile her own tape of seattle-based bands and send it out to major record labels and then a woman named faith henschel ran the local college station she sent a tape of seattle bands out to some major labels and the tape was titled bands that will make money and it was kind of a joke i think in her mind but she really believed in what was happening in seattle at the time and that it could be the future of rock music all of a sudden record labels were calling chris and asking about his band it just started to happen the phone started ringing and i was answering it we had no management i was actually pretty surprised at the interest chris however also wanted to stay true to his dream of becoming a successful independent rock band and decided to reject offers from major labels which most people would have signed in an instant and we backed off on the idea of being on a major label because we didn't think that they would reach our audience we were we were right to think so but true to chris's nature he wasn't going to be told what to do and he wanted to do things his way not only would this be the birth of soundgarden's career but it would also be the birth of the seattle grunge movement as well as chris cornell's path to stardom we were not capable of changing who we were for anyone when you first make a record it's pretty impossible to tell um if it's good or not or even what it is or have any idea about it at all in 1987 soundgarden would catch their first break by signing to subpop records the seattle grunge era's most iconic record label the first soundgarden single to be released was hunted down with a b-side called nothing to say [Music] this same b-side appeared on the kcmu compilation tape that was named bands that will make money subpop would also sign artists such as nirvana mud honey and sonic youth this same record deal even though a small independent signing would lead to the release of soundgarden's first eps the screaming life ep in 1987 and the fop ep in 1988 both of which started to draw the attention of bigger labels although major labels were desperate to sign the band cornell had different ideas you know like things i'd rather do like like writing music and playing music and hiding from the rest of the world in 1988 soundgarden would sign to sst records to release their first full debut album ultra mega ok an independent record label formed 10 years earlier in 1978 in long beach california although chris's dream was starting to draw closer the next few years would be a testing time for the band ultra mega ok would be released on the 31st of october 1988 highlighting elements of punk psychedelia metal and even featuring a cover of blues legend howling wolf with the song smokestack lightning [Music] soundgarden's only single from their debut album flower would start to receive airplay on mtv released in may of 1989 subsequently followed by the band's first big american and european tour that is when we all start getting facial reconstructive surgery well you know i don't feel i've changed at all the album would land soundgarden a spot on america's billboard tastemaker charts and a number 10 spot on the uk vinyl charts however their first major tour in 89 would see the band leaving behind their independent roots dividing fans and regretting their independent label signing it's a battle to not do that not let that happen isn't that sort of fun in a way as well i guess not when soundgarden released their second album louder than love on september the 5th 1989 it would see the band signed to a major label and this decision resulted in backlash from fans soundgarden's fans were predominantly seattle grunge era punks and people that supported independent labels over commercial ones despite chris wanting to be an independent artist soundgarden regretted signing to independent label sst as they felt they didn't have a connection with the producer they were working with who was recommended by the label i still feel the same way i think that there's one sort of magical thing about songwriting loud love i i had the band that i that i have out with me now learned that song about a year ago to play it that meant that i actually had to listen to it too and remember the arrangement because it's very arranged and then when we were on stage and and i was singing it i i remembered where i wrote it this little attic room i remember why i made all the decisions of how the arrangement should go i remember what parts were difficult when when we were rehearsing it as a band and recording it it was like a time machine it triggered virtually everything as though i had written it the day before soundgarden decided to sign to a m a major label that had released records for the likes of brian adams janet jackson the police and the human league not exactly a welcoming roster for the likes of four grunge kids from seattle nonetheless louder than love would be an important album for soundgarden metallica guitarist curt hammett said in a rolling stone interview that he was inspired to write the riff for enter sandman after listening to this record [Music] guns and roses would even cover a song from this album that appeared on their 1993 lp the spaghetti incident despite the potential and moderate success the band had enjoyed so far founding member hiro yamamoto would leave soundgarden to be replaced by former nirvana guitarist jason everman in late 89 due to internal band conflicts not only was this a pivotal turning point in chris cornell's career but it would also lay the foundations of soundgarden's commercial future a future that included a tour with the biggest rock band on the planet guns and roses [Music] the word grunge was first coined in the late 80s when bands such as soundgarden nirvana and pearl jam were coming to prominence although grunge was seen by many as a movement a style or genre the inhabitants of seattle's grunge scene saw it differently although chris cornell is often seen as one of the founding fathers of the grunge movement cornell didn't directly acknowledge the existence of grunge as a scene style or genre nor did his best friend and band member kim mathile as they would later recall in an interview in 2014 i have no idea what grunge music is i didn't title it grunge music i don't believe that that any of the bands that are sort of included in the what's considered a genre called grunge sound much alike it wasn't a movement it isn't a genre it's it's i think we're proud to be from from seattle and we're proud to have these other bands as our friends our peers and influences we certainly had influences on these bands and they influenced us we do see them as collectively part of the community that we share with them i don't know if that's called grunge it isn't something any of us it's not self-referential it's somebody else gave us that label because of the particular geography that we shared and it's stuck it's you know whatever it's a way to sell magazines and a way to file records i suppose in a retail store although chris cornell didn't really see the grunge movement as a physical or conceptual entity it wouldn't stop his band soundgarden from becoming known as one of the most prominent grunge bands of an entire generation and uh they influenced a lot of bands but i think with annie dying and then that band dying there's nothing left although the early 90s would be a huge era for cornell it would start with the tragic loss of his friend and former roommate andrew wood lead singer for mother live bone another emerging band from the seattle scene he was found unresponsive after a heroin overdose although a tragic event for cornell it would result in one of his most beautiful creations say hello to heaven [Music] cornell and other seattle musicians such as mike mccready and eddie vedder decided to pay tribute to andrew wood by forming temple of the dog [Music] initially the plan was to simply write a tribute song but the project turned into an entire album an album that landed cornell a top five single chart and top five album chart position in the us cornell had shown that it wasn't simply soundgarden that could achieve success it was his own personal talent as a musician and songwriter that paved his path to fame chris cornell was about to experience a whole new level of fame one that he probably never imagined possible he'd gone from an almost reclusive young boy hiding behind a drum kit and listening to records in his bedroom to a prominent front man a musical figure that represented an entire movement [Music] 1991 would be a huge year for cornell and his band soundgarden not only would chris see bad motor finger soundgarden's third album achieve top 40 positions in the uk and us album charts but the first single from the album jesus christ pose would be banned from mtv as it caught the attention of christian groups across america for being anti-christian whilst the video itself depicted crucifixion along with what some would consider to be disturbing imagery for the era especially for christians the song itself represented chris's belief that celebrities and even famous musicians were hypocritically using religion for their own personal benefit and gain we don't think of ourselves in categories too much so whatever they can give us an award for any armed best r b you know best rap that's the best female vocal yeah despite chris cornell's message falling on deaf ears bad motor finger would be nominated for a grammy award in 1992 and would also have its third single rusty cage featured on the 1991 smash hit playstation 1 game road rash following the huge success of bad motor finger chris cornell's band would be personally selected by guns and roses to support them on their upcoming use your illusion tour in north america during october and november of 91. this would be followed by a trip to europe to support gnr again playing to 40 000 people every single day which chris described as a bizarre thing sound garden we got turned on to at some point i don't remember when but we just thought they were great so when it came to support bands we like to play with people that we like as a musician chris cornell had reached a level of success that most people could only dream for and this was just the beginning [Music] we chart on radio you know better than we ever have before but i don't really listen to the radio so it's hard to tell if they're really playing it you know they seem to play our video more but i don't watch mtv so i can't i don't know nothing's i'm the boy in the plastic bubble and nothing's changed that i can tell super unknown would be sound soundgarden's commercial breakthrough album released on march the 8th 1994 and would feature some of soundgarden's biggest tracks spoon man fallon black days the day i tried to live and the iconic grunge classic black hole son [Music] super unknown would land chris cornell and his band two grammy awards we're not gonna leave the stage tonight until you tell us we're heavy metal [Applause] debuting at number one on the us billboard 200 and topping charts around the world soundgarden had become a global phenomenon chris cornell had gone from playing in bars with bands he hated to headlining stadiums with his own crowd singing his own lyrics back to him chris's mental health though was on the decline in the late 80s cornell had started to date susan silva the manager of alice in chains soundgarden and screaming trees silver and cornell would be married in 1990 but cornell would continue to turn to alcohol and substance abuse in order to self-medicate his ongoing struggle with depression chris cornell had everything he'd ever dreamed of a band he loved the freedom to write music and lyrics he was truly passionate about and his dream of traveling the world in a huge band was in his grasp but mentally he was finding it all too difficult to cope with cornell had started to struggle with the repetition of touring so although soundgarden as a band were blowing up cornell was simply burning out [Music] super unknown lyrically would be seen as some of cornell's darkest lyrics he often wrote lyrics metaphorically and over the years there have been many theories as to what aspects of chris's life the lyrics referred to throughout this album whilst most people assume black hole sun is a metaphor for being engulfed in darkness cornell himself said there's no real meaning behind it however when you look at lyrics from fallon black days this seems to tell a very different story whatsoever i feared has come to light and whatsoever i fought off became my life just when every day seemed to greet me with a smile sunspots have faded now i'm doing time now i'm doing time had cornell already given up on finding his own true personal happiness had he finally let his demons win following the huge success of super unknown cornell's marriage with susan silva was falling apart and cornell had started to open up more about his depression and mental health in an interview with metalhammer in 1996 cornell said i know what it feels like to be hopeless no one really knows what run-of-the-mill depression is you'll think somebody has run-of-the-mill depression and the next thing you know this was a truly dark glimpse into the mind of cornell and his struggle with life after soundgarden's fifth studio album down on the upside the band would call it quits saying internal conflicts and tedious touring schedules had taken the fun away from being a band in 1997 soundgarden were finished [Music] i tend to be alone more than anyone i've ever met so but i don't know i wouldn't call myself a loner after soundgarden ended in 1997 the following years would see chris cornell's life move in a drastically different direction although he would start working on his first solo record his relationship with his wife susan silva would come to an end chris would release his first debut solo record euphoria morning in 1999 and the following year he would have his first child lillian gene cornell despite chris's struggles throughout the late 90s and his first marriage falling apart the new decade would usher in a brand new era for cornell in 2001 chris would become part of a super group that super group would be called audioslave with former rage against the machine members tim commenford brad wilk and tom morello audioslave would become an immensely powerful band three incredible records between the years of 2002 to 2006 chris would once again see himself back in the spotlight as a globally recognized rock superstar although the first audio slave record was an incredibly difficult time for chris there was light at the end of the tunnel and the whole first audio slave record was really out of a really bad place but because i came out of that bad place there's sort of a triumphant approach to being able to sing it now also there's some sort of a positive attitude that comes out of the fact that look at how lucky i am that i get to express those things in music and then go out there and play it for other people he would meet his second wife to be vicky and through rehabilitation would finally find sobriety in 2003. chris and vicky would have two children together tony and christopher nicholas from 2003 onwards chris would spend the next 14 years enjoying sobriety and helping other addicts recover from their addictions in 2007 cornell was honoured with the stevie ray vaughan award in recognition of his contributions to helping recovering addicts and the award would be presented by alice cooper to be it's being honored i suppose is the way to put it i have a feeling it's going to get kind of emotional so i'm sort of not paying i'm trying not to really think about it too much in 2012 chris and vicky started the chris and vicki cornell foundation a charity organization dedicated to helping the homeless the poor and neglected children cornell had finally found his true happiness and calling in life his sobriety helped him to become a better person a dedicated father and loving husband cornell also spent more time focusing on music chris cornell had achieved rock god status his lifelong dream had been fulfilled his legacy and contributions to music will forever be remembered for a more detailed look into chris cornell's life you can now download a free copy of the new chris cornell biography in audio format with a free trial of amazon audible check the link in the description below subscribe for more documentaries just like this or watch another one right now [Music] you

Channel: RAWMUSICTV

Views: 520,727

Rating: 4.8685966 out of 5

Keywords: rawmusictv, chris cornell, soundgarden, audioslave, documentary, film

Id: WBIu15ZIG5Y

Length: 34min 42sec (2082 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 11 2020