man behind the music

by c.e. skidmore, post star, ny, november 10 2007

Post-Star: I have to ask ... after having listened to your latest solo record, "Carry On," why record (Michael Jackson's) "Billie Jean?"

Chris Cornell: A niche performance of it is what got me interested. It was just kind of funny to me how you could take a song like that and turn it into something that could be completely unexpected. I learned it as kind of a joke to (mess) with my bandmates when I was in Audioslave. I would do an acoustic set in the middle of the show, and when I changed it musically to be something I could do during the show, lyrically the song had a weight to it. The first time I played it live, the audience started to clap because it was familiar, but they didn't know exactly why it was familiar. I changed it so much that they thought it was one of my songs. There was sort of a strange confusion as they would slowly realize what song it was, and then there would be a second round of applause. Then there would be a third round of applause when they realized that it was me doing it, and it was really a strange reaction. I thought it was interesting, so I recorded it figuring it would be a b-side.

PS: Are you an MJ fan?

CC: No. Not really. I was never a fan of his really, but "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5 is a really good song. ("Billie Jean") and "Beat It," especially the video, came out at a time when I could have been a fan. It was before we really knew anything about him -- because if you were a white kid in Seattle you knew nothing about Michael Jackson. I don't think that too many white people were exposed to "Off the Wall." It wasn't really played on the radio, and we didn't know anything about him. All of a sudden there was MTV, and there he was. There was that moment between those two videos where he was kind of cool ... especially with "Billie Jean," because he was kind of mysterious. He had a hat on, pulled over his eyes and he was walking backwards, but it looked like he was walking forward ... you don't really know what's going on with this guy. He looked different. "Beat It" was kind of the same way. The video was directed by Martin Scorsese with actual gang members in it, and (MJ) seems really pissed off and kind of cool. When it got to "Thriller," that was it. It was over when he spoke.

PS: Tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind "She'll Never Be Your Man," from the new record. (NOTE: the song is a narrative about a man who loses his lover to another woman).

CC: I can't really remember now, actually, the initial time I thought of it or when it crossed my mind. The idea of the song was, there were a few different people in my life that that has happened to. It just came as sort of a simple thought. Songs for me are usually born of a much broader thought that should become something. But at 3-1/2 minutes, 4-1/2 minutes at most, you don't get to put much of that in it. So my thought was here's a perspective that really doesn't get written about much. In rock songs and popular music and folk music, there's a lot of songs about relationships and lost relationships -- and that's one angle on the subject that hasn't been written about much. There's a perspective that's really unique in the structure of male/female relationships. Men and young men are used to being born and bred on competing with each other. From the time we're little boys, that's what we're taught to do ... we're sort of thrown right into it. Some boys take to it better than others. Just the fish-out-of-water (desperation) of a man realizing he's competing with another woman for the love and affection of a woman, and realizes he can't compete in that world on that level, is something that I've seen happen. I have friends who that's happened to, and it's something that happens all the time but nobody ever really talks about it much in song. So, I just thought it would be interesting to write.

PS: I read that you had kind of a tumultuous year between some vocal chord strain and a motorcycle accident. How are you doing?

CC: I didn't really have any strained vocal chords, but I was sick for a while. But that happens. If anyone else get's sick, they get sick. If I get sick, it sometimes gets in the way of what I do. The motorcycle accident, I remarkably came out of unscathed. I have a finger that's sort of bent kind of funny. I didn't think it was broken at the time, but I guess it was because it kind of bends to the right now. That's it really. I had a big bruise because I hit this truck sort of right in the hip. I just went flying and landed on the pavement and didn't get hurt, really. I went to the studio that day and just kept working.

PS: No big, existentialist, "I saw the light" moment?

CC: Not at all. I've had much closer to death experiences. Maybe it's because the future is already apparent to me, I don't know. But I didn't see my life flashing before my eyes. Honestly, I just thought, 'This is going to do irreparable harm to my motorcycle.' I realize, as far as me, I didn't really think about it. The only thing I thought, because I've seen really bad motorcycle wrecks happen in front of me before, is, if something like that happens, don't get up and start running around. I'd gone through it in my mind many times because I've ridden motorcycles since I was a kid. What happens is you go into shock and your immediate response is to stand up and see if you can move. I've seen it happen in front of me, and it's a bad idea. So I just sat there for awhile and I didn't move. I just sort of thought, 'Do I feel any pain or anything strange anywhere? Does anything look funny? Are there bones sticking out of my jeans?' After a few minutes I was fine, and I just got up. I haven't been smoking for a long time, but I lit up a cigarette.

PS: Is it better to be in a band or to be the band, now that you're doing the solo thing?

CC: Well, it's just a different way, I suppose, of being in a band. In a sense, they're titles. I think every group has its own infrastructure. I also think it's a noble thing to attempt to have a democratic sort of band. Soundgarden's way of working was the best it could possibly work. It was democratic with the exception of, if someone was really passionate about something, they would win. Even if it was three against one. If the one was over the top convinced that their way was the way to go, the other three would always cave in. It didn't matter which one it was or what it was about. The rest of the time it would just be a democratic scenario, and that seemed to work well. The problem is that when it comes to musical expression, sometimes the process of communicating and voting on it and discussing it creates a situation where it's already too late. So, for me, it's the balance and decision that you have to make between being in a situation where music is being created that I couldn't make on my own -- thanks to the different personalities that are there -- but giving up the things I could write spontaneously, not just in terms of song writing and recording but everything. For a good part of my career, it's been within a democratically structured band. At this point, I figured it was time for me to spend some more time doing it the other way. That's just me. I'm still in a band when I'm on stage every night. I'm not up there alone. I actually had a journalist ask me how I could call my record a solo record when other people played on it. I don't know if he should go back and look at old Bob Dylan records or what. Start with that and then move on.

But the fact of the matter is, I'm in a band on stage every night, it's just a different infrastructure. There's a clear leadership, even though everyone's voice still gets heard. That's also often something that shows up with the band name. For example, Nine Inch Nails or Queens of the Stone Age ... people sort of recite them as bands and go see them with the knowledge of seeing a band when really, these are more or less solo artists that have a name of a band that is theirs. When I was on tour with Marilyn Manson, Marilyn Manson was a band name. Then over time he became a solo artist or was re-invented as a solo artist. The exact same thing happened to Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper was a band name that he adopted. Rock music, especially hard rock, seems to be easier to market with a band name. I think young dudes especially that like rock, like rock that has a name. There are exceptions always but they're usually pretty bad ones -- like Billy Squire.

One of my jobs now is to be a good example. It's always possible. Audioslave, I thought, was a good example of a super group and I was able to rise to that challenge so I think I can be a good example of a solo artist in rock music.

PS: Were you aware that you hold the heavy-metal honor of being able to hit a high G above C without dipping into falsetto on "Jesus Christ Pose?"

CC: No. Really? I might have cheated on that. It depends on what part of the song. If we're talking about the end, that's not real. I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but look how honest I am! What we did was, I wanted it to go from like the highest possible note to the lowest possible sort of satanic note. So I just started singing it with the various beat on the tape machine turned down as far as it would go and then slowly sped it up as I sang the note. I sang it down and made extremes out of the note and made it go from really, really high to really, really low. But I can sing a G above high C anyway. There was a time that I could sing higher than that. But "Jesus Christ Pose" is a pretty easy song to sing just because it starts up in that high register. I think songs that are difficult to sing are songs that are moving through different registers where you start in a lower register and go up and down to high, going from something that's really blasting to something that's not. Like something that's really quiet in a low register where you have to conserve your breath, it's really difficult to sing those things.

Reprinted from the PostStar, Glen Falls, New York. Originally available as a feature online here.

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2007