When grunge ruled the world: A tribute to Chris Cornell

Somewhere around Seattle in the late 80s, a young restaurant cook named Chris Cornell was fronting his band Soundgarden in the budding local rock scene. From behind his long, curly locks and piercing dark eyes came the glorious wailing of a soul deeply conflicted. \nHe sang with hints of a gospel influence. His lyrics spoke of snakes and ghosts and the desert. And when he went into his lower register, Cornell sounded like an aged soul beyond his young years, like a prophet forewarning the end of days.\nMeanwhile in San Diego, an ambitious surfer named Eddie Vedder was catching waves on the Pacific Coast. A cordial, good-natured singer who fronted bands and had an interest in politics, Vedder would tag-along with musicians passing through town, trying to grab their attention with his carpe diem antics of climbing tall land structures and then leaping away. Yet despite his energy and good nature, Vedder was tied to a dark past that harbored strong feelings of resentment and angst. This would eventually serve as subject material for his music.\nIn 1992, Cornell and Vedder, fronting Soundgarden and Pearl Jam respectively, took the music world by storm with their Seattle-grunge sound as they established themselves as tormented, angst-ridden rockers and gave face to Generation X. Fifteen years later, they're still around making music. Only now, they're no longer the young faces of a troubled generation and their own torment seems to be gone.\nMaking the transition from writing tormented music to finding peace of mind can be a big deal for an artist. In Cornell's case, he developed an identity his core audience respected and supported. Diverting from that image posed the risk of alienating his fans that related to his earlier identity as a conflicted artist. \nAs for Pearl Jam, they became a band constantly at war with their own fame and image in the mainstream media. Vedder felt mainstream radio had a tendency to play slower, prettier Pearl Jam songs that didn't indicate the bulk of their material. So Pearl Jam chose to divert from their marketable image. They recorded material that departed from their earlier, polished sound. They stopped making music videos and began to shy away from the public eye. Serving as one of the many hits the grunge genre would take, grunge soon faded away.\nWith the passing of grunge came a liberation of sorts for Cornell and Pearl Jam. Cornell would immerse himself in a few projects, including his act as a solo artist, and Pearl Jam released albums that they believed helped them keep their integrity as a band, even if it meant they sold less albums. They did their music the way they wanted and worried less about the grunge outfit they used to fit into.\nAfter all, being famous for being sad made it easy to pigeon-hole grunge artists. Even as a rich, famous artist, Cornell's lyrics always seemed to be the words of a man at war with something, whether it be how he thought love was "Like Suicide" or how he wished for a "Black Hole Sun". Vedder, an admirer of punk rock and the underground, was quickly becoming a figure that digressed from his punk roots. Grunge served as a bind where ideals went against fame, and solace just couldn't be found.\nWhich makes the release of Cornell's latest album and Pearl Jam being a formidable draw on the touring circuit today all the more remarkable. Pearl Jam's 'comeback' in 2006 saw them release their most commercial album in years, and they even performed on Saturday Night Live. And since Audioslave's 2005 album Out of Exile, Cornell has been on a path to full-on self-realization of his modern-day self. His most recent album Carry On showed an artist relaxed, unafraid and unapologetic about the person he has become.\nOlder, wiser, but still successful, Cornell and the guys in Pearl Jam have come a long way from the solemn grunge rockers the world came to know in the early '90s. Yes, they are now elder statesmen with children and families but they have found their way out of the rain and are not afraid to enjoy the sun.