It is harder to stand out as a vocalist than any other component of rock music, as it takes a hefty dose of natural talent instead of the trained tricks of operating instruments. The late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell was one of those rare musicians who could do it all. He was a unique and captivating vocalist, great guitarist, and incredible songwriter, and covering all the bases is what made him such a revered name.
Enigma is a word that gets thrown around too often in the modern era, thanks to our perplexing love of hyperbole, but Cornell was closer to the definition of the word than most. For instance, he might have been closely associated with hard rock and metal due to his wailing form of delivery and flowing long locks, cutting a comparable image to the leads of the classic period, such as Robert Plant and Roger Daltrey. However, the mind behind Soundgarden’s pioneering grunge sound was concerned with other areas.
Despite being a heavy act with metal and punk leanings, Soundgarden started life as a post-punk band. Cornell was a big lover of the likes of Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, XTC and Ultravox, bands known for their general darkness but melodic intensity, more so than world-famous hard rock groups. Yet, it wasn’t just this area that he loved; he was a lifelong fan of The Beatles, David Bowie, and Little Richard, displaying that he had pop leanings right from the start, which was then confirmed beyond any doubt on 2009’s pop and hip-hop leaning, Scream.
Although Cornell would also tie together his rock fandom with pop stylings in his post-Soundgarden era with the supergroup Audioslave, who made hard rock with poppy vocal melodies, such as the ballad ‘Like a Stone’, he claimed that he always struggled to replicate the first man to fuse rock’s assertive energy with the sugary harmonious flow of pop music: John Lennon.
Cornell revealed all of this when speaking to Rolling Stone in 2009. He recalled that his piano teacher was the first to notify him of his natural singing talent when he was eight. This realisation happened when she played him a cluster of notes and asked him to sing them back. She stopped and looked back at the future star in shock. That was the first time Cornell had ever positively stunned a listener. It would be the first of innumerable occasions.
Despite his absolute force as a vocalist and his ability to have audiences baying for more both live and on record, Cornell admitted to the publication that while he could replicate any notable metal singer due to his natural ability to belt it out when it came to pop singers, things were much more challenging. He really struggled to replicate the earthy tones of Lennon, no matter how hard he tried.
He said: “I can do any heavy-metal singer. Rob Halford? Not a problem. But there are certain timbres and styles that I can’t come near. No matter what, I can’t sound like John Lennon. But I can do Tom Jones.”
While watching Chris Cornell do a Tom Jones impression would have been quite the experience, it seems astounding that someone with such an elemental voice could not have matched Lennon’s blues-based tunes. This is particularly in light of his own soulful songwriting masterstrokes such as ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘Fell On Black Days’, two moments that Lennon and his band opened the gates for with tracks such as ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’.
Listening to Cornell’s cover of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, it’s clear that his modest point about The Beatles leader is untrue.
