# Vocalist Chris Cornell is Dead?! Soundgarden, Audioslave **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2017, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909 "2017-05-18T09:20:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/81 "2017-05-21T14:59:50Z")
You know an STP song came on the radio the other day and I wondered who was would be the next singer from the grunge era to pass away and I thought about Chris Cornell and wondered how much the big news organizations would cover it. At one point in time I had Soundgarden’s discography and I loved Euphoria Morning and a lot of the Audioslave and Temple of the Dog stuff as well. The guy had a truly phenomenal voice, it was distinctive and powerful but he also had the virtuosity to back it up and he could sing any genre really well. I hate that I never will get to see him now. ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/82 "2017-05-21T15:44:10Z")
Would it be appropriate to turn this thread 90 degrees into a celebration of his life and his amazing voice and less on the speculation of the how/why of his death? There are/were so many successful vocalists (especially from the rock/grunge genre/era who do not/did not have half the range that Chris did and that is why - to me - it is so sad to lose him. Many people enjoy the music of guys like Vedder, Staley, Corgan, Weiland, Cantrell, Burnley, Morgan, Grohl, Cobain, etc… all GREAT musicians in their own right but none of them have/had the vocal talent of Cornell and i suspect most would admit it if able. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/83 "2017-05-21T17:10:49Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > How could he have unintentionally hung himself? A good friend of mine hung himself about 9 months ago: while there is no doubt that he suffered from mental illness and was struggling with some demons, one plausible explanation his widow has mentioned is that he assumed she would find him while there was still time, and did not intend to actually kill himself. I have absolutely zero insight into Cornell’s situation (he may well have been completely alone with no chance of being discovered in time), and we’ll never know what was going on in my friend’s head, but I’m just saying it’s _possible_ for someone to intentionally hang themself but unintentionally kill themself. ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@Lee\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_Q)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/84 "2017-05-21T19:09:43Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > How could he have unintentionally hung himself? His wife might be in some stage of denial. It’s possible she wants to ensure that the cause of death is NOT listed as suicide in order to protect any life insurance payout to the children or herself, maybe even on the advice of lawyers or money people. I don’t say this with any cynicism, rather just considering a practical possibility. It’s reported that she asked someone to check on him because when they spoke by phone he was slurring his words and then hung up on her. No doubt she is greatly suffering and you’re probably right about denial, whether or not there may be other reasons for strong push back against a possible suicide finding. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/85 "2017-05-21T19:46:12Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > A good friend of mine hung himself about 9 months ago: while there is no doubt that he suffered from mental illness and was struggling with some demons, one plausible explanation his widow has mentioned is that he assumed she would find him while there was still time, and did not intend to actually kill himself. I have absolutely zero insight into Cornell’s situation (he may well have been completely alone with no chance of being discovered in time), and we’ll never know what was going on in my friend’s head, but I’m just saying it’s _possible_ for someone to intentionally hang themself but unintentionally kill themself. I’m sorry about your friend. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/86 "2017-05-21T19:52:39Z")
**Drs will not say this** , but I have had personal/family experiences with this: Ativan is a benzodiazepine. It is harder to get off these drugs than any others including heroin and cocaine. It down regulates your CNS, so it’s not a question of detoxing from it. You have a brain injury basically, that tells you to feel anxious and dysphoric all the time. You may take years to taper off them and go for years after that basically being disabled. Many people give up. If you have been taking them long enough to “need more” then you can start having anxiety between doses, and symptoms from that. Since you are compromised by your situation, the one for which you needed treatment in the first place, it can seem like an impossible task just to continue. I can understand his wife looking at the makers of these drugs as responsible in some way, even though a short news item probably couldn’t articulate what she has actually experienced with her husband. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/87 "2017-05-22T01:35:28Z")
He could’ve simply been using it to help him get to sleep, but one of the more severe side effects of Ativan is suicidal ideation. And from my understanding, it doesn’t react well with other substances. If he had anything else in his system he could’ve been in really bad shape. Unintended suicide is possible, meaning that he wouldn’t have committed suicide if he hadn’t been on Ativan. This is only speculation. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Gladdest\_Fain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Gladdest\_Fain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Gladdest_Fain)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/88 "2017-05-23T16:46:21Z")
To be honest, I was never a big fan of Soundgarden. I recognized and respected what they did, but it never blew my hair back. However, I loved his solo work and grabbed up anything I heard he’d done–I love his track on Slash’s solo album. And I do like _Scream_. I get why most people don’t, but reading his thinking behind the record, I get it. It sounds like they were trying to copy the “album as a whole,” extended-track thing that a lot of rock bands did in the 70s, except not-rock. I grew up listening to a lot of stuff like that and really enjoyed the concept. His death is truly tragic and he will be missed. I think about his family–a wife lost her husband, his children lost their father, friends lost a brother, etc. This is no different than anyone else in the world, but with a celebrity, you feel like you know them. They’re a part of your own history even if you never actually meet them and when they’re gone, you feel a personal loss. ---
**Author:** ![drmark7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba8739/32.png) [@drmark7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drmark7)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/89 "2017-05-24T06:55:44Z")
> [@pool](#): > > You know an STP song came on the radio the other day and I wondered who was would be the next singer from the grunge era to pass away and I thought about Chris Cornell and wondered how much the big news organizations would cover it. Is it just me, or was there a surprising lack of coverage in the media and TV on Chris Cornell’s passing!? Watching the “Entertainment Tonight” and “Inside Edition”-type shows, in the days after his death was announced, I figured they would be all over a supposed hanging/suicide/drug overdose/celebrity situation. But there was just a brief notice of his passing and on to the latest Dancing with the Stars" and “Celebrity Housewives” news. I found several notations online that he was “not that big a name”. I mean, this guy was in one of the seminal groups of the 90s grunge movement- right up there with Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Maybe not the household name like “Prince”- but Prince had been out of the spotlight for some time and coverage of his death was nightly for a few weeks. Just wondering??? Time will tell, but something seemed off to me about the lack of coverage. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/90 "2017-05-24T16:15:39Z")
One of my favorites, he will be missed. Badmotorfinger is such an awesome album but I liked most all his work. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/91 "2017-05-24T17:30:53Z")
> [@drmark7](#): > > Is it just me, or was there a surprising lack of coverage in the media and TV on Chris Cornell’s passing!? > > Watching the “Entertainment Tonight” and “Inside Edition”-type shows, in the days after his death was announced, I figured they would be all over a supposed hanging/suicide/drug overdose/celebrity situation. > > But there was just a brief notice of his passing and on to the latest Dancing with the Stars" and “Celebrity Housewives” news. > > I found several notations online that he was “not that big a name”. > > I mean, this guy was in one of the seminal groups of the 90s grunge movement- right up there with Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Maybe not the household name like “Prince”- but Prince had been out of the spotlight for some time and coverage of his death was nightly for a few weeks. > > Just wondering??? Time will tell, but something seemed off to me about the lack of coverage. He didn’t seem to have a big mainstream crossover name. My now-80 mom knew who Kurt Cobain was but wouldn’t know Cornell. Other folks know The Voice from Soundgarden but not much more. This affects me more than Cobain and Layne Staley. Cornell seemed like a survivor. I thought his songs processed what he had been going through. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/92 "2017-05-25T23:21:49Z")
[Vicky Cornell wrote a letter to her late husband that was published yesterday at [Billboard.com](http://Billboard.com): > [@](#): > > To My Sweet Christopher, > > You were the best father, husband and son-in-law. Your patience, empathy and love always showed through. > > You had always said I saved you, that you wouldn’t be alive if it were not for me. My heart gleamed to see you happy, living and motivated. Excited for life. Doing everything you could to give back. We had the time of our lives in the last decade and I’m sorry, my sweet love, that I did not see what happened to you that night. I’m sorry you were alone, and I know that was not you, my sweet Christopher. Your children know that too, so you can rest in peace. > > I’m broken, but I will stand up for you and I will take care of our beautiful babies. I will think of you every minute of every day and I will fight for you. You were right when you said we are soulmates. It has been said that paths that have crossed will cross again, and I know that you will come find me, and I will be here waiting. > > I love you more than anyone has ever loved anyone in the history of loving and more than anyone ever will. > > Always and forever, > Your Vicky ]([Chris Cornell's Wife Vicky Writes Letter to Late Husband: 'I Will Fight for You' | Billboard](http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7808532/chris-cornell-wife-vicky-letter)) ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/93 "2017-05-26T19:37:30Z")
New information… Chris’ wife relays the last moments of his life and we learn that he was using again… so very sad. Nearly brought me to tears. [https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/chris-cornell-wifes-chilling-account-singers-last-moments-151049412.html](https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/chris-cornell-wifes-chilling-account-singers-last-moments-151049412.html) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/94 "2017-06-04T10:59:33Z")
Walked past the latest issue of Rolling Stone on a rack. Thom Yorke is on the cover for a tribute article to OK Computer. Not Cornell. Come on. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/95 "2017-06-04T13:26:31Z")
[Toxicology and/or autopsy report is finished. > [@](#): > > The Wayne County, Michigan Medical Examiner cited a mix of Naloxone (Narcan), Butalbital, Pseudoephedrine and the prescription sedative Lorazepam (Ativan) in the report. > > Cornell’s wife, Vicky Cornell, released a statement following the release of the toxicology findings. > > “Many of us who know Chris well, noticed that he wasn’t himself during his final hours and that something was very off. We have learned from this report that several substances were found in his system,” she said. “After so many years of sobriety, this moment of terrible judgement seems to have completely impaired and altered his state of mind. Something clearly went terribly wrong and my children and I are heartbroken and are devastated that this moment can never be taken back.” > > The official autopsy results rule the cause of death as suicide by hanging. ]([http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/02/entertainment/chris-cornell-toxicology/](http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/02/entertainment/chris-cornell-toxicology/)) ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/96 "2017-06-04T18:45:10Z")
While I sympathize with Mrs. Cornell and her tragic loss, she’s a fool if she really thinks her husband was perfectly clean & sober until the day before his suicide. Or even the month before his suicide. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/97 "2017-06-04T19:17:42Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > While I sympathize with Mrs. Cornell and her tragic loss, she’s a fool if she really thinks her husband was perfectly clean & sober until the day before his suicide. Or even the month before his suicide. Many addicts trade addictions. That is the reason why most addiction experts are very wary of giving addicts any mood altering drugs. If his docs prescribed this stuff, I suspect they are probably pretty nervous about now. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/98 "2017-06-04T21:19:35Z")
When I saw the news ticker that announced this, they noted that the substances found in his body played no role in his death. ---
**Author:** ![TIFFMF89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TIFFMF89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TIFFMF89)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/99 "2019-02-28T22:09:41Z")
Great lyricist, great voice. I have no idea how he held that rock husky thing he had going on… To attempt to sing in his style is painful lol. I’ve been listening to nearly forgot my broken heart a lot lately… it’s just U have to have it in your eyes loud, hearing each screech controlled in this beautiful bliss. He will sadly be appreciated more now in his death. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocalist-chris-cornell-is-dead-soundgarden-audioslave/786909/100 "2019-03-01T02:24:03Z")
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