Today marks the 53rd birthday of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. It’s to the world’s great sadness that he’s not here to celebrate. Cornell inexplicably took his own life, shortly after performing a concert with his band in Detroit back in May, sending shockwaves of grief throughout the music world and beyond.
Those closest to Cornell are still trying to come to grips with his death, including some of the members of the band Pearl Jam, to whom he was especially tight. That group’s guitarist, Stone Gossard, who was also in the short-lived supergroup Temple of the Dog with the iconic singer, penned a touching tribute to Cornell, expressing his continued grief and bewilderment.
I keep waking up in the middle of the night and remember, fresh again, that you are gone. An absence grows in my stomach and slowly turns circles like a far off galaxy on a grainy tv.
The same questions follow and my heart races…searching for reasons and what ifs..I’m so selfishly sad that I’ll never get to see you again, never play with you again, never feel the bask of your approval or be part of your life.
F*ck….
We all miss you so much…it was always a given in my mind we would all spend more time together when we got older, we would play more music and love and be loved like we dreamed…this was your time and you shared it with us…thank you. You were too much…
Your talent was jaw dropping…your songs, lyrics, your voice…how could you have all 3…
And then, the not so obvious…your wicked sense of humor and your playfulness…
all of us are heartsick and we will never get over losing you.
We hope you’re in peace and that your particles are mutating and transforming in harmony with nature. We wish your family our utmost condolences and sympathies.
We love you Chris,
Happy Birthday
Last month, Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder also paid tribute to his departed friend during a solo concert performance telling the crowd, “My friend is going to be gone forever and I will just have to…these things take time and I just want to send this out to everyone who was affected by it, and they all back home and here appreciate it so deeply, the support and the good thoughts of a man who was a …you know he wasn’t just a friend, he was someone I looked up to like my older brother.”
