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June 2017 - p.8
This month there's only one piece of music
news I'm prepared to concentrate on; so I'm
paying my respect to the iconic US singer Chris
Cornell who sadly is no longer with us anymore
I write this with very mixed emotions and I
hope you will now join me as I reminisce We
don’t know each other but I'm going to let you
into my past and share with you the respect and
love I have for this great American musician
singer and songwriter
When I left college many years ago I began
working in a factory in Kingswinford that
specialised in constructing security doors The
only reason I worked there was to pay my rent
My music collection would help me get through
every working day and kept me sane I listened
to the Superunknown album by Soundgarden a
lot in those days It was like my best friend and
'The Day I tried To Live' was a morning prayer
Most of the people I worked in the factory with
were into bland allegedly popular chart music
The year was
and at the time I was living
on my own in Dudley One morning I walked
into work dressed as a proud Soundgarden fan
wearing my brand new Superunknown T shirt
As soon as my shift began I put on my
headphones and blasted my ears with my
heroes Fellow workers on the factory floor
were starting to take notice of my T shirt and I
was confused as to why it was becoming a
talking point and why everyone was staring at
me especially as this was one of the least
offensive items from my wardrobe I removed
my ‘phones and suddenly found myself for the
first time ever glued to the factory radio as BBC
news announced that Soundgarden had split
up I looked down at my shirt with real sadness
It never occurred to me until recently but it
was shortly after me discovering that
Soundgarden had split up that I walked away
from that job I was so rude to the owner of the
factory; I told her that she was a cruel slave
driving whore and the biggest bitch I'd ever met
with a mustache There was no point in me ask
ing for a reference I'd decided that I was going
to start my own rock band one day and that's
all I cared about so I moved back to my
hometown and started afresh
Chris Cornell and Soundgarden had always been
a major musical inspiration to me in my late
teens I used to jam versions of 'Outshined'
'Rusty Cage' and 'Jesus Christ Pose' at my
friends house but at the time I hadn't a band in
which to perform them live in public Years
later I started getting more creative in my
mind there were’nt going to be anymore new
Soundgarden songs and there was a
tremendous void I needed to fill So I started
writing my own music down tuned my guitar
and experimented Soundgarden are the main
reason why I always use unusual low guitar
tunings
Of course Soundgarden reformed again years
later; not only that but Chris Cornell continued
to make new forms of exciting and influential
music After the millennium the band
Audioslave was formed a welcome coalition
between Cornell and the remaining members of
Rage Against The Machine after singer Zack de
la Rocha's departure The first single 'Cochise'
was released in
smiles formed
everywhere and we were all witness to an
incredible moment in the history of rock
News Trash
News Flash
NICK
J
TOWNSEND
