Go! Cornell re ects on Soundgarden...
1
BY CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS — Four years or so after Soundgarden split up, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell had what he now calls “an epiphany.” “One of our songs — I think it was ‘Pretty Noose’ — came on the radio while I was driving around, and frankly it just crushed the newer songs before it and after it and had more of a timelessness to it,” one of rock’s mightiest squealers remembered. “I realized Soundgarden had become a ‘classic’ kind of band, the kind that wasn’t going to go away.” So why, then, did it take so long for Soundgarden to finally return? Cornell explained that and a lot more in an interview during rehearsals two weeks ago, a week before the quartet hit the road on a tour that lands Saturday at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. The more metallic counterpart to Nirvana and Pearl Jam in the Seattle grunge scene that exploded in 1991 — with Cornell’s window-shattering voice and Kim Thayil’s thundering guitar work setting it apart — Sound- garden pretty well retired at its commercial peak in 1997, following the release of the “Superunknown” and “Down on the Upside” albums. Those records scored heavy radio play that persists today with the singles “Spoonman,” “Black Hole Sun” and (its last and arguably best hit) “Blow Up the Outside World.” The radio hits led to the Lollapalooza mega-tour of 1996 with Metallica and arena headlining dates. With success, predictably, came internal problems. Cornell said the main reason Soundgarden split was that it had simply gotten too big — not in terms of records and concert tickets sold, but the number of people involved. “We broke down communica- tively, because we had all these other people peripherally involved in the band. Decisions were made that we didn’t all agree on, or even know about. That created tension.” On the other hand, Cornell justi- fiably bragged, “I actually think we went out on a creative high. There was a certain amount of relief when we did stop playing together that we didn’t mess things up creatively. We never sucked.” Most Soundgarden fans would not say the same about Cornell’s erratic solo career, which reached its odd peak in 2009 with the poppy Timba- land-produced album “Scream.” Fans were more receptive to his stint in the supergroup Audioslave (2002-2007) with the three instru- mentalists from Rage Against the Machine, but it paled in comparison to their old bands. As for the other dudes in Sound- garden, drummer Matt Cameron joined Pearl Jam in 1998 and hasn’t looked back (he’ll juggle both bands this year) while Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherd were surpris- ingly inactive. Cornell said they all remained friends but rarely talked business. Strangely, it was business matters that finally brought them back together in 2010. “Usually, there’ll be a record label to handle promotion of the back catalog and B-sides, and someone overlooking stuff like T-shirts and a fan club,” he said. “We didn’t have anyone doing that for us. We didn’t even have a functioning website.” All of which was a good thing, he said: “That led to the four of us finally getting together and sitting down in the same room, and it really was as simple as that. Until we were all together, we couldn’t really feel each other out on the idea (of reuniting).” They proceeded to feel things out in 2010, issuing “Telephantasm: A Retrospective” and playing a short tour around Lollapalooza. That led to last year’s concert album “Live on I-5,” which fulfilled their old contract with A&M Records and set up what Cornell called “the perfect scenario” to make a new record and become more of a full-time band. Some observers wondered if Cornell was hesitant to reform Soundgarden for fear of having to hit all those high notes he wailed back in his 20s. “Clearly, I’m not going to be able to sing this way forever,” he said. “I think people get too hung up on singers and their range, sort of like they’d expect Michael Jordan to get out on a basketball court and play like he once did. It’s physically impossible.” That rare bit of humility didn’t last long, though: “I’ll probably never retire. I’ll just adapt and do what I have to do to keep the music interesting.” Cornell reflects on Soundgarden reunion Chris Cornell in 2008. AP file photos Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs during the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago in 2010. BY GERRICK D. KENNEDY Los Angeles Times This year’s Academy Awards just got another touch of gold, and not from the Oscar statuettes. Dame Shirley Bassey, the voice behind the iconic theme songs for the James Bond films “Goldfinger,” “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Moonraker,” will make her first appearance at the awards this month, the show’s producers announced on Friday. Bassey is slated to perform and will undoubtedly add some fire to the Academy’s planned tribute to 007. The franchise is celebrating 50 years on the big screen and Bassey’s scorching themes are among some of the most well known. “We are thrilled to welcome the legendary Dame Shirley Bassey to our Oscar show,” producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said in a statement. “Her association with film music is world-re- nowned and we are proud that she will be making her first Oscar appearance on our telecast.” While Bassey, whose career has spanned more than six decades, never scored an Oscar for her Bond themes, “Skyfall,” the Adele-sung theme song for last year’s Bond film is the front-runner for original song. Bassey joins a list of performers that include Adele, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand. The Oscars will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane and will air Feb. 24 on ABC. Shirley Bassey to sing at Oscars wenatcheeworld.com/weblogs Winemaker’s Journal B Y R ICK S TEIGMEYER BL GS C3 The Wenatchee World Go! Thursday, February 14, 2013 1-800-648-2946 www.colvillecasinos.com MILL BAY CASINO 455 Wapato Lake Road Manson, WA 36 Big $100.00 Progressive Drawings! *Stock photo. Acutal vehicle may differ slightly from the one pictured. Thomas Merrill D.D.S., M.S. | Robert Merrill D.D.S., M.S. 886-GRIN (4746) www.merrillorthodontics.com The American Association of Orthodontists recommends that children first visit an orthodontist around the age of seven; however, orthodontic treatment is not exclusive to children and teens, with about one in every five orthodontic patients being over the age of 21. Whether you’re considering treatment for yourself or for a child, any time is a good time to visit the orthodontist. Celebrate your Child’s Smile & Keep it Healthy by establishing a caring, gentle dental home by age one. 509.662.3621 Healthy Teeth from Cradle through College Go to smilebugg.com to see our fun Contests! smilebugg.com Home of the Tooth Fairy! Coloring Contest Entry Form Name:______________________________Age: _______ Address: _______________________________________ City: __________________________________________ Phone Number: __________________________________ wenatcheeworld.com P.O. Box 1511, Wenatchee, WA 98807 Clip & Mail-In Entry Clip & Mail-In Entry National Children’s Dental Health Month February is National and February 28th is National Children’s Dental Health Month Tooth Fairy Day Must be 10 years or younger. Entry deadline is Monday, February 25, 2013. Winners Announced Thursday, February 28, 2013. 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Transcript of Go! Cornell re ects on Soundgarden...
BY CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — Four years or so after Soundgarden split up, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell had what he now calls “an epiphany.”
“One of our songs — I think it was ‘Pretty Noose’ — came on the radio while I was driving around, and frankly it just crushed the newer songs before it and after it and had more of a timelessness to it,” one of rock’s mightiest squealers remembered.
“I realized Soundgarden had become a ‘classic’ kind of band, the kind that wasn’t going to go away.”
So why, then, did it take so long for Soundgarden to fi nally return? Cornell explained that and
a lot more in an interview during rehearsals two weeks ago, a week before the quartet hit the road on a tour that lands Saturday at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis.
The more metallic counterpart to Nirvana and Pearl Jam in the Seattle grunge scene that exploded in 1991 — with Cornell’s window-shattering voice and Kim Thayil’s thundering guitar work setting it apart — Sound-garden pretty well retired at its commercial peak in 1997, following the release of the “Superunknown” and “Down on the Upside” albums. Those records scored heavy radio play that persists today with the singles “Spoonman,” “Black Hole Sun” and (its last and arguably best hit) “Blow Up the Outside World.” The radio hits led to the Lollapalooza mega-tour of 1996 with Metallica and
arena headlining dates.With success, predictably, came
internal problems. Cornell said the main reason Soundgarden split was that it had simply gotten too big — not in terms of records and concert tickets sold, but the number of people involved.
“We broke down communica-tively, because we had all these other people peripherally involved in the band. Decisions were made that we didn’t all agree on, or even know about. That created tension.”
On the other hand, Cornell justi-fi ably bragged, “I actually think we went out on a creative high. There was a certain amount of relief when we did stop playing together that we didn’t mess things up creatively. We never sucked.”
Most Soundgarden fans would not
say the same about Cornell’s erratic solo career, which reached its odd peak in 2009 with the poppy Timba-land-produced album “Scream.” Fans were more receptive to his stint in the supergroup Audioslave (2002-2007) with the three instru-mentalists from Rage Against the Machine, but it paled in comparison to their old bands.
As for the other dudes in Sound-garden, drummer Matt Cameron joined Pearl Jam in 1998 and hasn’t looked back (he’ll juggle both bands this year) while Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherd were surpris-ingly inactive. Cornell said they all remained friends but rarely talked business.
Strangely, it was business matters that fi nally brought them back together in 2010.
“Usually, there’ll be a record label to handle promotion of the back catalog and B-sides, and someone overlooking stuff like T-shirts and a fan club,” he said. “We didn’t have anyone doing that for us. We didn’t even have a functioning website.”
All of which was a good thing, he said: “That led to the four of us fi nally getting together and sitting down in the same room, and it really was as simple as that. Until we were all together, we couldn’t really feel each other out on the idea (of reuniting).”
They proceeded to feel things out in 2010, issuing “Telephantasm: A Retrospective” and playing a short tour around Lollapalooza. That led to last year’s concert album “Live on I-5,” which fulfi lled their old contract with A&M Records and set up what Cornell called “the perfect scenario” to make a new record and become more of a full-time band.
Some observers wondered if Cornell was hesitant to reform Soundgarden for fear of having to hit all those high notes he wailed back in his 20s.
“Clearly, I’m not going to be able to sing this way forever,” he said. “I think people get too hung up on singers and their range, sort of like they’d expect Michael Jordan to get out on a basketball court and play like he once did. It’s physically impossible.”
That rare bit of humility didn’t last long, though: “I’ll probably never retire. I’ll just adapt and do what I have to do to keep the music interesting.”
Cornell refl ects on Soundgarden reunion
Chris Cornell in 2008.
AP fi le photos
Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs during the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago in 2010.
BY GERRICK D. KENNEDY
Los Angeles Times
This year’s Academy Awards just got another touch of gold, and not from the Oscar statuettes.
Dame Shirley Bassey, the voice behind the iconic theme songs for the James Bond fi lms “Goldfi nger,” “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Moonraker,” will make her fi rst appearance at the awards this month, the show’s producers announced on Friday.
Bassey is slated to perform and will undoubtedly add some fi re to the Academy’s planned tribute to 007. The franchise is celebrating 50 years on the big screen and Bassey’s scorching themes are among some of the most well known.
“We are thrilled to welcome the legendary Dame Shirley Bassey to our Oscar show,” producers Craig Zadan
and Neil Meron said in a statement. “Her association with fi lm music is world-re-nowned and we are proud that she will be making her fi rst Oscar appearance on our telecast.”
While Bassey, whose career has spanned more than six decades, never scored an Oscar for her Bond themes, “Skyfall,” the Adele-sung theme song for last year’s Bond fi lm is the front-runner for original song.
Bassey joins a list of performers that include Adele, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand.
The Oscars will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane and will air Feb. 24 on ABC.
Shirley Bassey to sing at Oscars
wenatcheeworld.com/weblogs
Winemaker’s JournalBY RI C K ST E I G M E Y E R
BL GS
C3The Wenatchee WorldGo! Thursday, February 14, 2013
1-800-648-2946 www.colvillecasinos.com
MILL BAY CASINO 455 Wapato Lake Road Manson, WA
36 Big$100.00
Progressive
Drawings!
*Stock photo. Acutal vehicle may differ slightly from the one pictured.
Thomas Merrill D.D.S., M.S. | Robert Merrill D.D.S., M.S.
886-GRIN (4746)www.merrillorthodontics.com
The American Association of Orthodontists recommends that children first visit an orthodontist around the age of seven;
however, orthodontic treatment is not exclusive to children and teens, with about one in every five orthodontic patients being over the age of 21.
Whether you’re considering treatment for yourself or for a child, any time is a good time
to visit the orthodontist.
Celebrate your Child’s Smile & Keep it Healthy by establishing a caring,
gentle dental home by age one.
509.662.3621
Healthy Teeth from Cradle through College
Go to smilebugg.com to see our fun Contests!
smilebugg.com
Home of the Tooth Fairy!
Coloring ContestEntry Form
Name:______________________________Age: _______
Address: _______________________________________
City: __________________________________________
Phone Number: __________________________________wenatcheeworld.com
P.O. Box 1511, Wenatchee, WA 98807
Clip &
Mai
l-In E
ntry
Clip & Mail-In Entry
National Children’s Dental Health Month
February is National
and February 28th is NationalChildren’s Dental Health Month
Tooth Fairy Day
Must be 10 years or younger. Entry deadline is Monday, February 25, 2013.
Winners Announced Thursday, February 28, 2013.Clip and mail entry with filled out form to:
WIN ONE OF SIXGift Certifi cates fromHooked on Toys with a total VALUE OF $150!
