Episode #177 | 04.22.25
Chris Cornell: Bad Trips, Crooked DEA Agents, and Four Octaves of Sheer Power
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In this episode
As a teenager, Chris Cornell was traumatized by a bad PCP trip that turned him into a recluse for years. Music pulled him out of the darkness when he discovered his four-octave voice by accident. A voice he used to incredible effect as the frontman for both Soundgarden and Audioslave. But the darkness never really went away – it was there in his hometown of Seattle, where tragedies closed the chapter on grunge, and in his music, which was authentic to the very end.
This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including suicide. If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
Sources
Total F*cking Godhead: The Biography of Chris Cornell, by Corbin Reiff
Hype! (1996, dir. Doug Pray)
Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records, by Jim Ruland
Chris Cornell on WTF with Marc Maron (2014)
Chris Cornell Talks Spirituality, Afterlife and Higher Truth (The Grunge Scene)
Chris Cornell interview circa 2006
Chris Cornell on the meaning of “Fell on Black Days” (The Grunge Scene)
Audioslave: The Chris Cornell Story (RAWMUSICTV)
Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil Talks Chris Cornell (Rick Beato)
Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell Talks ‘Superunknown,’ His Awkward Encounter with Prince + More (KROQ)
Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell Dead at 52 (Rolling Stone)
Chris Cornell: The Rolling Stone Interview (Rolling Stone)
Birthday Boy (Spin)
Digging the Garden: The 1992 Soundgarden Profile (Spin)
Hammer of the Gods: Spin’s 1994 Soundgarden Cover Story (Spin)
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett shares inspiration for ‘Enter Sandman’ (CBS)
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Copy edited by James Sullivan.
Scored and mixed by Matt Tahaney.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
DISGRACELAND theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie,” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak