Chris Cornell has currently took over MTV2 and is selecting the videos in the UK.:)
what is that supposed to mean?
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
They have artist takeovers on MTV2, usually around when the artist has a new album coming out, Sonic Youth(Thurston and Kim) took over around about when Rather Ripped come out, it basically means they become like a guest VJ they start of with the bands latest video and then Cornell picked the videos after that, he Picked APC's version of Imagine, The Cure, The Jam, The Clash, Jeff Buckley there was also a live version of Blow Up The Outside World unfortunatly my gf then came in and took over the remote.:(
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
You mean "complete" like includes THANK YOU ~LED ZEPPELIN complete????
---:eek:---:eek:---:eek:-->
Oh no, torrents though? I don't know from torrents. :(
There isn't just a megaupload or anything?
Wow. Complete???
*bows down to Marie Curie repeatedly*
very complete!! here´s the setlist:
01. Doesn't Remind Me
02. Like A Stone
03. Wide Awake
04. Fell On Black Days
05. Be Yourself
06. Billie Jean
07. Original Fire
08. Redemption Song/(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love And Understanding
09. All Night Thing
10. Black Hole Sun
Encore
11. Call Me A Dog
12. Thank You
I´m downloading right now, I´ll convert to mp3 and put on megaupload tomorrow. This set was amazing!! I listened to the streaming earlier today and it was great! Chris voice was incredible!!
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
DATE: 12.03.1999
LOCATION: THE WILTERN THEATER
LOCATION: LOS ANGELES, CA
RATING: 8.75/10
Setlist:
SUNSHOWER
CAN'T CHANGE ME
FLUTTER GIRL
MISSION
PREACHING THE END OF THE WORLD
SEASONS
WHEN I'M DOWN
PILLOW OF YOUR BONES
FELL ON BLACK DAYS
JOHAN SOLO
BOOT CAMP
MOON CHILD
SWEET EUPHORIA
LIKE SUICIDE
FOLLOW MY WAY
ALL NIGHT THING
STEEL RAIN
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
01. Doesn't Remind Me
02. Like A Stone
03. Wide Awake
04. Fell On Black Days
05. Be Yourself
06. Billie Jean
07. Original Fire
08. Redemption Song/(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love And Understanding
09. All Night Thing
10. Black Hole Sun
Encore
11. Call Me A Dog
12. Thank You
I´m downloading right now, I´ll convert to mp3 and put on megaupload tomorrow. This set was amazing!! I listened to the streaming earlier today and it was great! Chris voice was incredible!!
thanks so much for the mp3's that was absolutally awesome! i love his arrangements, especially bille jean! that was quite special! really wish he would do more accousic stuff!
I uploaded this song I have, Heart of Honey. Such a beautiful song, but I have no idea where it came from! It came with a compilation of Soundgarden B-sides, rareties etc. that I downloaded a while ago.
Anyway, here´s the link, if anyone have any information on this one, it would be greatly appreciated:
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
CORNELL IS AWESOME!! one of the greatest voices of all time!! I saw him more than a year ago with audioslave and it was awesome, such a great performer adn agreat guy!! he smiled at me it was tremendous!! I almost fainted lol.
Pearl Jam Mexico 2005, The greatest year ever!
December 9, 10 - ESTA BIEN, ESTA BIEEEEEN!
Former frontman of grunge legends Soundgarden, Chris Cornell now fronts rock supergroup Audioslave and is set to release his second solo album in 2007. We met up to talk about his new theme song for Casino Royale...
VN: Hi Chris, welcome to London. How long are you sticking around here after the Casino Royale premiere?
Chris Cornell: Just a couple more days. I'm a presenter at the World Music Awards, and then that's it, back to California, where I'm recording a record.
VN: Maybe you could have a little chat with Michael Jackson about your Billie Jean cover [on the forthcoming solo album] while you're at the WMAs...
Chris Cornell: Ha, I don't know about that!
VN: Right, down to business then - we're here to talk about your James Bond theme, You Know My Name, which you co-wrote with David Arnold. You've doubtless been asked this many times already, but how did this all come about?
Chris Cornell: Well... David Arnold's a lot like Michael Jackson - very difficult to talk to, he wears a veil. No, ha ha! I think the initial idea was based on the fact that it's such a dramatic departure for the franchise and for the character, in hiring Daniel Craig as the lead. They wanted to do the same thing with the music. Taking such a big chance, when the last film was - I think - the highest grossing Bond film of all time, and taking an actor who's known more for British indie films, and putting him in a role in the biggest franchise in the history of film-making. So if they're going to do that, then they might as well go all the way. They were just thinking "what is the voice of this version of James Bond?". It's not a woman, it's not a shoe-staring guy, it's someone who, as they put it, is "unapologetically male". I think David Arnold was a big part of selling that idea to the producers and director of the film.
VN: Did it feel like you were taking quite a big gamble, as far as your career is concerned?
Chris Cornell: When I first was asked, yes, absolutely. The more I researched it, and found out it was going to be Daniel Craig, and I saw a rough edit of the film, it was no gamble at all. Coming from a world of independent music and a scene like Seattle, and being considered someone who's affected rock music in a positive way, you wonder whether being involved in such a big movie franchise is a good move or a bad move, credibility-wise. Knowing how the film is, it's a fantastic idea, it's a wonderful film to be involved with - and I knew that before I even wrote the song.
VN: Reviews of the film have almost all been positive - is that something you're relieved about?
Chris Cornell: I knew. I saw the film, I'm a film buff, I didn't have any trepidation about it. I'm sure that the producers of the film had moments when they were a little bit nervous, but they knew too. You don't bet that kind of money and that type of success on something that is likely to fail. He's a wonderful dramatic actor, and to be honest I think it's a time now when that becomes more important than good looks and a tuxedo.
VN: When you came out of seeing the film for the first time, what were your initial thoughts on how you wanted the song to sound, and on the nature of the lyrics?
Chris Cornell: Lyrically I think it had to echo the opening several minutes of the film, where he's not yet 007, he's not the James Bond we know of yet. The title You Know My Name kind of came from that. We're trying to introduce a character in a song, even though this is the 21st move made about them - how do you do that? It was as simple as what this character has to deal with, such as committing murder for the first time, and really introducing himself to what may be the rest of his life and how he will live it and what it will mean. That's more than enough to write a three and a half minute song about. Musically, it was based on what I'm seeing visually up to that moment the title screen drops. They literally showed me that and said "Your song will start here", and that was just what went through my head over the next several weeks when I was thinking about the music. That's a lot to go on as well - most of the time I write a song in a vaccuum, I have nothing, I'm just sitting thinking, then a melody might come. There's nothing visual to go on, not someone else's character, or a script or a book or someone's acting, so really it's a lot.
VN: Did you and David always agree about how you wanted the song to sound? Was there ever any conflict?
Chris Cornell: I don't think there ever was really. We discussed different ideas, we had different opinions about things in terms of the mix, and it was pretty much always 50/50 in terms of who ended up being right or wrong. We didn't have any conflict at all, it was wonderful to work with David Arnold, and for me it was another time in my life where I actually had an opportunity to learn from someone who does something that, like, a guy in my band doesn't do. It's a whole different ball game.
VN: Madonna was the last person to record a Bond theme, for Die Another Day, and hers was very flashy, futuristic electro. What did you think of it, and did you ever consider writing something similarly non-traditional?
Chris Cornell: When I heard that I felt like it was a dance track she had in her back pocket, and then just threw Die Another Day on it and said "Here, put it in your Bond movie". It didn't sound like she was writing it specifically for the film - it didn't have anything to do with the character, it was just "The Madonna Show" attached to a Bond film. Which is probably, for that moment, what they wanted. And probably partly why it became one of the highest grossing Bond films of all time.
VN: Do you have a favourite Bond theme?
Chris Cornell: Live And Let Die.
VN: That's a good one - especially the Guns N' Roses cover!
Chris Cornell: Ha! Especially not the Guns N' Roses cover! I had to hear that several times because I toured with them. But really, it's an interesting arrangement, it's not traditional at all, and McCartney was going through a period when he was doing that a lot, kind of marrying different songs and movements together and making a rock song out of it, and he does that better than anyone else has ever done it. I really like Thunderball because I'm a huge Tom Jones fan, I think he's an amazing singer, and I love the fact that if you listen to the theme the orchestra sounds really tiny so that his voice can be just enormous and drenched in this old spring or plate reverb or something. It's really great.
VN: Are there any other singers around today who you think would make a good job of singing a Bond theme?
Chris Cornell: The name Thom Yorke came up a lot. Partly because he's British, maybe because he has a funny eye, I dunno! I think that could work, maybe not for this one but for the next one, just because of the emotional content, giving it something besides just being a famous person that people know. The bad idea, that would make sense if I were the movie industry, would be someone like Robbie Williams: "Oh he's perfect, the video would be wonderful, he's charismatic". But for this movie, no, I think someone more like Thom Yorke or Chris Martin would be a great choice.
VN: You've provided songs for quite a few films in your career - have you seen any films and thought "I wish I'd had a song in there"?
Chris Cornell: Yeah, but usually they were movies that didn't have songs in them. I was actually offered to act in the movie The Usual Suspects, and I didn't know anything about the movie industry, and they gave me a list of who was going to be in it and I didn't recognise any names, I didn't know who the producers were or the director. And it wasn't until I was watching the film, halfway through I thought "Oh... I could have been in this movie. Oh my god!". I'm not an actor, but a movie like that would also have been a great movie to have a song in. There are several Jim Jarmusch films I would have loved to have done music for, he's one of my favourite directors. I think cinematically he has an attention span - he really allows things to play out to the point where it always goes too far, and I enjoy that, I think it lends itself to music. He made a movie called Dead Man with Johnny Depp, where Neil Young does all the incidental music, and it's all his Les Paul through an amplifier and an Echoplex, and that's it, that's all the music in the whole film. It sounds like he just watched the movie and just played a guitar to it, and it's very dramatic.
VN: It's interesting to hear you've been offered acting roles - have you had many offers?
Chris Cornell: I used to get a lot more, then after I said "no" a lot, they stopped coming. I have a lot of respect for the craft and I'm a huge movie fan, and I don't think that the two necessarily co-mingle very well. I'm not sold on the whole Juliette Lewis thing. I've worked really hard at what I do, my whole life, and I feel that's the same way with accomplished actors, so just running in and being in a film seems like a bad idea to me.
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
AudioslaveLatino from Audioslaved.com posted this a while back - it's the BBC show where Chris sang Original Fire, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles), Black Hole Sun, Can’t Change Me, Like a Stone and Redemption Song (Bob Marley).
Daniel Craig wasn’t the only surprising choice for the latest Bond film. Chris Cornell, singer of the film’s theme tune You Know My Name, was an odd man out as well.
For such a mainstream project, the American star seems a decidedly alternative choice. Best known for his time fronting hugely successful grunge band Soundgarden, he is now lead singer of supergroup Audioslave, alongside three members of fellow 90s rock behemoths Rage Against The Machine.
"I was surprised to be asked," nods the 42-year-old. "And I had some reservations about it. Guys like me resist stuff like that. Then I heard about Daniel Craig being James Bond.
"I’d actually seen him in several films and was starting to pay attention to him. I knew he was an accomplished actor, and James Bonds tend to be the people’s actor – you like them because that’s who they are.
"Sean Connery is always Sean Connery. I’m a huge fan, but he doesn’t transform for roles. So I imagined that this could be an amazing twist."
Which was pretty much the opposite reaction to most fans and pundits on Daniel Craig’s casting.
"Yeah," Chris says. "But I was a fan of his already and I thought, if they do this right, it could be genius. Then they showed me the opening sequence where my song was going to be, and I was really excited to be the guy to make that song.
"But the biggest trepidation really," he adds, "is that you’re on a list with bands like Duran Duran, and a-ha, and Paul McCartney. Oh and Lulu, whoever that is, I don’t know who that is."
She’s a Scottish singer, she’s quite famous over here.
"Well good for her, good for Lulu."
Chris readily admits his Audioslave bandmates weren’t overly impressed with his choice to do Bond, and he says it certainly wouldn’t have been the right thing for them to do as a band.
But as a solo artist – Chris released his first solo album Euphoria Morning in 1999 before Audioslave formed – the singer says he feels more comfortable being experimental and trying different things.
"You can do more singer-songwriter oriented things," he says, "more complicated chord structures, any kind of experimentation with sounds or instruments that you feel will develop the song.
"And you can do songs that don’t necessarily have all the traditional rock instruments in them, because you don’t have a band of people that might not be included," he laughs.
While his as-yet-untitled second solo set is due for release early next year, Chris is quick to point out his solo work signals neither a hiatus nor the death of the band – he’s been recording with them as well.
In fact he paints an entirely contented picture of his lot at the moment, both professionally and personally. When not working he divides his time between Los Angeles and Paris, where he met his wife Vicky Karayiannis.
The couple have two children – a daughter Toni, two, and a son, also called Chris, who turns one this month. Chris also has a six-year-old daughter from his previous marriage to former Soundgarden manager Susan Silver.
"Having a family has had a huge impact on me," Chris says. "First of all, having a wife and a relationship where it’s someone who’s your best mate – I didn’t have that before.
"I didn’t even know that was possible. I always assumed that relationships were like, you’re the guy, she’s the girl, you do your separate things and occasionally you run into each other.
"And having children makes a big difference. You just stop worrying about so much of the stuff that you otherwise worry about – your career or what your hair’s doing that day. Everything is boring compared to the amount of excitement you get from being around your children."
And Chris’s family time certainly does sound exciting: "We have rooms in our homes where there’s no furniture and my children and I have these little electric cars that we drive around and we kick balls in there. I’m the kind of Dad who doesn’t care," he laughs.
"I didn’t have a Dad like that when I was growing up. Everything was in its proper place, you didn’t screw around. So now, as an adult, I’m reliving a childhood I didn’t get to have."
Born in Seattle, Chris had a troubled childhood. Suffering from bouts of depression as a teenager, he got involved in drugs and stealing. But it was a stolen collection of Beatles records that got him interested in music.
His mother, as he puts it, saved his life when she bought him a snare drum. He developed a passion for hitting the skins and before long he’d formed Soundgarden, eventually fronting the band as their singer.
The four-piece would eventually go on to sell millions of records worldwide, spearheading a revolution with the likes of Pearl Jam and Nirvana, and a new take on rock music that would become known as grunge.
"I’m proud of being part of that," Chris says. "There’s a separation in my memory – one side really feels like it’s 10 minutes ago, part of me is so much the same person. But if I think about what my life was like then, I never would have seen the journey ending up here."
Soundgarden disbanded in 1997, in what seemed to be a genuine case of good old-fashioned creative differences. For Chris, however, it marked the beginning of another troubled period of his life.
Depression hit again and he turned to drink. He remembers times when he was trying to write songs in the studio, but instead he would just go and lie on the sofa nursing a godawful hangover.
"I was having emotional problems," he explains. "I really had to butt heads with the fact that I was in the wrong world, in the wrong place, and in a marriage that was falling apart. It was certainly my least prolific period."
These days the creative juices flow much easier thanks to a lack of alcohol in his life. But does he ever worry the depression will come back?
"I’ve learnt over the years it’s a family trait," he replies. "I’ve learnt how to deal with it in a lot of ways. In struggling with something like depression you have to figure out what of it is hereditary, what of it is chemical, and what of it is my life.
"But with that experience now I’m not that worried about it. Now I’m happily married, I have young children, I have a career that’s going great. Nothing in my life is at all depressing."
Chris Cornell's Bond theme You Know My Name went into the UK charts at number 12 this week on downloads sales alone. The CD single of You Know My Name is released on Monday December 11.
Real name: Christopher John Boyle
Birthdate: July 20, 1964
Significant other: Married to Vicky Karayiannis
Career high: Sold five million albums worldwide with his band Soundgarden
Career low: He was unhappy with the commercial performance of his first solo album Euphoria Morning, despite it getting a Grammy nomination
Famous for: Being the frontman of the now defunct Soundgarden and current band Audioslave
Words of wisdom: "I’m not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colorful images. I think that’s more what entertainment and music should be."
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2006 - Astoria, Dublin, Leeds
2007 - London
2009 - London, Manchester, London
2010 - Dublin, Belfast, London
2011 - Alpine Valley x2
2012 - Isle of Wight, Manchester x2
AudioslaveLatino from Audioslaved.com posted this a while back - it's the BBC show where Chris sang Original Fire, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles), Black Hole Sun, Can’t Change Me, Like a Stone and Redemption Song (Bob Marley).
I really like the Beatles one
ok so i just downloaded this and it's a different setlist to what you got...
i've got seasons, preaching the end of the world, moonshine, can't change me, flutter girl and mission from that link you posted
im confuuuuuuuuused
2006 - Astoria, Dublin, Leeds
2007 - London
2009 - London, Manchester, London
2010 - Dublin, Belfast, London
2011 - Alpine Valley x2
2012 - Isle of Wight, Manchester x2
ok so i just downloaded this and it's a different setlist to what you got...
i've got seasons, preaching the end of the world, moonshine, can't change me, flutter girl and mission from that link you posted
im confuuuuuuuuused
Go to audioslaved.com/fan forum/general audioslave discussions/dl chris cornell bbc seesions and there is two different links for that show. You dl his 99x. Sorry dont know how to post links.
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Comments
what is that supposed to mean?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
They have artist takeovers on MTV2, usually around when the artist has a new album coming out, Sonic Youth(Thurston and Kim) took over around about when Rather Ripped come out, it basically means they become like a guest VJ they start of with the bands latest video and then Cornell picked the videos after that, he Picked APC's version of Imagine, The Cure, The Jam, The Clash, Jeff Buckley there was also a live version of Blow Up The Outside World unfortunatly my gf then came in and took over the remote.:(
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=112182
http://www.youkanfakoff.com/torrents-details.php?id=414
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
You mean "complete" like includes THANK YOU ~LED ZEPPELIN complete????
---:eek:---:eek:---:eek:-->
Oh no, torrents though? I don't know from torrents. :(
There isn't just a megaupload or anything?
Wow. Complete???
*bows down to Marie Curie repeatedly*
"Lo√e, you know the word
...YOU invented it!" ~ E√
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤
...::STONE--YOU--OWN!::...
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
very complete!! here´s the setlist:
01. Doesn't Remind Me
02. Like A Stone
03. Wide Awake
04. Fell On Black Days
05. Be Yourself
06. Billie Jean
07. Original Fire
08. Redemption Song/(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love And Understanding
09. All Night Thing
10. Black Hole Sun
Encore
11. Call Me A Dog
12. Thank You
I´m downloading right now, I´ll convert to mp3 and put on megaupload tomorrow. This set was amazing!! I listened to the streaming earlier today and it was great! Chris voice was incredible!!
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K6UFDPKM
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
BNN bar, Hilversum, Netherlands. Date unknown.
01. Intro
02. Doesn't Remind Me
03. Wide Awake
04. Original Fire
05. Black Hole Sun
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8W203JMC
Not sure if there is more of this show to be had any where, this is from Audioslavelatino at the Audioslaved board, so thanks to him.:)
DATE: 12.03.1999
LOCATION: THE WILTERN THEATER
LOCATION: LOS ANGELES, CA
RATING: 8.75/10
Setlist:
SUNSHOWER
CAN'T CHANGE ME
FLUTTER GIRL
MISSION
PREACHING THE END OF THE WORLD
SEASONS
WHEN I'M DOWN
PILLOW OF YOUR BONES
FELL ON BLACK DAYS
JOHAN SOLO
BOOT CAMP
MOON CHILD
SWEET EUPHORIA
LIKE SUICIDE
FOLLOW MY WAY
ALL NIGHT THING
STEEL RAIN
http://rapidshare.de/files/34335453/Los_Angeles__CA__Dec_3rd_1999.rar.html
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
thanks so much for the mp3's that was absolutally awesome! i love his arrangements, especially bille jean! that was quite special! really wish he would do more accousic stuff!
~~~~~http://www.myspace.com/breakerfallpj~~~~~
YieldInHiding: "RED DOT is an intermission...not "filler." I hate that word. Filler is what's in a Twinkie."
Anyway, here´s the link, if anyone have any information on this one, it would be greatly appreciated:
Heart of Honey
http://download.yousendit.com/432AEF4B0F0933F4
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
December 9, 10 - ESTA BIEN, ESTA BIEEEEEN!
www.myspace.com/clau_yellowled
I think its a good theme song.
no more shows
check out the "stripped" session he did on youtube if you haven't already seen it. and if you have, you should watch it again
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=chris+cornell+stripped+sessions&search=Search
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rPu1mZ9kXI
new interview:
http://www.virgin.net/music/interviews/chriscornell.html
Chris Cornell interview
By Alex Robertson
Former frontman of grunge legends Soundgarden, Chris Cornell now fronts rock supergroup Audioslave and is set to release his second solo album in 2007. We met up to talk about his new theme song for Casino Royale...
VN: Hi Chris, welcome to London. How long are you sticking around here after the Casino Royale premiere?
Chris Cornell: Just a couple more days. I'm a presenter at the World Music Awards, and then that's it, back to California, where I'm recording a record.
VN: Maybe you could have a little chat with Michael Jackson about your Billie Jean cover [on the forthcoming solo album] while you're at the WMAs...
Chris Cornell: Ha, I don't know about that!
VN: Right, down to business then - we're here to talk about your James Bond theme, You Know My Name, which you co-wrote with David Arnold. You've doubtless been asked this many times already, but how did this all come about?
Chris Cornell: Well... David Arnold's a lot like Michael Jackson - very difficult to talk to, he wears a veil. No, ha ha! I think the initial idea was based on the fact that it's such a dramatic departure for the franchise and for the character, in hiring Daniel Craig as the lead. They wanted to do the same thing with the music. Taking such a big chance, when the last film was - I think - the highest grossing Bond film of all time, and taking an actor who's known more for British indie films, and putting him in a role in the biggest franchise in the history of film-making. So if they're going to do that, then they might as well go all the way. They were just thinking "what is the voice of this version of James Bond?". It's not a woman, it's not a shoe-staring guy, it's someone who, as they put it, is "unapologetically male". I think David Arnold was a big part of selling that idea to the producers and director of the film.
VN: Did it feel like you were taking quite a big gamble, as far as your career is concerned?
Chris Cornell: When I first was asked, yes, absolutely. The more I researched it, and found out it was going to be Daniel Craig, and I saw a rough edit of the film, it was no gamble at all. Coming from a world of independent music and a scene like Seattle, and being considered someone who's affected rock music in a positive way, you wonder whether being involved in such a big movie franchise is a good move or a bad move, credibility-wise. Knowing how the film is, it's a fantastic idea, it's a wonderful film to be involved with - and I knew that before I even wrote the song.
VN: Reviews of the film have almost all been positive - is that something you're relieved about?
Chris Cornell: I knew. I saw the film, I'm a film buff, I didn't have any trepidation about it. I'm sure that the producers of the film had moments when they were a little bit nervous, but they knew too. You don't bet that kind of money and that type of success on something that is likely to fail. He's a wonderful dramatic actor, and to be honest I think it's a time now when that becomes more important than good looks and a tuxedo.
VN: When you came out of seeing the film for the first time, what were your initial thoughts on how you wanted the song to sound, and on the nature of the lyrics?
Chris Cornell: Lyrically I think it had to echo the opening several minutes of the film, where he's not yet 007, he's not the James Bond we know of yet. The title You Know My Name kind of came from that. We're trying to introduce a character in a song, even though this is the 21st move made about them - how do you do that? It was as simple as what this character has to deal with, such as committing murder for the first time, and really introducing himself to what may be the rest of his life and how he will live it and what it will mean. That's more than enough to write a three and a half minute song about. Musically, it was based on what I'm seeing visually up to that moment the title screen drops. They literally showed me that and said "Your song will start here", and that was just what went through my head over the next several weeks when I was thinking about the music. That's a lot to go on as well - most of the time I write a song in a vaccuum, I have nothing, I'm just sitting thinking, then a melody might come. There's nothing visual to go on, not someone else's character, or a script or a book or someone's acting, so really it's a lot.
VN: Did you and David always agree about how you wanted the song to sound? Was there ever any conflict?
Chris Cornell: I don't think there ever was really. We discussed different ideas, we had different opinions about things in terms of the mix, and it was pretty much always 50/50 in terms of who ended up being right or wrong. We didn't have any conflict at all, it was wonderful to work with David Arnold, and for me it was another time in my life where I actually had an opportunity to learn from someone who does something that, like, a guy in my band doesn't do. It's a whole different ball game.
VN: Madonna was the last person to record a Bond theme, for Die Another Day, and hers was very flashy, futuristic electro. What did you think of it, and did you ever consider writing something similarly non-traditional?
Chris Cornell: When I heard that I felt like it was a dance track she had in her back pocket, and then just threw Die Another Day on it and said "Here, put it in your Bond movie". It didn't sound like she was writing it specifically for the film - it didn't have anything to do with the character, it was just "The Madonna Show" attached to a Bond film. Which is probably, for that moment, what they wanted. And probably partly why it became one of the highest grossing Bond films of all time.
VN: Do you have a favourite Bond theme?
Chris Cornell: Live And Let Die.
VN: That's a good one - especially the Guns N' Roses cover!
Chris Cornell: Ha! Especially not the Guns N' Roses cover! I had to hear that several times because I toured with them. But really, it's an interesting arrangement, it's not traditional at all, and McCartney was going through a period when he was doing that a lot, kind of marrying different songs and movements together and making a rock song out of it, and he does that better than anyone else has ever done it. I really like Thunderball because I'm a huge Tom Jones fan, I think he's an amazing singer, and I love the fact that if you listen to the theme the orchestra sounds really tiny so that his voice can be just enormous and drenched in this old spring or plate reverb or something. It's really great.
VN: Are there any other singers around today who you think would make a good job of singing a Bond theme?
Chris Cornell: The name Thom Yorke came up a lot. Partly because he's British, maybe because he has a funny eye, I dunno! I think that could work, maybe not for this one but for the next one, just because of the emotional content, giving it something besides just being a famous person that people know. The bad idea, that would make sense if I were the movie industry, would be someone like Robbie Williams: "Oh he's perfect, the video would be wonderful, he's charismatic". But for this movie, no, I think someone more like Thom Yorke or Chris Martin would be a great choice.
VN: You've provided songs for quite a few films in your career - have you seen any films and thought "I wish I'd had a song in there"?
Chris Cornell: Yeah, but usually they were movies that didn't have songs in them. I was actually offered to act in the movie The Usual Suspects, and I didn't know anything about the movie industry, and they gave me a list of who was going to be in it and I didn't recognise any names, I didn't know who the producers were or the director. And it wasn't until I was watching the film, halfway through I thought "Oh... I could have been in this movie. Oh my god!". I'm not an actor, but a movie like that would also have been a great movie to have a song in. There are several Jim Jarmusch films I would have loved to have done music for, he's one of my favourite directors. I think cinematically he has an attention span - he really allows things to play out to the point where it always goes too far, and I enjoy that, I think it lends itself to music. He made a movie called Dead Man with Johnny Depp, where Neil Young does all the incidental music, and it's all his Les Paul through an amplifier and an Echoplex, and that's it, that's all the music in the whole film. It sounds like he just watched the movie and just played a guitar to it, and it's very dramatic.
VN: It's interesting to hear you've been offered acting roles - have you had many offers?
Chris Cornell: I used to get a lot more, then after I said "no" a lot, they stopped coming. I have a lot of respect for the craft and I'm a huge movie fan, and I don't think that the two necessarily co-mingle very well. I'm not sold on the whole Juliette Lewis thing. I've worked really hard at what I do, my whole life, and I feel that's the same way with accomplished actors, so just running in and being in a film seems like a bad idea to me.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
AudioslaveLatino from Audioslaved.com posted this a while back - it's the BBC show where Chris sang Original Fire, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles), Black Hole Sun, Can’t Change Me, Like a Stone and Redemption Song (Bob Marley).
I really like the Beatles one
Cornell's Bond tune breakthrough
Daniel Craig wasn’t the only surprising choice for the latest Bond film. Chris Cornell, singer of the film’s theme tune You Know My Name, was an odd man out as well.
For such a mainstream project, the American star seems a decidedly alternative choice. Best known for his time fronting hugely successful grunge band Soundgarden, he is now lead singer of supergroup Audioslave, alongside three members of fellow 90s rock behemoths Rage Against The Machine.
"I was surprised to be asked," nods the 42-year-old. "And I had some reservations about it. Guys like me resist stuff like that. Then I heard about Daniel Craig being James Bond.
"I’d actually seen him in several films and was starting to pay attention to him. I knew he was an accomplished actor, and James Bonds tend to be the people’s actor – you like them because that’s who they are.
"Sean Connery is always Sean Connery. I’m a huge fan, but he doesn’t transform for roles. So I imagined that this could be an amazing twist."
Which was pretty much the opposite reaction to most fans and pundits on Daniel Craig’s casting.
"Yeah," Chris says. "But I was a fan of his already and I thought, if they do this right, it could be genius. Then they showed me the opening sequence where my song was going to be, and I was really excited to be the guy to make that song.
"But the biggest trepidation really," he adds, "is that you’re on a list with bands like Duran Duran, and a-ha, and Paul McCartney. Oh and Lulu, whoever that is, I don’t know who that is."
She’s a Scottish singer, she’s quite famous over here.
"Well good for her, good for Lulu."
Chris readily admits his Audioslave bandmates weren’t overly impressed with his choice to do Bond, and he says it certainly wouldn’t have been the right thing for them to do as a band.
But as a solo artist – Chris released his first solo album Euphoria Morning in 1999 before Audioslave formed – the singer says he feels more comfortable being experimental and trying different things.
"You can do more singer-songwriter oriented things," he says, "more complicated chord structures, any kind of experimentation with sounds or instruments that you feel will develop the song.
"And you can do songs that don’t necessarily have all the traditional rock instruments in them, because you don’t have a band of people that might not be included," he laughs.
While his as-yet-untitled second solo set is due for release early next year, Chris is quick to point out his solo work signals neither a hiatus nor the death of the band – he’s been recording with them as well.
In fact he paints an entirely contented picture of his lot at the moment, both professionally and personally. When not working he divides his time between Los Angeles and Paris, where he met his wife Vicky Karayiannis.
The couple have two children – a daughter Toni, two, and a son, also called Chris, who turns one this month. Chris also has a six-year-old daughter from his previous marriage to former Soundgarden manager Susan Silver.
"Having a family has had a huge impact on me," Chris says. "First of all, having a wife and a relationship where it’s someone who’s your best mate – I didn’t have that before.
"I didn’t even know that was possible. I always assumed that relationships were like, you’re the guy, she’s the girl, you do your separate things and occasionally you run into each other.
"And having children makes a big difference. You just stop worrying about so much of the stuff that you otherwise worry about – your career or what your hair’s doing that day. Everything is boring compared to the amount of excitement you get from being around your children."
And Chris’s family time certainly does sound exciting: "We have rooms in our homes where there’s no furniture and my children and I have these little electric cars that we drive around and we kick balls in there. I’m the kind of Dad who doesn’t care," he laughs.
"I didn’t have a Dad like that when I was growing up. Everything was in its proper place, you didn’t screw around. So now, as an adult, I’m reliving a childhood I didn’t get to have."
Born in Seattle, Chris had a troubled childhood. Suffering from bouts of depression as a teenager, he got involved in drugs and stealing. But it was a stolen collection of Beatles records that got him interested in music.
His mother, as he puts it, saved his life when she bought him a snare drum. He developed a passion for hitting the skins and before long he’d formed Soundgarden, eventually fronting the band as their singer.
The four-piece would eventually go on to sell millions of records worldwide, spearheading a revolution with the likes of Pearl Jam and Nirvana, and a new take on rock music that would become known as grunge.
"I’m proud of being part of that," Chris says. "There’s a separation in my memory – one side really feels like it’s 10 minutes ago, part of me is so much the same person. But if I think about what my life was like then, I never would have seen the journey ending up here."
Soundgarden disbanded in 1997, in what seemed to be a genuine case of good old-fashioned creative differences. For Chris, however, it marked the beginning of another troubled period of his life.
Depression hit again and he turned to drink. He remembers times when he was trying to write songs in the studio, but instead he would just go and lie on the sofa nursing a godawful hangover.
"I was having emotional problems," he explains. "I really had to butt heads with the fact that I was in the wrong world, in the wrong place, and in a marriage that was falling apart. It was certainly my least prolific period."
These days the creative juices flow much easier thanks to a lack of alcohol in his life. But does he ever worry the depression will come back?
"I’ve learnt over the years it’s a family trait," he replies. "I’ve learnt how to deal with it in a lot of ways. In struggling with something like depression you have to figure out what of it is hereditary, what of it is chemical, and what of it is my life.
"But with that experience now I’m not that worried about it. Now I’m happily married, I have young children, I have a career that’s going great. Nothing in my life is at all depressing."
Chris Cornell's Bond theme You Know My Name went into the UK charts at number 12 this week on downloads sales alone. The CD single of You Know My Name is released on Monday December 11.
Real name: Christopher John Boyle
Birthdate: July 20, 1964
Significant other: Married to Vicky Karayiannis
Career high: Sold five million albums worldwide with his band Soundgarden
Career low: He was unhappy with the commercial performance of his first solo album Euphoria Morning, despite it getting a Grammy nomination
Famous for: Being the frontman of the now defunct Soundgarden and current band Audioslave
Words of wisdom: "I’m not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colorful images. I think that’s more what entertainment and music should be."
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0900entertainment/0050artsnews/tm_headline=cornell%2Ds-bond-tune-breakthrough%26method=full%26objectid=18250042%26siteid=50082-name_page.html
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2007 - London
2009 - London, Manchester, London
2010 - Dublin, Belfast, London
2011 - Alpine Valley x2
2012 - Isle of Wight, Manchester x2
ok so i just downloaded this and it's a different setlist to what you got...
i've got seasons, preaching the end of the world, moonshine, can't change me, flutter girl and mission from that link you posted
im confuuuuuuuuused
2007 - London
2009 - London, Manchester, London
2010 - Dublin, Belfast, London
2011 - Alpine Valley x2
2012 - Isle of Wight, Manchester x2
http://www.rosshalfin.co.uk/chris-cornell/chris-cornell01.php
and check his March 1st diary entry for details on the photo shoot
and everyone should bookmark this brand new fan page: http://www.chriscornell.org.uk/
Fyodor Dostoyevsky