The Holy Grail of Chris Cornell

reversedarwinism

Which Cornell song is the best written song with an amazing vocal performance???

SAY HELLO 2 HEAVEN

IMO, this is one of the best songs ever written. The vocal performance is hard to match plus the vocals are saturated with passion. The contenders would be:

Jesus Christ Pose
Slaves and Bulldozers
Loud Love
Sun Shower
Fell on Black Days
Like Suicide
Shadow on the Sun (from the most passionate and soul wrenching Cornell Album, IMO)

any objections?

Gremmie95

Seasons

mole1985

There's so many to choose from with Cornell but 'Say Hello To Heaven' is definatley up there.

catefrances

reversedarwinism wrote:

Which Cornell song is the best written song with an amazing vocal performance???

SAY HELLO 2 HEAVEN

IMO, this is one of the best songs ever written. The vocal performance is hard to match plus the vocals are saturated with passion. The contenders would be:

Jesus Christ Pose
Slaves and Bulldozers
Loud Love
Sun Shower
Fell on Black Days
Like Suicide
Shadow on the Sun (from the most passionate and soul wrenching Cornell Album, IMO)

any objections?

yep yep yep
im also partial to drawing flies. and wooden jesus.

Edved82

I think the best song that Cornell has written is Seasons. It makes his latest effort, Carry On, all the more difficult to understand. I never thought he'd be one to start writing songs to be radio hits :(

ii44

Dandelion
One and the Same
Face Pollution
When I'm Down
Scar on the Sky
Mailman
Show Me How To Live
Getaway Car
Like A Stone
****Hunger Strike****

There's a lot of good shit out there.

ii44

edved82 wrote:

I think the best song that Cornell has written is Seasons. It makes his latest effort, Carry On, all the more difficult to understand. I never thought he'd be one to start writing songs to be radio hits :(

Uh....

I don't really think any of those songs were radio hits. Well, I think to local metal station played No Such Thing for about a day.

facepollution

edved82 wrote:

I think the best song that Cornell has written is Seasons. It makes his latest effort, Carry On, all the more difficult to understand. I never thought he'd be one to start writing songs to be radio hits :(

I agree on Seasons. To be honest I don't think he was writing for radio hits on Carry On. Apart from You Know My Name - nothing else on it was particularly big. The problem with that album is that it completely lacks identity and cohesion. The styles are all over the place, and it was definitely a rushed record.

In terms of his most technically blinding vocal performance....there's so many to choose from.

Slaves and Bulldozers is one of the most incendiary performances ever commited to disc. The sheer power and vitriol in his voice is absolutely jaw-dropping. Say Hello 2 Heaven is similar although the emotions are different. I also think Superunknown and Like Suicide show his voice in all its full belting glory! And how could I forget FOUR WALLED WORLD! Man the vocals in that are just insane!

Schoki

Sweet Euphoria
Can't Change Me
Preaching The End Of The World

12345AGNST1

nothing from carry on ill tell you that....except maybe billie jean.

facepollution

12345AGNST1 wrote:

nothing from carry on ill tell you that....except maybe billie jean.

There's been some incredible live versions of Billie Jean - I saw one the other day on youtube where he really got into it. I'll have a look for it again.....

*Here you go: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZnYo4tKBG9s

wavescamecrashing

can't believe no one mentioned

beyond the wheel.


(technically)

i think i prefer different songs on different days, but if pushed, 'when i'm down' or 'wave goodbye' take it fo rhis solo stuff.

with soundgarden, my fave is 'zero chance' because it is so beautiful and understated. I know baout all the high notes, but that does something more powerful.

audioslave: number one zero was pretty cool performance, and like a stone. I lve the first verse of 'sound of a gun', how he comes in..

totd in its entirety is his best ever though.

facepollution

I agree that high notes do not necessarily mean most impressive. In terms of dramatic effect and sheer showing off, yeah it is impressive because most singers can't sing that high with so much power.

Brain Of E

I pick "Like Suicide." Not only is this a great example of how incredible Soundgarden was but it also on one Cornell's greatest songs. You know the part after he sings "I feel for you" and right before the guitar solo starts, he screams "YEA!." That "yea", that's rock 'n roll.

facepollution

Brain Of E wrote:

I pick "Like Suicide." Not only is this a great example of how incredible Soundgarden was but it also on one Cornell's greatest songs. You know the part after he sings "I feel for you" and right before the guitar solo starts, he screams "YEA!." That "yea", that's rock 'n roll.

I knew exactly the bit before you even described it! Also one of the best guitar solos EVER! I really hope Cornell busts this one out on his next tour.

sweetpotato

i really get bored listening to chris cornell. he screeches in every song. i don't think his voice is as interesting as eddie's. he may have greater range, yada yada, but it's just not as enjoyable listening to him as it is listening to ed, or bob dylan, etc. they have distinctive voices, not just "styles". cornell is like the mariah carey of the rock world, imo. all style, not much substance.

deadnote

a girl u want

although its a cover it is a perfect jam

lowlight10

fucking Cornell!

what an incredible catalogue this guy has!

just to avoid repetition and name one of my favs that I havent seen mentioned...Disappearing One is simply incredible, IMO. I Am the Highway is one of my favs from Audioslave, and the live/solo/acoustic versions of Like a Stone and Wide Awake he was doing last year for radio appearances were just gut-wrenching.

amazing, amazing singer and songwriter. easily my favorite other than EV.

facepollution

sweetpotato wrote:

i really get bored listening to chris cornell. he screeches in every song. i don't think his voice is as interesting as eddie's. he may have greater range, yada yada, but it's just not as enjoyable listening to him as it is listening to ed, or bob dylan, etc. they have distinctive voices, not just "styles". cornell is like the mariah carey of the rock world, imo. all style, not much substance.

I know all opinions are welcome etc etc, but that really doesn't add anything to our debate on what his greatest vocal performance is, does it? You already showed that you aren't aware of a lot of his material, since he doesn't in fact 'screech' in every song. Tell me exactly where he screeches in Seasons, When I'm Down, Preaching The End Of The World, Sunshower, All Night Thing, Zero Chance, Boot Camp - I could go on for quite a while.

As far as lack of substance - that is your opinion. First and foremost I appreciate Cornell's song writing. I'm not sure how a song like Wide Awake (about Hurricane Katrina victims), Say Hello 2 Heaven (about Andy Wood - his friend's death), Wave Goodbye (about his friend Jeff Buckley's death) and others, lack substance at all. In fact I think that is a really lazy statement to be honest.

muppet

Brain Of E wrote:

I pick "Like Suicide." Not only is this a great example of how incredible Soundgarden was but it also on one Cornell's greatest songs. You know the part after he sings "I feel for you" and right before the guitar solo starts, he screams "YEA!." That "yea", that's rock 'n roll.

Funny you should say that, I found that "YEA!" very impressive as well.

reversedarwinism

Schoki wrote:

Sweet Euphoria
Can't Change Me
Preaching The End Of The World

A lot from that album would certainly be in the top, IMO. This album has to be one of the best vocal albums in his catolog, he truely nailed Euphoria Morning down. Great vocals, great melodies, great sounds,great lyrics, hell of a album.



How about POWER TRIP for showing off his stength? That song is insane.

wavescamecrashing

so glad someone mentioned disappearing one.

and in the same spirit, im throwing in 4th of july


anyone heard his version of Ave Maria? Got to be up there. and its not screechy. people that say this continually about cornell cant possibly have listened much beyond sg's singles.

sweetpotato

facepollution wrote:

I know all opinions are welcome etc etc, but that really doesn't add anything to our debate on what his greatest vocal performance is, does it? You already showed that you aren't aware of a lot of his material, since he doesn't in fact 'screech' in every song. Tell me exactly where he screeches in Seasons, When I'm Down, Preaching The End Of The World, Sunshower, All Night Thing, Zero Chance, Boot Camp - I could go on for quite a while.

As far as lack of substance - that is your opinion. First and foremost I appreciate Cornell's song writing. I'm not sure how a song like Wide Awake (about Hurricane Katrina victims), Say Hello 2 Heaven (about Andy Wood - his friend's death), Wave Goodbye (about his friend Jeff Buckley's death) and others, lack substance at all. In fact I think that is a really lazy statement to be honest.

what i said has nothing to do with his songwriting, just his voice. i don't need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of his entire catalog in order to have an opinion; i also don't need to agree with all of you in order to "contribute" to the thread. dissent has its own value.

my point is, of what i've heard- and i own a few of their albums- i got tired of quickly, and the primary reason is that he sounds the same on every track. if you worship him, be my guest.

facepollution

sweetpotato wrote:

what i said has nothing to do with his songwriting, just his voice. i don't need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of his entire catalog in order to have an opinion; i also don't need to agree with all of you in order to "contribute" to the thread. dissent has its own value.

my point is, of what i've heard- and i own a few of their albums- i got tired of quickly, and the primary reason is that he sounds the same on every track. if you worship him, be my guest.

That is so not what I was saying. What I was pointing out was the fact that since you don't like his higher register, there is a considerable amount of stuff where he doesn't do that. Thus the argument you presented i.e that he sounds the same on every song and that he has no substance, is flawed.

eyedclaar

facepollution wrote:

That is so not what I was saying. What I was pointing out was the fact that since you don't like his higher register, there is a considerable amount of stuff where he doesn't do that. Thus the argument you presented i.e that he sounds the same on every song and that he has no substance, is flawed.

Yeah, totally flawed. If you don't like CC, fine. I don't care. But he is widely regarded in music circles for his expansive range. You don't get known for your huge range if everything you sing sounds the same. Simply doesn't work. Also, you don't need any musical knowledge to verify any of this, a working pair of ears will suffice.

There are a lot of rock singers without range that almost always sound the same, but CC isn't one of them.

12345AGNST1

wavescamecrashing wrote:

im throwing in 4th of july

It's actually a proven fact that 4th of July is the best song ever written by soundgarden. Look it up, you'll find it...somewhere.

originalfire

I don't know why this song doesn't get more recognition but "tighter and tighter" off of DOTU is another great vocal performance. Hell of a song all around!

ajedigecko

Gremmie95 wrote:

Seasons

first song that came to mind.

PatrickBateman

Can't forget his contribution to "Right turn" from Sap

spnoone

i agree cornell will never top say hello 2 heaven, despite the prince-y title. mind riot and wide awake and sunshower are all 10's, but say hello goes to 11.

rhcpjam1029

Shadow on the Sun just gets me every time man. Best singer ever. Chris Cornell.