Jesus Christ Pose meaning

edited October 2006 in Other Music
What is Mr. Cornell's message in his lyrics of JCP? And I know this is kind off off subject but does anyone know what Chris' religious beliefs are?
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  • Marie CurieMarie Curie Posts: 1,250
    Chris was raised catholic, not sure what his beliefs are now though.

    answering you question about JCP:
    When asked about the "Jesus Christ Pose" itself, Chris says: "You just see it a lot with really beautiful people, or famous people, exploiting that symbol as to imply that they're either a deity or persecuted somehow by their public. So it's pretty much a song that is nonreligious but expressing being irritated by seeing that. It's not that I would ever be offended by what someone would do with that symbol."
    “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
  • chopitdownchopitdown Posts: 2,222
    i believe it was written about the rock stars who pose like they are on the crucifix and sort of mocking them.
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  • karma defectkarma defect Posts: 5,483
    I haven't read anything about it nor have I looked in his mind, but I believe it to mean this:

    People that make it seem as if they suffer, when in fact they lead a quite comfertable life.
    « One man's glory is another man's hell.
    You’re on the outside, never bound by such a spell.
    Together in the darkness, alone in the light.
    I took it upon me to be yours, Timmy,
    I’ll lead your angels and demons at play tonight......»
  • enharmonicenharmonic Posts: 1,917
    Perry Farrell in particular at the time.
  • allornoneallornone Posts: 269
    chopitdown wrote:
    i believe it was written about the rock stars who pose like they are on the crucifix and sort of mocking them.

    Like Madonna
  • Marie CurieMarie Curie Posts: 1,250
    allornone wrote:
    Like Madonna

    It´s like the song was written specifically to her.
    “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
  • Another song that flew over people's heads.
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  • chopitdown wrote:
    i believe it was written about the rock stars who pose like they are on the crucifix and sort of mocking them.

    You are correct!
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  • dharma69dharma69 Posts: 1,275
    chopitdown wrote:
    i believe it was written about the rock stars who pose like they are on the crucifix and sort of mocking them.
    Scott Stapp, anyone?
    "I'm here to see Pearl Jam."- Bono

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  • reeferchiefreeferchief Posts: 3,569
    dharma69 wrote:
    Scott Stapp, anyone?

    Lol, because Chris could see the future.:)
    Scott would be very fitting of what the song was about though.
    Can not be arsed with life no more.
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    when asked about the meaning of JCP in the 1994 rolling stone yearbook, chris' response was as follows:

    'no.the key word in that song is pose. that was a response to seeing a bunch of different photo shoots of models and rock stars doing the jesus thing, posing on a crucifix. i'd seen it so much that year, and it seemed silly. it's silly for other people to use it in some way to project themselves.'
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  • hippiemomhippiemom Posts: 3,326
    SOUNDGARDEN RAIL AGAINST THE "JESUS CHRIST POSE"
    In New And Gripping Video
    Levine Schneider Public Relations
    October 30, 1991

    After hitting the airwaves last week on both MTV and Video Juke Box, Soundgarden's fan club, the Knights of The Sound Table, have started receiving letters and calls from fans saying that their parents were not all too pleased with the images portrayed in the video for "Jesus Christ Pose," the first release from the new Soundgarden LP, Badmotorfinger. Scenes of crucified women, crucified skeletons, cyborg-type robots and even crucified vegetables placed in a "human" formation definitely raises eyebrows, not to mention the pictures of upside down crosses, crosses on fire, and pig's feet placed strategically around other crosses in the video.

    But the members of Soundgarden were expecting this, and they're not taking it too hard. In fact, they're even amused by it. "I don't see any reason to be upset," comments Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil. "In no way is the video slagging any religious group or church, and in no way is it slagging Jesus Christ. It has to do with slagging people who exploit Christ's image for their own benefit, whether the exploiters are churches, entertainers, rock stars -- people who fancy themselves as martyrs and exploit the crucifixion to their advantage."

    Adds lead singer Chris Cornell, "It isn't anti or pro-religious. The cross is such a widely seen symbol that's exploited in so many ways, from, say, fashion models to rock stars, satanists to neo-Nazis -- it's exploited more than any other symbol. The lyrics of the song are actually speaking out against that and are expressing being irritated by that. It has nothing to do with how I feel about Christianity or any other religion that uses or bears the symbol. If anything it comes to the defense of the situations where it seems like it's being exploited for no particular purpose."

    So is there cause for alarm?

    "None," continues Kim, "I think they're [parents] just immediately confused by it, they don't know what to think of it, and so they ridicule it and they're blaspheming it. But in this case, there isn't any blasphemy going on whatsoever -- it's more supportive of any of the positive images that Christ might have had that've been treated negatively and in an exploitive fashion by individuals."

    So did Soundgarden themselves choose any of the imagery in the video? "It was a pretty unanimous decision by the band to have a woman being crucified in the video," says Chris. "As a visual, it's powerful and it's also challenging to people, because women basically have been persecuted since before recorded history, and it would almost make more sense than seeing a man on it." Continues Kim, "A lot was chosen by the director Eric Zimmerman, and we checked it out and decided what we liked and didn't like. We didn't really understand the pig's feet. We just thought, 'What's all this silly food there for?' As far as the upside down crosses -- it's to show a sense of motion with the fast drumbeats of the song, and to show the many different ways designs have been used for the cross -- from stained glass to wood, to metal sculpture." Adds Chris, "There's upside sown crosses and right-side up ones. But there's certainly no blatant direction as far as religious conviction in the video."

    "A lot of people forget that crucifixion was a form of execution used back during Christ's time. He was by no means the only person executed -- many people were," reasons the guitarist. But are Soundgarden exploiting the image of the cross in the process of explaining the song? Is there a grain of truth to the complaints? "To a certain degree, the cross is a powerful image, that to a lot of people, in their minds, they think of as a 'peace sign' -- even smiley faces are powerful images to a sector of the population. We like the cross because it was a powerful image consistent with the song title, and for the video. It would be silly if we made a video without a cross in it for that song. I mean, what else could we have put in? Stop signs?!"

    And what do Soundgarden think of other artists who use religious imagery to promote their wares? "They use the gothic church imagery and crosses because it's powerful and frightening to them, and sublime," says Kim. "We don't have much use for that, because we're not that kind of band. I think bands like that are kinda silly -- just constantly exploiting religious themes to make themselves powerful and sublime in one's life, or in art or music. It's kinda hard when you get locked into one particular style or symbol."

    In Chris' opinion, he says, "I don't think parents should be up that late when kids are watching those videos, 'cause they have to work, you know? And, the video's six minutes long -- it's our version of 'Thriller.' Visually, I think it's really interesting as well as being challenging. I don't see how it could get any regular rotation airplay without causing some shit, though. Maybe we should do what Michael Jackson did and put a disclaimer at the beginning of the video that says 'This video in no way endorses a belief in the occult' -- and then sign it 'Michael Jackson.'"

    http://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/misc/jcp_pr.shtml
    "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ MLK, 1963
  • DOSWDOSW Posts: 2,014
    Wow. I always thought it was just Chris's anger towards people trying to convert him.

    I like it a lot better this way... it's much less cliche and more interesting.

    [EDIT] By the way, hippiemom, thanks foor that article. Great stuff.
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  • nowadays chris enjoys the jesus christ pose himself!!!!

    hehe.... love him still though... even though audioslave suck.
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  • karma defectkarma defect Posts: 5,483
    nowadays chris enjoys the jesus christ pose himself!!!!

    hehe.... love him still though... even though audioslave suck.


    Well he makes it pretty hard to still like him. The best I can do is ignore him now and listen to the old Chris who still thought that what he did had to be valid.
    « One man's glory is another man's hell.
    You’re on the outside, never bound by such a spell.
    Together in the darkness, alone in the light.
    I took it upon me to be yours, Timmy,
    I’ll lead your angels and demons at play tonight......»
  • PJammin'PJammin' Posts: 1,902
    nowadays chris enjoys the jesus christ pose himself!!!!

    hehe.... love him still though... even though audioslave suck.

    cornell gets way too much crap for evolving how he wants to evolve. i'm glad he does what he wants and doesn't listen to all of his critics who DON'T KNOW ANYTHING.
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  • karma defectkarma defect Posts: 5,483
    PJammin' wrote:
    cornell gets way too much crap for evolving how he wants to evolve. i'm glad he does what he wants and doesn't listen to all of his critics who DON'T KNOW ANYTHING.


    Mind you the young Cornell is among them, I hold his word in higher regard.
    « One man's glory is another man's hell.
    You’re on the outside, never bound by such a spell.
    Together in the darkness, alone in the light.
    I took it upon me to be yours, Timmy,
    I’ll lead your angels and demons at play tonight......»
  • PJammin' wrote:
    cornell gets way too much crap for evolving how he wants to evolve. i'm glad he does what he wants and doesn't listen to all of his critics who DON'T KNOW ANYTHING.

    someone saying they're evolving is not an excuse to become crap.

    cornell is modelling now, i mean whats up with that? i mean i may be ignorant but i don't see where modelling fits into rock music and the rebellion therein.

    what would cornell of '91 think of modelling?
    he'd think "Damn i'm drunk, p.s. i hate MODELS!"
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  • dharma69dharma69 Posts: 1,275
    someone saying they're evolving is not an excuse to become crap.

    cornell is modelling now, i mean whats up with that? i mean i may be ignorant but i don't see where modelling fits into rock music and the rebellion therein.

    what would cornell of '91 think of modelling?
    he'd think "Damn i'm drunk, p.s. i hate MODELS!"
    It's a strange thing that you say that you don't "see" where modeling fits into rock music etc....

    I hardly think that rock music, country music, classical music, what you eat, where you live, your shoe size, et al, dictates what you do in/with your life and how you choose to enjoy it. I don't think that you're ignorant...but you certainly are narrow in your scope.

    And, in truth, who cares what "Cornell of '91" would think (especially since that Cornell probably wouldn't have survived)? I'm pretty sure he doesn't because he's Cornell of '06 and beyond.
    "I'm here to see Pearl Jam."- Bono

    ...signed...the token black Pearl Jam fan.

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  • dharma69 wrote:
    It's a strange thing that you say that you don't "see" where modeling fits into rock music etc....

    I hardly think that rock music, country music, classical music, what you eat, where you live, your shoe size, et al, dictates what you do in/with your life and how you choose to enjoy it. I don't think that you're ignorant...but you certainly are narrow in your scope.

    And, in truth, who cares what "Cornell of '91" would think (especially since that Cornell probably wouldn't have survived)? I'm pretty sure he doesn't because he's Cornell of '06 and beyond.

    all fair points.

    all i gotta say is audioslave sound to me like a lazy, unevolving, boring project.

    my comments on cornell were just my own unreasonable meanderings. please dismiss them as such and continue on your rational way.
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  • adam42381adam42381 Posts: 2,505
    allornone wrote:
    Like Madonna
    and Kanye West.

    EDIT: I've just become a Love Boat Captain. I would never have expected my 1500th post to be about Kanye West.
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  • vmfuryvmfury Posts: 1,091
    someone saying they're evolving is not an excuse to become crap.

    cornell is modelling now, i mean whats up with that? i mean i may be ignorant but i don't see where modelling fits into rock music and the rebellion therein.

    what would cornell of '91 think of modelling?
    he'd think "Damn i'm drunk, p.s. i hate MODELS!"

    He's HOT...that's where the modeling fits in. If I were a designer, I'd certainly want him representing my line. Chris Cornell is a TRUE man....the epitome of class. And that's exactly the point....it isn't 1991. He's a grown adult who has come through many things that have made him the person he is today. He's comfortable in his own skin and I don't think there's anything more attractive than that.

    And let's face it, the scrawny and dirty Cornell of '91 wasn't "model" material.
    We’ll meet again, but not yet…not yet. 
  • I'm sure Chris is the only one in the world to change his views of the world and music in the course of 15 years.
    I share a cigarette with negativity.
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