Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell died on May 18th of last year, at the age of 52. He died by suicide in Detroit, hours after performing at the nearby Fox Theater. Earlier this week, Cornell’s wife Vicky Cornell announced a public vigil taking place tonight at 7 p.m. in Los Angeles. She wrote the following to Cornell’s fanbase: “Your love has created a close-knit community; more like a family; to grieve with, to provide support, and to help us heal. We could not have gotten through these last twelve months without you… we can feel your love no matter how far.”
Today, on the one year anniversary of his death, his former bandmates in Soundgarden paid tribute to their friend, as did members of RATM and Temple of the Dog.
“It's great when you play to an audience that knows the words to all your songs, and sings them back to you.” – @chriscornell
Photo Micala Herigon pic.twitter.com/mHmGczF8dX— Soundgarden (@soundgarden) May 16, 2018
A year has passed since we all lost Chris Cornell#NoOneSingsLikeYouAnymore
Our soundtrack for today…it's all Chris
? https://t.co/L0CVUv7LyM pic.twitter.com/2JeEoSw7HV— Rage Against The Machine ★ (@RATM) May 18, 2018
“@chriscornell was the greatest songwriter to ever come out of Seattle.,…he had a way that he could wrap a melody around odd time signatures and weird parts and make them catchy. And he was a beautiful wordsmith.” – Jeff Ament pic.twitter.com/xXWM94QBfG
— Temple of the Dog (@templeofthedog) May 15, 2018
As one of the faces of the grunge revolution, Cornell had a career-long kinship with Spin; he appeared on the cover more than once, was interviewed relatively frequently through two decades, and created music that helped define a generation of rock. Revisit Spin’s extensive coverage of Chris Cornell as a publication via our comprehensive tribute, “25 Years of Talking to Chris Cornell for Spin.” You can also listen to our guide of our favorite musical moments from the legend here.
