It’s not what you think
As a fan of Soundgarden, the Seattle Sound and American punk rock, Chris Cornell’s untimely death hit me really hard. Maybe it was the fact that he was joining a club of musicians I liked, who all died by suicide. But, I suspect it was because he was only about three years older than I am.
Maybe I thought that once we got out of our twenties and thirties, life would become less difficult, because we would’ve figured things out.
Maybe I expected that middle-aged musicians had access to mental health support, appropriate antidepressants and were immersed in family and community life.
But, as I have chronicled on this very blog, clinical depression is an insidious and jealous “lover,” who pops up whether we are experiencing success or not.
All I know, is that every day we manage to participate in our own lives, is a victory. Chris Cornell had 52 years of being victorious, before succumbing to the beast. My heart hurts for his family and friends, who will struggle to understand what happened. Only Chris will truly know. Or maybe he won’t. I just wish him peace and love. God rest his soul.
Chris Cornell, 1964-2017
Chris Cornell died early Thursday morning. His band Soundgarden played a show on Wednesday night at the Fox Theater in Detroit. Two hours after the show ended, he was gone.
For two days, I’ve been working on a piece to pay tribute to him, and it’s been a struggle. Usually when I have a problem like this it’s because I’m staring at a blank screen trying to figure out what I want to say. That’s not the problem this time. The problem is I have way too much to say.
I’m not going to sit here and claim to have been a huge fan of Soundgarden. I didn’t dislike them, I just had to take them in small doses. I was a fan of Cornell. I love “Seasons,” the solo song he had on Cameron Crowe’s movie, Singles. It’s a droning acoustic song about isolation and the…
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