RIP Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell's vocals always steered closer to the Classic Rock of the 70's, which Soundgarden's music touched on, and that's what set him apart from his 90's contemporaries.

1994's Superunknown is the must-own in their brief (6 albums) catalog.  Listen and you'll see what I mean about their debt to 70's AOR.  After that, the one before,  1991's Badmotorfinger is the perfect set up for what was to come.  And don't forget 1990's Temple of the Dog, a one-off tribute to the late Mother Love Bone's Andrew Wood.  Featuring Pearl Jam, it also set the template for Superunkown.

After Soundgarden too a hiatus in the late 90's, Cornell put out some okay solo albums and hooked up with Rage Against the Machine, minus Zack de la Rocha, for three decent albums as Audioslave. But eventually Cornell got back together with Soundgarden and put out a pretty good album in 2012.  

Cornell will be remembered as one of the Grunge era's greatest vocalists.  Make sure Superunknown is in your collection.  1997's A-Sides is their best compilation,  It has most of their essential sides up to that point.  2010's Telephantasm is the other one. Eight of its 12 songs are on the A-Sides (which has 17 songs).   A 2CD/DVD version of Telephantasm digs deeper into their pre-Badmotorfinger years.

My favorite Cornell solo song appeared on the Grunge-themed Singles soundtrack from 1992, It's a track called "Seasons" and it sounds like a lost gem from a 70's classic rock album.

BTW- If you are looking for a definitive cover of a Soundgarden song, check out Johnny Cash's Rick Rubin produced "Rusty Cage" from 1996.