Top 88 Chris Cornell Quotes

There was about two years where I was more or less agoraphobic and didn’t deal with anybody, didn’t talk to anybody, didn’t have any friends at all.

I think that one of the main privileges of what I do, which I am just starting to learn, is to have the ability to travel all over the world and experience different cultures.

There are a handful of Soundgarden songs that work acoustically, but only a couple. It’s not who we were.

I wasn’t good in school. I didn’t do sports. I sat in the bedroom and listened to records. Because the Beatles did whatever they wanted to, I took that as a kid and said, ‘That’s what rock is.’

I came from a childhood where I spent a lot of time alone and a lot of time just living with my imagination, and a certain amount of the adult world was kind of alienating.

I actually think to some degree that people are down for longer shows with an acoustic show.

I’m not usually in a talkative mode.

When you’re young, playing drums is immediately satisfying ’cause whether or not you know how to play anything, the bottom line is that you’re pounding on something, so you’re happy about it.

I really had to come to the conclusion, the sort of humbling conclusion that, guess what, I’m no different than anybody else: I’ve got to sort of ask for help – not something I ever did, ever. And then part two of that is, like, accept it when it comes, and, you know, believe what people tell me.

An acoustic show is all about you, and any little nuance or mistake is amplified.

I’ve seen a lot of Pearl Jam shows, and the only reaction I’ve ever seen is the audience being completely supportive and loving every moment.

In the beginning of Audioslave, I was very honest. I said, ‘We make great albums and write great albums – but don’t be under the impression I’m going to be a lyricist that writes anything other than what strikes me as inspiring in the moment.’ The lyrics weren’t going to be focused politically.

There’s a lot of music that I don’t like.

If I’m going to go out to be a solo artist, it’s because I want to do something different without having to wait on someone else’s schedule or hobbies or be limited by other people’s prejudices. I’d be kind of stupid not to exercise that.

It’s good for me to be involved in different things.

I’m interested in where I’m going and the people I am there to see. Going to Cuba was a great example of that, and the succession of going into Cuba, which is not a very easy place to get into, and playing music for people who have never seen a live rock concert outdoors like that.

Obviously, I want my kids to be happy, and I believe that they can be super successful at whatever they want to do, but don’t make the successful part more important than the process of doing it. Especially if it’s an artistic endeavor.

One of the main dilemmas that’s pretty common to a lot of people who are getting older is the idea that maybe there’s a finish line and that maybe there’s a time in your life when you start to slow down and stop and smell the roses and just kind of settle into what will be a comfortable period in your life.

‘Spoonman’ wasn’t written for any album. It was just written for fun.

I think there needs to be a global focus on people taking care of people.

Rock never meant the same thing to everyone, but when I was growing up in the late seventies, everyone could identify the five, ten bands that formed the center.

The first time I ever went to Hawaii, I was listening to island music, thinking, ‘I could’ve been born here, and I’m pretty sure I would never play that.’

I think the Beatles is one band that, if I’m working on a song arrangement or if I have some idea for a song, and there’s a little bit of a Beatles quality to it, I never avoid that. I always will steer into it.

Audioslave was something that I felt had become a career decision. It became three albums over a period of years touring with a specific group of people.

Soundgarden signing to a major, then Mother Love Bone, and seeing the same happen to Alice in Chains. We were all suddenly making music and recording at the same time, and we had money to do it. It wasn’t like a $2,000 recording that you do over a weekend. It’s like, ‘Wow, maybe this will be our job.’

I play Texas Hold’em on my Blackberry. I have amassed a fortune on that. I have almost 30 million dollars from playing. It is unreal.

When you have four guys in a room writing songs, it different. It’s great – that’s what makes a band a band. Audioslave was great.

The idea of telling the story of the Armenian genocide – or, really, any other genocide – and repeating those stories is really important. I also think it’s important to always be exposing the warning signs for what was leading up to it. Those tend to always be the same.

Definitely, when you get into something where bands are playing for 30,000 people, it’s not like the post-punk, U.S. independent scene.

The reason there’s no modern-day Shakespeare is because he didn’t have anything to do except sit in a room with a candle and think.

I rejected most of the folk I was exposed to in the Seventies. I came around later to Tom Waits, some parts of Jim Croce, and a lot of Cat Stevens.

I think it’s important for fans to know that but if I’m doing something that inspires me musically then I think it will inspire someone else too.

If you’re an American kid, you can’t help but be influenced by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones because they’re always on the radio.

I can go from one extreme to another, from playing at the Sydney Opera House on the Songbook tour to shows with Soundgarden at Voodoo Fest, all in a week.

There was this moment when we made ‘Superunknown’: the Seattle music scene had suddenly ended up on an international stage with huge success.

In spite of my lack of education, I didn’t lack direction.

I got a GED based on Catholic school seventh-grade education, really. I didn’t make it that far.

One of the Robinson brothers from the Black Crowes turned me on to Nick Drake.

A band that makes records and tours is also a business. That’s usually where a lot of disagreements come. It’s four guys who are musicians and don’t really know much about business, but are very passionate and have very specific ideas.

I don’t really go mountain biking per se, like a proper sport.

I think back to my childhood, and I remember running around as a kid. We were all running around then. It wasn’t about getting into shape. It’s just what we did.

A true musician, like Johnny Cash, should be able to walk into a room with nothing but an instrument and capture people’s attention for two hours.

In the United States, workouts tend to focus on body image and how you look. For me, it’s really all about the brain.

Hip-hop kind of absorbed rock in terms of the attitude and the whole point of why rock was important music. Young people felt like rock music was theirs, from Elvis to the Beatles to the Ramones to Nirvana. This was theirs; it wasn’t their parents’. I think hip-hop became the musical style that embraces that mentality.

I’m not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colorful images. I think that’s more what entertainment and music should be.

I remember as a kid that I was always physically fit.

I feel like you’re not a real musician or entertainer if you can’t go into a room, pick up an instrument and entertain people.

What formed me as a musician, a songwriter, the sound and personality of my band, a whole lot of that happened well before 1991.

There’s something about that blind trust between Timbaland and me – two people that have almost nothing in common except for a love of music – that is really rejuvenating.

When you break out the acoustic guitar, the words are the focal point unless you’re the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar. So the words have to have meaning.

When Soundgarden formed, we were post-punk – pretty quirky.

When I started writing songs for Temple of the Dog, I went to my room with my acoustic guitar, and I was happy staying in that mode. It was more chordal based and more lyric driven. I enjoyed not making riff-based songs built around a guitar idea.

At the end of the day it’s the fans who make you who you are.

Companies figured out that the easiest way to make money was to reissue records that the accounting department had paid for years ago and already made a profit.

What do you think Jesus would twitter, ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’ or ‘Has anyone seen Judas? He was here a minute ago.’

When you start your first band and it has an impact on the rest of the world you go through a lot with those guys and you become very protective of that legacy.

I had kind of a mean piano teacher. I went to Catholic school, so it was like the typical thing you would imagine – a little kid with a white-haired teacher frowning at the fact that I didn’t practice.

I’ve always liked depressing music because a lot of times, listening to it when you’re down can actually make you feel less depressed. Also, even though a person may have problems with depression, sometimes you can actually be kind of comfortable in that space because you know how to operate within it.