A statue honoring Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell was recently vandalized. The bronze statue, which was commissioned by Cornell’s family following his death in 2017, currently stands outside the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. According to KIRO 7 News, on Thursday an unknown person vandalized the statue by covering it in white paint. In a statement issued Friday, Chris Cornell’s widow, Vicky, said she and her children “are heartbroken to learn of the vandalization of Chris’s statue at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. The statue is not only a work of art but a tribute to Chris, his incomparable musical legacy and everything that he stood for. It represents Chris, who is beloved not only in Seattle, but worldwide.” “In the face of this hate and destruction, we are thankfu...
Stone Temple Pilots, featuring current lead singer Jeff Gutt, have announced an upcoming livestream performance of their classic 1992 debut album, Core. Plus, they’ve released a pair of archival concert recordings from 2011 and 2019, the former featuring the late Scott Weiland, the band’s original frontman. As live music remains in a relative stasis during the pandemic, the Stone Temple Pilots livestream is the latest in a bevy of virtual performances from isolated bands and artists. Like a ticket to a physical concert, access to the pay-per-view performance costs $9.99. The show airs next Friday (July 31st) at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET via live music curator nugs.tv. Stone Temple Pilots are also sharing shows from 2011 and 2019 via nugs, which hosts official live recordings of many popu...
The late Chris Cornell’s 20-year-old daughter Lily Cornell Silver has launched the new mental-health interview series Mind Wide Open on IGTV. The first episode premiered Monday (July 20th) to coincide with the legendary Soundgarden frontman’s birthday. “As someone who has suffered trauma and loss as well as struggled with anxiety and depression, I know how important it is to have a space to talk openly and without shame about these subjects,” said Lily in a statement. She continued, “There is so much value, especially for people in my generation, in knowing that everyone struggles with mental health at some point in their lives, despite our society’s dismissive tendencies around emotional wellbeing. It is important for me to give voice to these issues by providing information, honest conve...
Dave Grohl’s drumming in Nirvana is the stuff of legend, but at one point he was worried about getting fired from the band. In a new interview, Grohl admits he was “nervous” that he “was not good enough” to keep his job in the iconic grunge act. “I joined Nirvana, I was their fifth drummer, right?” Grohl reflected in a new interview with Matt Wilkinson of Apple Music. “They’d had a team of drummers before me and some of them were more, I don’t know, more in the band than others. So when I joined the band, I didn’t know Krist and Kurt at all. And when we first met and started playing, it was clear that when we got together to play that it worked really well, and we sounded what most people know now to sound like Nirvana. We sounded like that.” He continued, “But you just meet these people a...
As one of several acts to play the “All In WA: A Concert for COVID-19 Relief” livestream event on Wednesday night (June 24th), Pearl Jam treated viewers to the first-ever live performance of their recent single “Dance of the Clairvoyants”. The socially distant rendition of the song featured each member of Pearl Jam performing from his own home. The band’s longtime lineup of Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, and Matt Cameron was bolstered by former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who provided backing vocals. In the video of the performance, Vedder holds a handheld camera, as his two daughters and wife Jill are seen dancing, bringing to life the song’s line, “I know the girls wanna dance.” Musically, the band mixes things up, with guitarist Gossard pla...
Kurt Cobain’s guitar from Nirvana’s iconic MTV Unplugged episode sold for a record-setting amount of $6,010,000 at a charity auction on Saturday. The 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic-electric guitar far surpassed its original estimate of $1 million dollars. The sale set five new world records, including the most expensive guitar ever sold and the most expensive piece of band memorabilia ever sold. The buyer was Peter Freedman, founder of RØDE Microphones, who plans to display the guitar in a worldwide exhibition tour, with all proceeds going to the performing arts organizations. In addition to the instrument itself, the guitar came with its original hard-shell case — decorated by Cobain with a flyer from Poison Idea’s 1990 album Feel the Darkness, three baggage claim ticket stubs, and an Alaska ...
Kurt Cobain’s guitar from Nirvana’s legendary MTV Unplugged episode will be auctioned off on June 19th by Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California. It’s a 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic-electric guitar and it’s reportedly valued at $1,000,000. The Martin D-18E comes with its original hard-shell case decorated by Cobain, including a flyer from Poison Idea’s 1990 album Feel the Darkness, three baggage claim ticket stubs, and an Alaska Airlines sticker. The case also contains Cobain’s half-used pack of Martin guitar strings, three guitar picks, and a suede “stash” bag with tiny utensils. The guitar is the latest Cobain item from MTV Unplugged to be auctioned off following his sweater, and its current ownership is not without controversy. Over the past several years, Frances Bean Cobain and ...
Kyle Meredith With… Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil jumps into the Delorean with Kyle Meredith to revisit the Screaming Life/FOPP compilation, the “Room Without a View” single, and how the Seattle band found inspiration in The Melvins, Malfunkshun, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and The Beatles. The guitarist also recalls writing page-turner music for the Encarta 95 program, the label issuing the Alive in the Superunknown CD-ROM, and forming The No WTO Combo alongside Krist Novoselic and Jello Biafra. Upon their return to the present, Thayil also says he was about to do a tour with The Blasters’ Dave Alvin before t...
The surviving members of Soundgarden have countersued Chris Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, alleging that she used funds from a 2019 benefit concert for her own “personal purposes.” They also contend that she has taken over the band’s social media accounts without permission, and have also formerly responded to her claims over rights to unreleased songs they say were intended for a new Soundgarden album. Back in December, Vicky sued the Soundgarden members, accusing them of falsely claiming ownership of seven unreleased songs and withholding royalties from her over the dispute. The band had insisted that the songs were meant for a new Soundgarden album, but Vicky claimed no formal agreement was made between Chris and his bandmates as to the intended destination of the tracks. In their coun...