Fans of grunge music mourn the death of one of its dynamic pioneers, Chris Cornell. The 52-year-old frontman of Soundgarden died early Thursday morning, from an evident suicide. According to news reports, a friend of Cornell went to his hotel room to check on him, but he found the singer on the bathroom floor.
According to the Guardian, police found him with a band around his neck. The coroner later on officially ruled it is as death by suicide. After his death, fans shared what they thought of his final performance.
One Fan Saw ‘Ominous Signs’
In a People article, writer Andrea Billups speaks to photographer Ken Settle, who has been bands and artists in Detroit. Settle is also a fan of Soundgarden – he has been hooked since he first saw them play in the 1980s. This time around, Settle describes Cornell’s performance as different, saying he was “more joyous” compared to his early days as a “brooding performer.”
In this show, Settle also noted that he was more interactive with the audience and even said how much he loved the Detroit rock audience. He was giving is all all throughout the night. Settle also heard the artist quip about feeling sorry for the next city, to which he said, “In retrospect… it almost sounded like he wasn’t going to show up in the next town. That kind of gives me pause.”
Chris Cornell Interacts With Band Mates
Another strange thing he observed was for the first time, Cornell also interacted with his bandmates on stage. Settle happily took photos of this, which was a rare occurrence in Soundgarden concerts. The last thing he noted was the choice of closing out song, a rendition of “In My Time Dying.”
Upon hearing the news about the suicide, Settle commented on it as a tragedy of “suicide, mental illness and depression.” He added, “It had to be a very deep pain to get someone to step out of life, with their kids in their life, a pretty profound hurt.”
Another fan who was lucky to watch the concert told CBC News that she “saw in him exhaustion.” Being a longtime fan, she was comparing what she saw to his other performances. She quipped, “From a person’s stage performance you don’t see their inner conflict and their struggle and their pain. You’re watching someone you hardly believe is really human lay everything he had on stage.”