Chris Cornell’s third solo album, “Scream,” was released on March 10, 2009. Cornell previously provided us with one of the most memorable voices of the ‘90s as the frontman of two of my favorite bands from the aforementioned decade, Soundgarden and Temple of the Dog.
Soundgarden provided us with excellent commercial hits (“Black Hole Sun,” “Fell On Black Days”), in addition to lesser-known hard rock masterpieces (“Loud Love,” “Outshined”). Temple of the Dog is an early side project dedicated to the deceased Andrew Wood, a close friend and vocalist of promising early grunge band Mother Love Bone, consisted of members from both Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Their self-titled release is, in my opinion, one of the quintessential gems from the ‘90s. You’ve probably heard the hit “Hunger Strike” before. Their one and only album is highly recommended.
Finally, Cornell became the vocalist for the three remaining members of my all-time favorite band, Rage Against the Machine, resulting in the somewhat less exceptional Audioslave.
Though reaction to Audioslave was mixed, and I will not attempt to proclaim them as a decidedly great band, their music is still genuinely badass and creative.
But, I digress. The real point here is that I have significant reason to love Chris Cornell and everything the man has ever done musically. So naturally, I rolled to the record store and picked up “Scream” the day it was dropped.
Now, here’s the intriguing aspect behind “Scream:” it was produced entirely by Timbaland.
That’s right, you heard me correctly. Timbaland, the same mega-producer behind some of pop’s biggest hits. I had been reading about this record in anticipation and was aware of this detail prior to its release. Truth be told, though, it only made me more curious as to what the final product would turn out like.
In all honesty, however, “Scream” is pretty average.
In fact, it’s really not good at all. Cornell’s falsetto howl just doesn’t match with electronic pop hooks, and, even with some live instrumentation thrown in, it doesn’t solidify the sound. All in all, the songs are very contrived and the vocal rarely feels comfortable. On top of this, Cornell often writes lyrics to try to fit a pop formula (i.e. sex and breakups), which are plain horrible.
For instance, on the opener, “Part of Me,” the chorus features the repeated line, “That bitch ain’t a part of me, No that bitch ain’t a part of me…”
Somehow, Chris, I’m not convinced. And this was the track Cornell selected to begin the whole record!
“Take Me Alive” features Justin Timberlake as a guest on backing vocals. Huh? JT and Timbaland collaborate often, but teaming up with Chris Cornell is hard to fathom, and the song fizzles and falls flat. Cornell is much better suited for duets with Eddie Vedder than Timberlake.
Even though “Scream” falls short of anything worth hearing, strangely enough, my respect for Chris Cornell has only grown. So few artists in this age are willing to branch out, experiment and break the rules. It seems like all too often, once an artist establishes him or herself as a hard rock or a pop act, there’s no crossing those lines. Well, even though Cornell failed as a pop/dance artist, at least he tried!
And there certainly isn’t any room for accusations of selling out or going soft simply by working with Timbaland. Cornell’s reputation is already secure in the rock universe, and he has absolutely nothing to prove to anyone other than himself, so why not write a dance record? Obviously, he was looking to push his writing to new boundaries, and he created the record that he really wanted to make, not one that any outside influences were pressuring him to make.
Re-defining one’s sound among popular artists seems to be an accomplishment of the past. Though some modern bands have achieved it throughout their careers, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers or the Smashing Pumpkins, they are really the exception rather than the rule.
This point flows very neatly into my topic for next week: the versatility and superiority of classic artists as compared to today.
See you then.
Currently Listening to: Death Cab for Cutie - “Transatlanticism,” P.O.S .- “Audition”
For the Record: The pros and cons of experimentation
Published: Sunday, April 5, 2009
Updated: Sunday, April 5, 2009
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