Quotes from Chris Cornell

My history of singing has always probably been closer to a David Bowie approach than, for example, an AC/DC approach.

To me, R&B means Aretha Franklin, who is otherworldly.

'Superunknown,' maybe more than most albums, didn't reveal itself to be what it was until the very end - literally until we were three quarters of the way through mixing it.

There wasn't a key moment when I knew I wanted to quit.

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'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.

If I had a musical identity that was definable then it would be time to get into painting or something else. Race car driving.

Friends of mine that are from here or that have spent time here have told me about Israel and how warm the people are and that I should someday come here.

They're a great audience, kids. They actually respond. They don't have the references that adults have, so everything is immediate. It's always interesting to see what they react to in whatever I'm working on at the moment. And they don't even want to discuss why. That's a lesson to remember: My son doesn't care about why.

I used to hate playing Seattle shows.

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.'

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.

I prefer not to use any machines. I focus a lot on cardio, which is what I do when I'm on stage. I also am into isometric workouts.

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

I've always felt like there's a certain amount of doing what I do, and performing and making records and doing interviews and photo shoots and that, that are kind of a necessary evil of getting my music to people's ears to hear. Over the years, I've just become more tolerant of that.

I always looked at rock & roll as the voice of regular people, of an economic group not in charge.

I'm a huge fan of film and always have been.

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.

No matter what, I can't sound like John Lennon. But I can do Tom Jones.

I'm sure I could start a band tomorrow that would have different influences and would want to do something completely different than anything I've done.

It just doesn't get any more stripped down than going out totally alone and doing songs.

The sense of anger I had when I was younger is something I thought would never go away. Over time, it's something you get almost bored with.

Some of the most brilliant things that someone might do could happen in three minutes because it's something that just occurs to them. And then, there's the example of really chipping away at something to create something great. I don't believe that one is more reliable than the other.

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.'