A lot of people misinterpreted that song as a suicide-note song. Taking the word live too literally. 'The Day I Tried to Live'' means more like the day I actually tried to open up myself and experience everything that's going on around me as opposed to blowing it all off and hiding in a cave. | | | | Chris Cornell performing with Soundgarden in Rotterdam, Netherlands, June 23, 1992.
(Gie Knaeps/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “A lot of people misinterpreted that song as a suicide-note song. Taking the word live too literally. 'The Day I Tried to Live'' means more like the day I actually tried to open up myself and experience everything that's going on around me as opposed to blowing it all off and hiding in a cave.”
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| | rantnrave:// If you were tasked to explain to the proverbial alien what rock and roll sounded like at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, you could do worse than to play an a cappella recording of CHRIS CORNELL's voice, a masterful four-octave, growl-to-shriek instrument that could be stretched, twisted and cured into the shape of almost any type of rock song anyone could throw at it. It embodied grunge with SOUNDGARDEN, metal with AUDIOSLAVE and then, hell, it went and made an album with TIMBALAND (and it was never less than awe-inspiring even if its owner occasionally made choices that had a few million rock fans scratching their heads). It was never clear if Cornell was using his instrument to transcend the despair of so many of his lyrics or if he was using his songs and performances to undercut the voice's majesty. Either way, he served as a constant reminder that there is light in darkness and darkness in light. That there is always a way to rise above, and always doubt. We will pore over his lyrics, deconstruct his unhinged final performance (which ended with a snippet of LED ZEPPELIN's "IN MY TIME OF DYING") and re-read between the lines of dark interviews in search of clues for why he took his life Wednesday night, and it's unlikely we'll ever have an answer. Just questions. And tears. And, more than anything, memories of that voice and the man who owned it. We look back in our MusicSET "Remembering Chris Cornell"... PWR BTTM's BEN HOPKINS says accusations of sexual assault leveled by a women interviewed by JEZEBEL "did not line up with any sexual experience I have ever had." In a detailed public statement, Hopkins firmly denies the career-derailing allegations while adding, "it is my responsibility to be accountable to this individual's perspective and to honor it accordingly." Hopkins' note—bandmate LIV BRUCE and the band itself issued statements as well—takes pains to consider that the woman's perspective may differ from their own. It also takes pains to carp about the woman's anonymity, which is incredibly tone-deaf, considering the subject... TOBY KEITH will play a concert open only to men in RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA, in conjunction with PRESIDENT TRUMP's visit to the country this weekend. Really... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from JLIN, FAITH EVANS & THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G., MOUNTAIN GOATS, NICK HAKIM, JADE JACKSON, THE BUILDERS AND THE BUTCHERS, SNOOP DOGG, LINKIN PARK, !!!, LITTLE STEVEN, CHASTITY BROWN, DRAGONFORCE, WAVVES, ERASURE and POKEY LAFARGE. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | REDEF |
| With a punk-rock spirit and a four-octave, growl-to-shriek vocal range that could make any metal singer jealous, Chris Cornell was the embodiment of grunge, one of the great rock voices of the past 30 years and a constant reminder that there is light in darkness, and darkness in light. | | |
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 | Complex |
| A look back at Martin Shkreli's terrible relationship with hip-hop. | | |
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 | MusicAlly |
| A major selling point of blockchain technology has been its promise of information systems that can remain operational, even despite missing links. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| Why playing Caesars Palace isn't just a pre-cursor to retirement anymore. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Twenty years ago, Céline Dion recorded “My Heart Will Go On,” the epic -- and instantly inescapable -- love theme from 'Titanic' and the standard for cinematic ballads to come. Dion, Tommy Mottola, Billy Zane and more remember the song that James Cameron at first didn’t want, and that she very nearly passed on: “Every night when I sing it, I think, ‘What a moment. What a song.’” | | |
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 | The Verge |
| Vevo, the music video service most easily recognized for its presence on YouTube, is putting more faith and resources into TV. The company is today releasing a refined app for tvOS, designed to improve on its recent efforts to offer personalized music videos and original content to its users. | | |
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 | Talkhouse |
| "If Harry Styles reads this, he’ll probably hate it." | | |
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 | The Atlantic |
| Fifty years after its release, the sprawling closing track on "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" remains a testament to the group’s ambitious songwriting. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| Mr. Urie, the frontman of the band Panic! at the Disco, is taking over the role of Charlie Price on Broadway. | | |
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 | Business Insider |
| Streaming is on the up, downloads are on their way out, and vinyl continues to explode in popularity. | | |
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 | Rolling Stone |
| Pamela Des Barres, author of the famous memoir 'I'm With the Band,' which turns 30 this year, talks about her new book and teaching career. | | |
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 | Charlie Rose |
| A conversation with the founder of "Rolling Stone," Jann Wenner, and his son Gus Wenner, the head of digital operations for the magazine's parent group, Wenner Media. | | |
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 | Wired |
| Jesse Engel is playing an instrument that’s somewhere between a clavichord and a Hammond organ--18th-century classical crossed with 20th-century rhythm and blues. Then he drags a marker across his laptop screen. Suddenly, the instrument is somewhere else between a clavichord and a Hammond. | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| Only a few years into her career, the singer has absorbed the music’s history and made it her own. | | |
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 | The Quietus |
| Producer, engineer and musician Grace Banks argues that recording studios are all-too-often male dominated and even hostile to women, from outright misogyny to the subtle messages in the buildings themselves. What might be done to change this? | | |
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 | Bandcamp Daily |
| On her excellent full-length debut, Amelia Murray is “freaked out” about falling in love. | | |
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 | Mixmag |
| Pubs and small venues host quality DJs every weekend, but that's something that isn't celebrated often enough. | | |
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| Billboard |
| With a special 50th anniversary Sgt. Pepper release due May 26, Universal Music Enterprises' top executive Bruce Resnikoff explains how he keeps catalog music moving. | | |
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 | Thump |
| Nicky Siano recalls how the fledging club struggled to fill its dancefloor despite a fabulous opening night. | | |
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 | Detroit Free Press |
| Hours before his suicide, the Soundgarden singer gave an unfocused, irritable performance. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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