At the pinnacle of his career, immediately following the release of Soundgarden’s 1994 album Superunknown, Chris Cornell was singing about depression. Unfortunately, it was depression that ultimately brought him down.
“How would I know / that this could be my fate?” he sings on Superunknown’s “Fell on Black Days.”
The frontman for Soundgarden and Audioslave, and a solo artist in his own right, hung himself last week in a hotel room after a seemingly upbeat performance at Detroit’s Fox Theatre.
Cornell was reportedly taking the benzodiazepine/anti-anxiety drug Ativan, which many of us in the mental health community are also on. A side effect of Ativan can be suicidal thoughts. Reportedly, that night, Cornell had taken more than the prescribed dose of the drug.
On Friday, Men’s Health magazine unearthed an interview with Cornell from 11 years ago, in which he speaks candidly about his depression:
I was depressed for a long time. If you’re depressed long enough, it’s almost a comfort, a state of mind that you’ve made peace with because you’ve been in it so long. It’s a very selfish world.
Cornell went on to tell the magazine how he turned his life around. He says that after making a lot of life changes, including quitting drinking and smoking, he was suddenly filled with energy.
But it appears he couldn’t sustain the energy and change. He joins Robin Williams, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse as legends the world has lost to mental illness and depression.
Like Nirvana and Alice in Chains, Soundgarden was a linchpin for the grunge movement of the early ‘90s. His prolific career and numerous hit songs led many to call him the voice of a generation. Cornell will sorely be missed.
R.I.P. Chris Cornell, 1964-2017.
If you are having suicidal thoughts or need help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-TALK.
