Why Chris Cornell saw John Lennon as a father figure

It may not be as noticeable in the heavy sound of the Soundgardenbut one of the biggest influences of Chris Cornell they were Beatles. History repeated itself among several great artists — after all, we are talking about the most successful band of all time.

In several interviews, Cornellwho left us in 2017, expressed his devotion to Beatles. The late musician, for example, spoke in 2011 to CTATL.com (via Louder) that the Fab Four was responsible for changing his life.

“Even at the age of nine, they made a huge impression on me, and later on my songwriting style, without me realizing it.”

Why did this occur? According to Chrisprecisely due to his young age at the time he was introduced to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

“It had to do with how young I was and having access to their entire catalog at the same time. I had stolen a stack of vinyl from Beatles that covered their entire career. Two of the records were those ‘best of’ compilations of the time – those double disc sets where one was red and the other was blue. I listened to everything, but I gravitated towards the later stuff. Even though I was 9 years old and had no way of knowing, he was influential in every way as a songwriter and singer.”

Very likely, Cornell refers to collections 1962–1966(known as Red Album) It is 1967–1970 (known as Blue Album). Released in 1973, shortly after the group’s end, they are among his best-known compilations.

Chris Cornell and John Lennon

What draws attention to this relationship between Chris Cornell It is Beatleshowever, is the musician’s devotion to John Lennon. O Beatles deceased in 1980 was mentioned by the member of Soundgarden It is Audioslave like your favorite composer. Not only that: he was like a father figure.

In an interview with Howard Sternalso in 2011, he stated:

“I actually looked up to him as a father figure when I was a kid. Because I sat in a room when I was nine and ten years old and listened to records by Beatles and John Lennon records over and over again. He was an intense guy with an intense attitude, musically, lyrically and as a person.”

Another die-hard fan

Another famous musician who declares himself a big fan of the intensity of John Lennon It is Thom Yorke. In an interview with the author Jason Thomas Gordon for the book The Singers Talk and published in Rolling Stone USA (via website Igor Miranda), the leader of Radiohead was asked to reveal which singer he would like to ask a question about vocals — and, of course, what question it would be.

Without thinking twice, he chose the Beatles.

“He would be John Lennon. Lennon’s whole attitude towards singing, I’m a bit obsessed with because on the surface he has this raw thing about not caring… the way he sings is strangely brutal. I wanted to talk to him about how he was always so precise, but always sounding on edge, like, ‘he’s going to miss, he’s going to miss’.”

The conversation would also extend to studio recording techniques. Yorke notes that the vocals of Lennon They did not undergo practically any type of subsequent treatment, due to the lack of technological resources available at the time.

“And specifically, all those ideas he had about how his voice should be treated. I’m like, ‘How do you see that?’ Because what they did with his voice, they had very simple tools, but they did interesting things. Then I would have a conversation with him about that… or about yoga.”