Chris Cornell
Scream

Dear Chris,

in the history of rock, many people have gone beyond limits, wanted to go further, experiment, reach distant horizons, with good and disastrous results. Just think of Tim Buckley, a man who flew so high he couldn't come back, left miles and miles from the earth, alone with his music, a genius misunderstood by most..

Or Demetrio Stratos, the King of experimentation, the greatest.. So ahead that not even a souped-up Lamborghini will ever pass him.. He too was not fully understood and appreciated. Think also of the Beatles, dear Chris, of their musical evolution, the various periods, from "those nice boys" with bowl cuts, to the discovery of lysergic acid and a new world, new inspirations, new colors, lights, sounds..

And what about, my old friend, the late Jimi Hendrix, the guru of experimentation with a Stratocaster in hand? Bad end, but what music did he leave us, huh? The Led Zeppelin, the fathers of hard rock, the Black Sabbath, damn Chris, the BLACK SABBATH!!! Who had the courage to continue proposing that type of music and believing in it until the end in that era if not uncles Iommi and Ozzy? Chris, do you remember? Good times huh, my old friend? Yeah.. Good times.. With this damn bat head-eater, everything started Chris, EVERYTHING!

And you knew it, you plotted in the shadows, you realized you possessed one of the most powerful voices ever heard until now, and you waited for the right moment to surface.. You started right with your founding fathers, you merged Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin into the magical "Fopp/Screaming Life" (a bit unripe still, but your enormous potential was already visible), and the magnificent "UltramegaOk"..

You were noticed by the media and important record labels for your Plant-like way of singing, for that: "Falsetto? No thanks.. I go high, damn if I go high, and I do it with a full voice.. No bullshit guys. I have a scream that pierces your eardrums if you're two meters away from me.. Watch out not to piss me off because I'll knock you down using just the stentorian liberating scream, alright? Are you picking a fight with me? No, I say, did you say it to me? You're screwed, buddy.. You're all talk and no badge, ALL TALK AND NO BADGE! Forget about the technique of Universe Destruction of the Sacred School of Hokuto, I kill you without even touching you".

And from that moment on you gave birth, together with that other genius who was the good Hiro, one of the most talented guitarists of the moment (Kim, do you remember Kim huh Chris? With those distorted inventions, that frantic guitar..) and Matt, a great drummer, the monolithic "Louder Than Love", a Stonehenge stone in music, a dark, granite and wonderful album.

Then, since the direction was already changing, also due to Hiro's departure from the group, what did you do? In 1991, do you remember that year, brother, a great year that huh? You invented "BADMOTORFINGER", I mean... "BADMOTORFINGER".. A milestone of Hard Rock in metal fusion, a masterpiece under all aspects, and here the bow comes automatically..

Oh, I forgot the masterful "Temple of the Dog", while you were recording "badmotor", you found time to organize a supergroup with your Pearl Jam friends and "croon" something for the late Andrew Wood..

However, having to move on, because, as you well know, old bastard, those who stop are lost, you tainted your grungehardrockmetal with a pinch of psychedelia, slightly oriental-tinged phrasing (also thanks to that fool Shepherd and, to tell the truth, the same creative ascending path as the Zeps, but let's skip it..) in that fantastic work that was "Superunknown" (First album of yours that I strictly bought "The Original").

And down the praises from the public and critics high in the sky, millions of copies sold, awards galore, also thanks to that slightly slick single that was "Black Hole Sun", but tracks like "Fell on Black Days", "4th of July", "Like Suicide", "My Wave", "Spoonman" etc.. Are authentic masterpieces. You decided it wasn't enough and tried, together with your friends, to amaze the world once again with "Down On the Upside", but here, old pirate, it went wrong..

Now I say: with a discography like that, with a few million copies sold, royalties, with that look of ours, us who are defined as the handsome damned of rock, who have made some of the history and us who have seen Genoa, you could have easily gathered fame and done nothing for the rest of your days..

But not you, not satisfied you said to yourself: and now that they have evicted me from the Garden of Sound what the hell do I do?

Honestly, dear old clear valley screamer, I wouldn't have asked myself this question and would have continued to do nothing, instead of attempting a solo career with "Euphoria Morning" (Which I, by the way, appreciated and listened to several times and still today, every so often, when a little melancholic side hits me, I gladly stick it in the player..).

And then?

Crazy project: AUDIOSLAVE..

Why did you do it? To see what the hell would come out between your compositional mind and ¾ of pure sound violence? To see what people thought? To create gossip? I get it.. Because Morello and associates saw the bank account decline and you, too.. For heaven's sake, Chris, let's be clear, the first album wasn't bad at all, a bit leaning towards plagiarism of Led Zeppelin at times, but definitely nice.. The second one used as an ornament and the third to dust off knickknacks, an embarrassing flatness and repetitiveness..

Thus the turning point and I said to myself, you old fox: "Here you took us all for a ride, made us believe you had lost the high octaves for good, then you come out with: we are parting ways, the artistic differences are too big to keep going.. I want to try the solo career again, I already have a lot of songs ready, but the album release won't be immediate so as not to interfere with Revelations sales.. Blah blah blah.....".

So I'm waiting, hopeful to hear something like the old "Euphoria" again, even if I expect something better.. I wait.. I wait.. And what the damn hell comes out?

"Carry On"? What the hell is that?

Chris, let me tell you, with all due respect, this album literally sucks!

As the good old Abatantuono would say in his better days: "MMM.. Maronna, what's this otorino? What have you cooked? Meatballs of shit?" or "Dear Cristiano Cornellio, I wanted to tell you that this album really makes me VOMIT! IS IT CLEAR? IS IT CLEAR?"

But you don't stop, you want to go beyond decency:

PRODUCTION FEAT. TIMBALAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"SCREAM"? But where's "Scream"? It's the same crap as "Apologize"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now tell me, if it's a joke, you really are a magical jokester and I start laughing now, but if it's not, I feel obliged to sing the Funeral Roll in your honor:

(..Drum roll..) "ChrischConnell was badass, and now he's dead.. The strings and the brain snapped.. Odin took him.. Odin took him..".

Now I never deny the past, for better or for worse, nor my nickname, dear old Chris, but I feel obliged to tell you something:

FUCK YOU AND TIMBALAND!!