Rock and Roll Garage

The legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen revolutionized guitar playing when Van Halen released their groundbreaking self-titled album in 1978. Over the decades, he was hailed as "the greatest guitarist since Hendrix" and served as an inspiration for countless artists around the world. Rock and roll music evolved significantly after Van Halen officially began their recording career. The 1980s saw the rise of the so-called "hair metal" movement, heavily inspired by Eddie's innovative playing, before things shifted back to basics with the advent of grunge in the 1990s. One of the most influential grunge bands was undoubtedly Soundgarden, fronted by the late, legendary vocalist Chris Cornell. But what were Eddie Van Halen's thoughts on Chris Cornell as a singer and Soundgarden as a band? Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Chris Cornell and Soundgarden In the early 1990s, bands from Seattle, Washington, took the music industry by storm with their critically acclaimed and highly successful albums. These records significantly reshaped the Rock and Roll landscape for older artists, echoing the impact that punk rock had made more than a decade earlier. It was understandable that older musicians might not appreciate the kind of music these groups were creating, as it was quite different from what they were used to making. Although their music was not similar at all with Van Halen, Eddie actually liked some of those bands, including Soundgarden. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1995, he mentioned them as one of the groups he liked at the moment. "I like Tori Amos, Soundgarden and this band Live, but I don’t write like any of them, either. I don’t know where my shit comes from – I almost get into a meditative trance. But wherever it comes from, it does not sound like Pearl Jam or Soundgarden or anyone else. For the last four years all I’ve been listening to is Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse and children’s songs. So if anything, I’d probably start writing Raffi songs," Eddie Van Halen said. He was later asked in the same interview to give his opinion on Pearl Jam's guitarist Stone Gossard. He replied: “I like them, but the guitar playing in particular never really hit me. I like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, but I don’t even know who the guitarists are.” Chris Cornell jammed with Alex and Eddie Eddie had the chance to meet Chris Cornell and they were really good friends around the 90s and early 2000s. As the former Cornell guitarist Pete Thorn said in an interview with Mitch Lafon and Jeremy White in 2022, Eddie always wanted to work with Chris at some point and loved his voice. They finally had the opportunity in 2009 when Cornell was recording his solo album called “Scream”. Eddie even accepted Cornell’s invitation to play in one song and recorded his parts. But according to Thorn, the singer never recorded the vocals for it. As recently revealed by the drummer Alex Van Halen in his new book "Brothers", they had the chance to jam with Chris Cornell a couple of times. He couldn’t precise when it was but it was shortly before Cornell’s death. The singer first jammed with Alex and Eddie and later on only with Alex. “Chris was in a very fragile part of his life, so to speak. I got behind the drums, and he started playing bass. We played for 45 minutes. This motherfucker got so into it he started bleeding. I said, ‘This is the man you want.’ And then he died,” Alex Van Halen said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOzmUTWZgGc&t=1s&pp=ygUXY2hyaXMgY29ybmVsbCB2YW4gaGFsZW4%3D

Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Chris Cornell and Soundgarden

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