In a moving tribute to his peers and late friend Chris Cornell, Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell recently sat down with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to attempt an impossible task: defining Soundgarden‘s legacy through just three songs.
The interview, released on the Hall’s official YouTube channel following Soundgarden‘s induction earlier this month, features Cantrell reflecting on the sheer consistency of the Seattle grunge pioneers. For the guitarist, narrowing down their catalog to a few essential tracks proved to be a frustrating exercise simply because of the band’s flawless track record.
“I hate this because I hate having to pare it down to three songs that define Soundgarden, because I think Soundgarden‘s kind of undefinable,” Cantrell admitted (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “I’m really bad at this, because I like it all. I really do. I mean, if it was a band that was like a one- or two-hit wonder, it’d be a lot easier. But Soundgarden wrote so many great f**king songs.”
Cantrell emphasized that across their six studio albums, the band maintained a level of quality that few artists ever achieve.
“I don’t think they ever did anything bad,” Cantrell stated. “I don’t think they ever put a bad record out, and I don’t think they ever wrote a bad song. And as far as the lyrical approach, it’s all poetry, man. It’s all super-high-quality stuff.”
While he rattled off a list of favorites ranging from early cuts like “Hunted Down” and “Flower” to massive hits like “Black Hole Sun” and “Rusty Cage“, Cantrell did single out one track that holds a specific emotional resonance for him.
“‘The Day I Tried To Live‘, I think maybe that song, it’s pretty… I mean, the hair just went up on the back of my neck just mentioning that song,” he revealed. “There’s one that gets me in the short and curlies.”
Beyond the music, Cantrell spoke affectionately about the enduring bond shared by the musicians who emerged from the Seattle scene in the late 80s and early 90s. He described a community that remains tight-knit to this day, where members of Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and the surviving members of Soundgarden still support one another.
“I grew up in an area that produced some of my favorite music, Soundgarden being one of them, in the world. And some of my favorite people in the world that I still cherish deeply to this day,” Cantrell said. “When you see ’em, the smile just comes out and the warm embrace… It’s still a sense of community.”
He concluded with a poignant thought on the immortality of art, specifically referencing the late Chris Cornell.
“In the case of music, even if you’re not here, unfortunately, you do live on through your music. Your music lives on, and your music is you. It’s you injected into that piece of art.”
Soundgarden was officially inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on November 8 at a ceremony in Los Angeles, where they were honored by actor Jim Carrey.
