Good tunes, good times

There isn't a MySpace profile in the world that doesn't say something about how much the person trying to summarize their life in a few paragraphs loves music. The teen set thinks they are 'so into it' when more likely they haven't learned how to balance their interests yet and its pretty easy to fixate on unapproachable demi-gods of modern culture. (On some level what is being a teen if not loving a popular-culture icon to help you gain your own identity?)

But keeping your ear buds in instead of listening to your family communicate with you isn't actually being more into music than the next person, its simply being more into yourself. The point is, we humans with our technologies and portable file storage, like music. We have it nearly everywhere we go.

On a recent night, I went with some friends (Shannon, Steve, Deidra, Jason) to see Chris Cornell sing to us at Salt Lake's The Depot. Somebody once dubbed Kurt Cobain my generation's spokesman, which really annoys me still. His lyrics never spoke to me, much less for me, although I don't mind some Nirvana songs, I found the whole tone a little bit depressed for my taste.

Since he committed suicide he is immortal along with James Dean and Marilyn Monroe while all his grunge contemporaries who lived were allowed to pass out of being the latest fad. I am not the first to note the fact that suicide is the best career move an artist can make.

From the era, I always much preferred Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and especially Soundgarden. None were ever my spokesman. Cornell and Soundgarden parted ways somehow without me ever seeing them in concert during an era when due to working security, editing the college newspaper and being a young cub at the Deseret News, I saw almost everybody in concert. I will make a list sometime.

Cornell then formed Audioslave, which produced two albums I love, but I managed to miss any live shows for that band as well. I dig the man's voice and I know if I could have been born sounding like that, I too could have been a rock star, despite the lack of musical talent infused in my genes.

Feeling like I better not miss hearing the dude sing live, Shannon and I paid the $35 each and went to the show and were glad to have the company of good friends. His latest album is a solo effort produced with the supremely talented but predictable producer Timbaland. (Think "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado or "Cry Me A River," from Justin Timberlake.) I was very skeptical about the new material but figured I would suffer through it to hear some Audioslave and Soundgarden tunes.

In short, the show was top-notch; Cornell sings like an angel and screams like a demon and fronts the stage like a mellow, comfortable performer who realizes he has it good and appreciates the fans without losing his 'rock star' persona. I was pretty impressed and when he sang tunes like, "Rusty Cage," and "Fell On Black Days," there was some serious energy in the room and I couldn't help but mourn missing that band at its peak and Audioslave as well.

But the revelation of the night was how well his "dance album" stuff translated to a great live show. Two songs in particular, "Part Of Me," (featuring a slander word I don't want in my kids' vocabulary) and "Scream," ("I said 'Heeeey' Why you keep scraming at the top of your head?") were instantly pleasing despite being the first time I heard them. Talking up the show to my music-critic friend landed me a loaned solo CD of "Scream" and I must say that it is supremely good. The eclectic mix of pop styles with latin roots, anchored by Cornell's distinctive, mature voice and some new age sensibilities have managed to mix with the end result being an album I can't get enough of. I ration it when I listen to music so I don't overdose, but it is always calling to me. Critics apparently don't like it, I definitely don't care.