Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell now joins a growing list of grunge pioneers who have tragically passed away.
Around midnight, Detroit Police Department officers responded to a 911 call from the MGM Grand Casino. Dontae Freeman, a Detroit PD spokesman, only said that the unidentified white male victim, born July 20, 1964, had apparently committed suicide. When police officers arrived, they pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
Hours later, a spokesperson for Soundgarden confirmed the news: Chris Cornell had passed away at the age of 52.
The birth date and description of the individual who committed suicide by hanging himself exactly matched that of the legendary musician.
Freeman told reporters what had happened. Chris Cornell’s wife had called on a friend to check up on the singer. When the friend got to the hotel, he found the singer unresponsive on the bathroom floor. After police officers contacted EMS, they pronounced him dead at the scene.
Officers discovered Chris Cornell with a band around his neck.
Freeman stressed that only the “preliminary determination” indicates an “apparent suicide.” In a statement, he emphasized that officers haven’t reached a definitive conclusion yet.
“At present our investigation is leaning toward the possibility of suicide, but we must wait for a medical report to determine the cause of death. At this time we cannot release too much information about what we observed in Cornell’s hotel room or what led us to this conclusion.”
Freeman promised more details in a press conference later during the day.
Cornell’s representative, Brian Bumbery, said in a statement,
“Chris Cornell passed away late Wednesday night in Detroit, MI. His wife Vicky and family were shocked to learn of his sudden and unexpected passing, and they will be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause. They would like to thank his fans for their continuous love and loyalty and ask that their privacy be respected at this time.”
Hours prior to the suicide, Cornell had performed with Soundgarden at Fox Theatre in Detroit. Music critic Gary Graff told CBS Detroit that Cornell looked very happy and psyched during the performance.
“[Cornell] was great last night, you know. He was at peak powers, his singing was tremendous, he was clearly in a great mood. He was loving being on stage, he was loving being in Detroit. Several times during the show he talked about how much he loved the city and loved the audience. He said, you know, ‘Detroit, you never disappoint.’”
Before his performance, Cornell had tweeted,
#Detroit finally back to Rock City!!!! @soundgarden #nomorebullshit pic.twitter.com/BqXx9veFoD
— Chris Cornell (@chriscornell) 18 de mayo de 2017
Chris Cornell joins a growing list of grunge pioneers who have tragically passed away. Prior to his drug overdose, friends had placed Layne Staley on a 24-hour suicide watch. Kurt Cobain committed suicide with a shotgun. Scott Weiland passed away from a lethal mix of cocaine, alcohol, and methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA).
Perhaps Dave Grohl remains the standout, high-functioning exception. But Seattle grunge now appears to be a cursed genre.
Top image: ‘·S’ (CC by 2.0)
Correction: in our initial report, we misspelled the name of the Detroit Police Department spokesman. It is Dontae Freeman.
Such a tragedy, Hard to believe someone who had everything would take his life
I guess what was everything to you is night everything to others.. perspective
Depression doesn’t care who you are or how much money you have.
All these comments about him being selfish. Look in the mirror you assholes. We are talking about a human being. Period. With clearly having issues that drove him to this. Have some basic level respect for those dealing with this. You all that are condemning and calling a coward, you are more selfish for just blowing you mouths off with no knowledge of anything. Who are you to judge anyone. No way non of you are perfect for sure. God Speed Chris Cornell and prayers for his family, true friends, true fans and even those that have no clue.
You guys are all stupid. The man clearly died accidentally as a result of erotic asphyxiation. He didn’t intentionally kill himself, and he wasn’t murdered. The official cause of death is suicide, but only to spare his reputation in light of how he died. Open your eyes and research. Never simply believe what you’re told. Subscribe to TAC TIMES on youtube!
The man clearly died accidentally as a result of erotic asphyxiation. He didn’t intentionally kill himself, and he wasn’t murdered. The official cause of death is suicide, but only to spare his reputation in light of how he died. Open your eyes and research. Never simply believe what you’re told. Subscribe to TAC TIMES on youtube!
Suicide is the ultimate selfish act especially from a functional person. He just screwed all his bandmates of both their band and future incoming touring with them, plus entire family, spouses, everyone.
How about his kids? What kind of a selfish prick bails on their kids?
Julio, you cock head, one who is human & in the grips of addiction would be a start. His suicide does not mean any less of his love for his kids. Go back to masturbating over your Barbie dolls, eh.
You guys are all stupid. The man clearly died accidentally as a result of erotic asphyxiation. He didn’t intentionally kill himself, and he wasn’t murdered. The official cause of death is suicide, but only to spare his reputation in light of how he died. Open your eyes and research. Never simply believe what you’re told. Subscribe to TAC TIMES on youtube!
Oh wow, you obviously never dealt with depression my friend. It’s unfortunately not that simpel… And coward? C’mon man. Not cool. And not true
He is a coward now go on
If you are struggling with suicide or succeeded in killing yourself then you’re not “functional” just because his career and family was “ideal” in the eyes of others… Drug and alcohol addiction caused life to no longer sparkle in comparison .. he said it himself..
You are a douchebag. You have no idea what he was going through. Neither do I but since I’m not a judgmental asshole, I won’t let this change my view of him. This makes me so sad…
Suicide is a lot of things, but selfish isn’t one of them.
Suicide is a decision made out of desperation, hopelessness, isolation and loneliness. The black hole that is clinical depression is all-consuming. Feeling like a burden to loved ones, feeling like there is no way out, feeling trapped and feeling isolated are all common among people who suffer from depression.
People who say that suicide is selfish always reference the survivors. It’s selfish to leave children, spouses and other family members behind, so they say. They’re not thinking about the survivors, or so they would have us believe. What they don’t know is that those very loved ones are the reason many people hang on for just one more day. They do think about the survivors, probably up until the very last moment in many cases. But the soul-crushing depression that envelops them leaves them feeling like there is no alternative. Like the only way to get out is to opt out. And that is a devastating thought to endure.
Until you’ve stared down that level of depression, until you’ve lost your soul to a sea of emptiness and darkness… you don’t get to make those judgments. You might not understand it, and you are certainly entitled to your own feelings, but making those judgments and spreading that kind of negativity won’t help the next person. In fact, it will only hurt others. – Katie Hurley
You’re a,cunt and you’ve no idea what you’re talking about.
Totally agree – suicide is the ultimate coward move. Who cares if you are depressed? Who cares what selfish excuse you come up with? Sure it’s sad… for his wife and kids and others left to deal with the question “why” for the rest of their lives. I know several people who have committed suicide. One of the most heartbreaking things I have ever seen in my life is the funeral of a clown that jumped in front of a train… and his 2 daughters lighting candles at his funeral with the look of utter despair on their faces. Questions like “What did I do? What didn’t I do? Should I have said something different?” will haunt them forever. Suicide is for cowards and sniveling spineless ass-hats. Spare me the excuses. There is never a good reason to murder yourself – those that do don’t care about anyone else but themselves, plain and simple.
Shut it! Keep comments like this of the internet
C’mon guys. He took the easy way out. All this self-loathing grunge bullshit, please, it’s just lazy self-medication — and we’re supposed to feel sorry for that? No thanks! I’ll celebrate heroes who tough it out not cowards like Cornell who just fucked over his kids, family and band.
“The easy way out” You obviously have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Depression is hell
There’s no doubt it’s a selfish act, but then the pressure on Cornell to do all sorts of things, maybe spend a summer touring that he had decided he couldn’t handle, but couldn’t get out of, was probably great. Add that the pressures of being a father and breadwinner, though he probably had enough money, but you never know.
It is easy to get mad at people who commit suicide, but it doesn’t really matter. They’re gone. Unfortunately, people who decide to commit suicide are pretty good at hiding it. I would like to think someone had a reason to go after him, since professionals can make a homicide look like suicide, but noone had any reason to kill him except some fringe weirdo, and getting into a hotel would’ve revealed breaking and entering. Anyway, it sucks, going to take some time to process even though I haven’t been that deep into to Soundgarden for a long time.
You guys are all stupid. The man clearly died accidentally as a result of erotic asphyxiation. He didn’t intentionally kill himself, and he wasn’t murdered. The official cause of death is suicide, but only to spare his reputation in light of how he died. Open your eyes and research. Never simply believe what you’re told. Subscribe to TAC TIMES on youtube!
Really? We’re still claiming that Kurt Cobain’s death was a suicide? K.
Honestly shocked by the suicide path for Chris Cornell and really curious to see what the examiners come out with. It just doesn’t add up, but that’s just an outsider’s knee-jerk reaction. Only the people close to him could really make a call like that – plausible or not plausible, shocking or not so shocking.
In my view, it’s just all away around sad and a shame.nobody’s right or wrong.
Just wayyy too sad! What a great talent & a great man….
He will be missed by soo many….xoxo RIP Chris ?
So horrible such a great talent & man had to struggle so severely with depression! RIP Chris ?
Tragic… so final. Will miss your exceptional talent
Deeply saddened! ?
It’s sounding more like he accidentally killed himself via auto-erotic asphyxiation than suicide. I read they found a “band” around his neck and no suicide note. He went out like David Carradine!
yeah, but what I hate is that the whole world now thinks he was some depressed guy who never recovered from his sadness. he probably was in the middle of an erotic asphyxiation and he slipped or something, cuz that stuff is really life threatening. I hate the media spin on this. it’s bullshit. he fought all his life to be in a better place mentally and now they portray him as a lost cause. well he wasn’t. if anything he was human and he enjoyed the concert in detroit so much that he went to the hotel and wanted to have a little fun with himself.
the family has the choice to specify either sexual deviant behaviour or suicide so they went with suicide.
Well, it’s too early for them to issue an official cause of death and it will be weeks before the lab/toxicology results come back. The family can’t specify what they want, that would be illegal. This is a matter of public record and the truth will come out regardless. The media is who is spinning the suicide thing.
“diamond rope, silver chain, pretty noose is pretty pain, and I don’t like what you got me hangin’ from”
Oh duh… you’re right! That totally got past me. You couldn’t hang yourself with an exercise band (not that I’ve tried it, mind you). I think it would break. So there’s a white lie going on here from the medical examiner. It’s accidental suicide by strangulation, not suicide by hanging.
You are right. He was trying to get off by choking himself but he died instead.
its just so sad
Some insightful comments here on out attitude to topping yourself.
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/05/18/soundgarden-chris-cornell-suicide/#comment-288906
You guys are all stupid. The man clearly died accidentally as a result of erotic asphyxiation. He didn’t intentionally kill himself, and he wasn’t murdered. The official cause of death is suicide, but only to spare his reputation in light of how he died. Open your eyes and research. Never simply believe what you’re told. Subscribe to TAC TIMES on youtube!