Great news, residents of the West Coast: You have the opportunity to hear Chris Cornell emote his way through his collaboration with Timbaland live! East coast residents–including you, S/FJ–are doubly out of luck, since the duo will be hitting up local Verizon Wireless stores for autograph sessions as well.
Congratulations, world! You somehow made it all the way to Oct. 1, 2008, which means one thing: It’s time for Rocktober to start. How will you celebrate? Some people are linking to YouTubes of Who songs. Others are hoping that you’ll have a hankering to hear the Divinyls and Foreigner within the same span of time. One guy who got the coveted domain name “rocktober.com” is even saying that we should bring back Metallica Monday, although I know of a few people who might disagree with that idea. Which is why I have five Rocktober-celebration suggestions of my own, all of which are located after the jump.
It’s not even that New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones dislikes the Chris Cornell/Timbaland collaboration Scream. He seems disappointed by it, vexed that someone he idolized let him down.
In addition to dropping rhymes over watered-down Timbaland beats, the former Soundgarden frontman also co-wrote “Light On,” which you will probably come to know as the first single off American Idol winner David Cook’s solo album if you decide to step in a Walgreen’s anytime over the coming months. And Cornell wrote it with the dude who has co-writing credits on Hinder’s “Lips Of An Angel.” Now you get to choose which fate is better! Sadly “Light On” hasn’t leaked yet (it’s due to premiere somewhere tomorrow), but I’ve posted its lyrics after the jump. Yes, for some reason it was decided that couplets like “Try to leave a light on when I’m gone / Even in the daylight, shine on” would be the best way to whet peoples’ appetite. This is why I don’t work in marketing, you know.
Popbitch has revealed the impetus for Timbaland and Chris Cornell’s unholy alliance: “To get the gig, Timbaland got hold of Cornell’s mobile number and called him up personally to ask him to let him produce the record. More »
ARTIST: Chris Cornell
TITLE: “Long Gone”
WEB DEBUT: July 17, 2008
Former Soundgarden frontman/renegade “Billie Jean” reworker Chris Cornell has been reduced to making cameos in videos by OneFreakin’Republic. More »
Chris Cornell, indie-rocker. While discussing his turgid, bowel-stirring rendition of “Billie Jean,” recently jacked on American Idol, Cornell revealed just how much street cred he was risking. “I stuck my neck out being a guy that comes from the indie rock world doing a Michael Jackson song. You can clearly see that the judges are giving this guy credit for it on national television. My fans were like, ‘Wait a minute! That’s Chris Cornell’s moment.'” Your indie rock fans, Chris?
