I hope you enjoy my cover of Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden.  Please support what I am doing by subscribing to my YouTube channel and following me on Spotify... 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/05GVMeplEuVRQ8SXTkJ5UI

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIdXF8JeeYXNXcFFXysuK1g

FUN FACT: The crazy solo in this song is not a guitar! 

Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun was written by lead singer, Chris Cornell, and was released as a single in 1994, from their fourth album Super unknown. It is the third release in my Mental Health 'Break The Stigma' project featuring original covers from well-known musicians whose lives were lost due to mental illness. The single is the band’s most well-known track and reached the top 10 in Australia,Canada, France and Ireland as well as sitting at number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks.

Chris Cornell was one of the founding members of Soundgarden back in 1984 together with lead guitarist Kim Thayil. The two were the only members to survive every reincarnation of the band throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Influential in the creation of Grunge, they were the first grunge band to be signed to a major record label in 1989. Success did not come immediately however, and it was not until other grunge bands, such as Alice in Chains and Nivarna popularised the genre in the early 1990s that they had their first commercial success.

Black Hole Sun was included on the bands ‘Greatest Hits’ album in 1997. With its surreal lyrics, and equally surreal video, Chris Cornell was often asked about its meaning and origin. He claimed that the song was sparked by something he misheard on the radio when driving home one day and wrote the song in about 15 minutes. It went on to become the most popular song of the summer of 1994 and is without doubt the bands most popular song.

The band dissolved in 1997, but in 2010 Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil reformed the band together with Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd. During the period Soundgarden was disbanded, Cornell joined the band Audioslave, and had equal success as their lead singer, although his poor mental health, drug and alcohol problems continued to affect his life. Chris also performed as a solo artist and collaborated with many others in the industry.

Chris suffered with depression from the time he was a young teenager and that unfortunately led to drug and alcohol abuse. He once described his mother as having ‘saved his life’ when she bought him some snare drums that led to his career in music. Chris explained that he was able to deal with
his anxiety through rock music. His musical influences were originally The Beatles and Little Richard.

Sadly, Chris Cornell took his own life in May 2017 at the age of 52. In 2020, Cornell's eldest daughter launched a series of interviews on Instagram to honour her father. The series is titled ‘Mind Wide Open’, designed to help break the stigma and stimulate conversations around mental health.

Chris and Soundgarden will forever be remembered for Black Hole Sun – the song of the summer of ‘94.

#Soundgarden #BlackHoleSun #ChrisCornell

Thanks for listening to my recording Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun (Cover By Mark Hamilton)

Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden Cover)

Mark Hamilton