To those of us of a certain age, the death of Chris Cornell–particularly by suicide–is absolutely gutting. Among the big four of the Seattle grunge scene (Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, and Eddie Vedder being the other three), he alone was the one who always seemed to be having a blast, from drinking the bile juice generated by the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow at Lollapalooza to cavalierly mashing up U2 and Metallica and somehow creating something beautiful…
But as hard as it may be on fans, the news has to have hit his peers even harder. Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine heard the news while on tour in Japan, and while the two frontmen may not instantly be associated in people’s minds as part of the same scene, they hit career highs around the same time, as Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction and Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger both broke big into the mainstream in 1992, 25 years ago now.
Mustaine’s gravelly growl was in many ways the opposite of Cornell’s haunting wail, but in tribute to the late icon, Megadeth switched up their set in Tokyo today to include a cover of Soundgarden’s “Outshined,” in which, rather than use his familiar range, Mustaine attempted to hit those high notes, and did a lot better than you might expect.
Be forewarned: language on the clip is NSFW, as a visibly shaken Mustaine has to start by somewhat patiently explaining to some of his younger fans who Cornell was, and (less patiently) get some of the rowdier fans to stop yelling out requests so he can properly pay tribute. And of course, it’s not the smoothest, most well-rehearsed “Outshined” you’ve ever heard, but the heart and energy behind it is unmistakable…and that’s pretty punk rock.
Have you all seen any other good Cornell tributes? We’d love to see them. Please share in comments below or on our Facebook page.
Image: YouTube/JC Pix
