Nearly a decade after the death of Chris Cornell, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil has shared one of his most personal reflections yet on losing his friend, bandmate and one of rock music’s most iconic voices.
The comments appear in Thayil’s upcoming memoir, A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond, which explores the history of Soundgarden, the Seattle music scene and the relationships that shaped one of grunge’s most influential bands.
In excerpts recently published ahead of the book’s release, Thayil candidly discusses the shock of Cornell‘s passing in 2017 and the lingering feelings of guilt that followed (per Metal Injection).
“I didn’t see it coming,” says Thayil.
“The thing that hurts me the most is to be a close friend and colleague and not to have read things that perhaps, in retrospect, I should have read.”
The guitarist went on to explain how difficult it has been to revisit the loss through the lens of hindsight.
“That’s hurtful. I feel like I let Chris down by not seeing the look in his eyes, or not hearing a tone in his voice — not being able to read it.”
Like many people who have lost loved ones unexpectedly, Thayil describes the tendency to search for signs after the fact, even when none were obvious at the time.
“But it’s hard to read things like that, because you don’t get a lot of chances at it. You can only look in retrospect and go, Ah, here’s an indicator.”
“There was nothing that was on my radar that I could read at that time. And then I looked at the paper trail and it was like Fuck, the paper trail goes back to the beginning.”
One of rock’s most distinctive voices
Cornell’s passing in May 2017 sent shockwaves through the music world. Beyond his work with Soundgarden, he was also celebrated for fronting Audioslave and for a solo career that showcased one of rock’s most distinctive voices.
Soundgarden’s remaining members continue to honour Cornell’s legacy, earlier this year Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron confirmed they are still working on what is expected to be the band’s final studio album, featuring archival recordings and previously unreleased vocal performances from Cornell.
The project represents one final chapter in a story that helped define an entire generation of rock music and we cannot wait for it to finally see the light of day.
Order your copy of ‘A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond‘ here (Available June 9th, 2026).
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