CLEVELAND – Jim Carrey delivered a poignant tribute too Chris Cornell as Soundgarden was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Thursday night,โฃ joining a โขlineup of Seattle musical luminaries celebrating the band’s enduring legacy. the ceremony, held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse,โ saw Carrey, accompanied by Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, perform a haunting rendition of “blackโ Hole Sun.”
Soundgarden’s induction recognizes the band’s pivotal role โin popularizing grungeโข music in the early โค1990s, alongside contemporaries like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Theโ band-Cornell, Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and Matt Cameron-sold over 30 million albums worldwide andโ earned seven Grammy Awards. Their innovative blend of heavy metal, punk, and psychedelic rockโ influencedโ generations of โmusicians. Theโข induction is notably meaningful givenโค Cornell’sโ tragic death in 2017, and serves as a lasting testament to hisโ artistry and the band’s โคcollective impact.
Toni Cornell, Chris’s daughter, performed a moving โฃcover of “Like โa Stone,” inspired by her father’s renditions during his Songbookโ tour in the early 2010s. “I was always really touchedโฃ byโ justโ himโ and his voice, his guitar, and eventually โฃwith a cellistโฆโ Everyone can relate that song on so many levels, like โขI fell โขon black days. We’ve โคall been there.Soโ I personally related to that, andโ I really โwantedโข toโฃ channel how my โdad would haveโค performed โขthat song on his own,” she said.
Prior to the performance, Pearl Jam’s Eddie โVedder spoke of the importance of preserving rock music’s โขlegacy. “Rock and roll is almost a lost art,”โค Wilson told reporters. “hard rockโ bandsโฆ the bands we grew up with are not that โmany roaming the planet anymore, so I’m really happy to see the new ones coming up and still honoring those that โleft the big dinosaur footprint behind โขus.”
Matt Cameron reflected on Cornell’s artistic drive,โฃ statingโ in aโ pre-inductionโ interview, “He was always seeking that next phase of his writing career, performing careerโฆ Maybe down the line he will get โขrecognized as a solo โartist or [for] Temple of the Dog or something like that as his contribution to music has been absolutely massive.”
