Life Size Bronze Statue of Chris Cornell
This life-size bronze statue of Soundgarden and Audioslave lead singer Chris Cornell is installed on the east side of MoPOP in Seattle, Washington.
In it, Cornell is depicted playing a left-handed guitar with his right arm lifted into the air and his right hand holding a guitar pick. The statue's eyes are subtly tinted blue to match the singer's eye color and he is shown wearing a necklace that looks like dog tags with a design stamped on the left edge.
Soundgarden was an American Grunge rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by rhythm guitarist and singer Chris Cornell (1964 – 2017), lead guitarist Kim Thayil (b. 1960), and bassist Hiro Yamamoto (b. 1961). In 1986, Matt Cameron (b. 1962) from the band Skin Yard, joined them as the drummer. While the line-up changed a few more times, Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, and Matt Cameron remained with the band. They were the first of the Seattle Grunge bands formed in the late 1980s, including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains, to sign to a mainstream record label. With a heavier, more metal sound than many of the other bands popular at the time, Soundgarden became an international sensation with the release of their 1994 album "Superunknown" and its hit single “Black Hole Sun.” The band members had their share of difficulties and disbanded in 1996 after the release of the album “Down on the Upside.”
In 2010, the band reunited and toured regularly for the next several years until the tragic death by suicide of lead singer Chris Cornell in 2017.
