6 Chris Cornell Quotes on Creativity

Chris Cornell quotes on creativity

4. 'Tighter and Tighter' was actually written around the same time as 'Black Hole Sun.' In fact, I did a demo with four songs on it to play for the band. 'Black Hole Sun,' 'Sounds Like Days,' 'Tighter and Tighter' and a song called 'Anxious.' We blew off 'Anxious' entirely and recorded 'Tighter and Tighter' for the last record. It was the last song we did. It was number 16 and we ran out of studio time. We had the rhythm tracks done and it was just needing vocals and my guitar solos. We just ran out of time. It was falling flat anyway. I changed the arrangement a little bit.

19. The only criteria I apply when making music is 'Does it make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end? It doesn't matter what style it is, what it reminds me of, what it doesn't remind me of. If it doesn't give me that feeling of inspiration, then it's not there yet.

25. My job isn't to create a body of work that can be understood by anyone. I don't think it's the artist's job to worry about it. When I was making records, and no one knew who I was, it wasn't an issue, so I don't see why it would be an issue now. You can't give any indication, at any point in your career, that you're willing to conform or take direction. If that is common knowledge, then they'll leave you alone, and their options are really only to accept you and leave you alone entirely, or tell you to fuck off. And you have to be willing to accept that possibility. If you're willing to accept that,it creates a certain amount of confidence and shows a certain amount of strength that people are attracted to, and they want to be a part of it.

26. If I wrote a line then questioned it, do I really want people to hear me say that? Is that too personal? That moment of fear meant I should keep it.

32. He was always hidden somewhere having a personal crisis -- always. One time I was in the room when he was talking to his manager, Doug Goldstein, about wanting the Goodyear blimp for the show. I said this as a joke -- even though it was true -- that the Fuji blimp was the largest blimp in the world. Axl was like, 'That's it! It's gonna be the Fuji blimp!'

42. Chris has a very penetrating and unique artistic vision that, when melded with ours, makes for a unique band chemistry. It's such a different vibe than any of us has ever experienced before. There's a great deal of camaraderie.