Chris Cornell

“A band that makes records and tours is also a business. That's usually where a lot of disagreements come. It's four guys who are musicians and don't really know much about business, but are very passionate and have very specific ideas.”

“The freedom I have as a U.S. citizen is unparalleled. Despite the fact people may not like American passports, having that passport affords me more freedoms than any other passport could.”

“One of the Robinson brothers from the Black Crowes turned me on to Nick Drake.”

“Companies figured out that the easiest way to make money was to reissue records that the accounting department had paid for years ago and already made a profit.”

“There are a handful of Soundgarden songs that work acoustically, but only a couple. It's not who we were.”

“I'm not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colorful images. I think that's more what entertainment and music should be.”

“No matter what, I can't sound like John Lennon. But I can do Tom Jones.”

“For years, I wasn't feeling good about myself. My head wasn't clear. I was doing nothing productive.”

“I can go from one extreme to another, from playing at the Sydney Opera House on the Songbook tour to shows with Soundgarden at Voodoo Fest, all in a week.”

“When you start your first band and it has an impact on the rest of the world you go through a lot with those guys and you become very protective of that legacy.”

“To me, music shouldn't be ego-driven. When you go out on stage and play songs, it is. But when you're sitting in a room, writing songs, it's a completely different process. It's a completely different place. It's a creative place, a musical place. It has nothing to do with who likes what.”

“That's the miracle of music. No one can reinterpret a Picasso, but a song can be remixed and covered and interpreted in an infinite number of ways. It's a living thing.”

“I think Freddie Mercury is probably the best of all time in terms of a rock voice. There was a vulnerability to it, his technical ability was amazing, and so much of his personality would come out through his voice. I'm not even a guy to buy Queen records, really, and I still think he's one of the best.”

“I got a GED based on Catholic school seventh-grade education, really. I didn't make it that far.”

“I always looked at rock & roll as the voice of regular people, of an economic group not in charge.”

“'Superunknown,' maybe more than most albums, didn't reveal itself to be what it was until the very end - literally until we were three quarters of the way through mixing it.”

“Once you sit in front of people and start playing songs, it's all on you. No matter what happens, it's entirely your responsibility the entire time. I like that intensity.”

“At the end of the day it's the fans who make you who you are.”

“You sometimes get the feeling that people think getting back together after a hiatus to write and record a record is work, you know, arduous and unpleasant. Being able to write and record - that's a privilege. I don't forget the long days I spent working in a restaurant, when I wanted to be done so I could go home and work on a song.”

“You can really walk around a song and completely, if it's a good song, look at it from a lot of different angles. Johnny Cash with Rick Rubin illustrated that perfectly.”