The Day I Met Chris Cornell, Remembers Triple M Producer Sammy X

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The thing I remember most about Chris Cornell was how big he was; a huge rock star with a catalogue of music to match.

I first got to know him because I have an older brother who had the Superunknown album from SoundgardenHe would play "Black Hole Sun" (I remember thinking it was “Black OLD Sun”).

A few years on there was a buzz about his solo album– Euphoria Morning.  I was 17 and I played it over and over. To hear this legend of a rock star have such a sensitivity in his voice (and his lyrics) blew me away.

Chris Cornell with Triple M's Sammy X Photo: Supplied

Years later, at the end of 2015 I was producing the night time show at Triple M called The Rubber Room with Ugly Phil.

Chris Cornell was coming to Sydney and we had been offered an interview with him at the Sydney Opera House. Time was tight - the interview was at 6pm and we had to be back at the station to start the show by 7pm.

The interviews were running late and we ended up not getting in with Chris until about 6.30pm. I was anxious about being late for the start of the radio show and apprehensive about meeting him but he was so down to earth and easy to talk to that I soon forgot about everything else.

He had that way about him; you could just listen to him talk and forget the outside world.

Ugly Phil did the interview - It had been just days since the death of Scott Weiland and the conversation turned to the legacy of rock stars after they die. Looking back at that moment now seems incredibly surreal- it never occurred to any of us that we would be eulogizing him in just 18 months time.

We managed to get a couple of photos after the interview. This photo was taken at 6.42pm we had to get back to the station (a 20 minute drive in peak hour traffic) before 7pm. I remember the adrenaline running through me as I pulled off my heels so I could run with Phil to the nearest taxi outside the Opera House. 

We made it back to Triple M just in time for the show. It was a frantic experience, one that I will never forget.

 

19 May 2017




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