Another "Wow, I'm getting old(er)" Moment

So over the weekend, I flip by MuchMoreMusic, and stop (which is probably an "I'm getting old(er)" moment in and of itself, but whatever) when I see Chris Cornell is being interviewed. He has long lost his crazy hair from the Temple of the Dog (another subject entirely... the idea that two of the biggest bands of the grunge age were once the same band is insane) and early Soundgarden days, but he was still rockin' pretty hard (in my mind) with Audioslave, who while formulaic, had many familiar sounding Soundgarden and Rage riffs, and thus had a special place in the mind of this early-90's rocker. But now Chris is on to his "solo" stuff, and wow.. the dude has mellowed.

He was talking about stuff like how he used to find dark, secluded places (both literally and figuratively) to write, while now he writes with his kids running around, and enjoys that much more, as he is able to express himself as an artist without going through some horrible personal turmoil. Which, I guess, is good from his personal standpoint, and that of his family, but after hearing some of his new music, it's not the best thing for the fans he may have retained from past incarnations.

Maybe it was because it was on MMM, but man.. this was a low key show. Musically sound, but very low-energy. He even did Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike" (singing both his and Eddie Vedder's part, with one of the guitarists helping in the chorus) without really releasing the energy from that track.

Anyway, getting back to the title, it was slightly jarring to see one of the harder rockers from your youth maturing, talking about his kids, and generally settling comfortably into middle age... especially when it's this you remember: