Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis has addressed the death of Chris Cornell, saying that the late singer “left the world a better place”.
Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Cornell was found dead in his hotel room last month (May 17). He was 52.
Speaking in a new interview, Kiedis said of Cornell: “He is of our generation… You never expect a contemporary who’s alive and well and still playing to suddenly check out like that. So I can’t say that I took him for granted, but… it was kind of shocking.”
Kiedis added: “We have a relationship with him and the rest of Soundgarden, because we went on tour with them in 1992 with Lollapalooza, and they were just a bunch of sweethearts, and we got to see them constantly. It was nice to see them back together and crushing to know that he was in a painful place in his mind to the point where he could wanna take his own life. And I don’t judge him for that, because I don’t know that kind of pain. Obviously, it has to be overwhelming in order to wanna leave. So, bless his family. He left the world a better place.”
Watch at the 2.50 mark below.
RHCP guitarist Josh Klinghoffer recently covered ‘Seasons’ in a tribute to Cornell.
