10 Musicians Who Came Back From Huge Band Breakups

8. Chris Cornell - Soundgarden

The entire existence of Soundgarden seemed to bookend the golden age of the Seattle music scene. The sounds of Chris Cornell's wails were there all the way back in the mid '80s in the days of Sub Pop, and their breakup at the tail end of the '90s seemed to bring the golden age of the genre to a close, with most of the insufferable post grunge bands following soon after them. Cornell was far from just being one note, and he was going to continue twisting his music inside out even without his bandmates alongside him.

Though his debut solo record Euphoria Morning saw him taking things in a more acoustic direction, the real second wind came when he got a call from Tom Morello, looking to put together a band with the remaining members of Rage Against the Machine. Although Audioslave's mission was to play cut and dry rock and roll for most of their time together, this might be some of the more ambitious records that Chris ever made, fully embracing his inner rock star persona and delivering those same Robert Plant-adjacent screams on songs like Cochise.

This was never meant to be Rage + Chris Cornell though, and songs like Like a Stone and Be Yourself occupy a bit of a different place for everyone in the group, with Tom Morello keeping his effects to a minimum and Chris injecting a bit more soul into his delivery than what you would have found on something like Badmotorfinger. The gloom of Seattle may have loomed in the background, but Chris has always thrived on moving beyond what grunge rock should be.