10 Classic Rock Music Songs That Sounded Better Stripped Down
9. One - Chris Cornell
Throughout his lifetime, there didn’t seem to be a single song that Chris Cornell couldn’t sing well. No matter what genre you threw at him, Chris could contort his voice into anything that you could imagine, whether that meant getting his soul chops on in Like a Stone or the Zeppelin embellishments that he did when writing Spoonman. Even when he’s doing crazy genre clashes like on this one, he makes that seem like a walk in the park.
As a sort of in-joke at an acoustic performance, Chris had talked about wanting to perform the famous U2 song One, only to look up the lyrics online and be redirected to the Metallica song of the same name. That didn’t seem to slow him down one bit though, taking the brilliant melody of Bono and putting James Hetfield’s lyrics on top of it, making for a mashup that absolutely no one was asking for.
That’s not to say it’s bad though…in fact this might be one of the most inspired cover songs that a rock star has ever done. Since the U2 take on One is about overcoming a crumbling relationship, that sense of sorrow is oddly appropriate for Metallica’s lyrics, which details a heavily wounded soldier that’s trapped inside his own mind. While Metallica’s version shows the fear of being trapped inside your own head, Cornell’s version just shows you the frail state of mind that’s happening underneath the surface. After you freak out, all you're left with is that pain that’s never going to go away.