12 Hard Rock Band Members Who Switched Instruments

Anyone even remotely familiar with rock music has heard Chris Cornell's voice in one way, shape, or form. The man's stratospheric scream is one of the greatest the genre has to offer, whether it be in the grunge outfit Soundgarden or the classic rock stylings of Audioslave. However, the beginnings of Cornell's journey was far away from the frontman role.

While a lot of people will tell you about Cornell's amazing prowess behind a guitar, he was actually behind the drum kit in the early days of Soundgarden. For the first handful of years that the band were together, Cornell ended up pulling double duty by singing from behind the kit, which was surely a sight to behold when you saw them live.

However, with Cornell already itching to get to the front, the band's inclusion of Matt Cameron helped everything fall into place. Not only did we get one of the greatest rock gods of the 90's, but Cameron's drum performances gave the songs rhythmic hooks unto themselves. Even though everything seemed to work out the way it was supposed to, it's interesting to think about how Soundgarden would have ended up if we had a hard rock Phil Collins situation on our hands.