Chris Cornell: Ranking Every Album From Worst To Best

Chris Cornell is one of those rare gems in the music industry. He's connected to the spirit of old rock and roll, but has a knack - and the courage - for pushing his songwriting abilities forward. 

He has a strong enough sense of self to create the things that will fulfill his own aspirations without going so far off the map as to completely repel his diehard fans. (With one notable exception which, due to the all-encompassing nature of this list, had to be included.)

Out of this rare blend of sensibilities came one of the defining bands of the 90s. Taking punk's energy-over-precision ideology and tossing it into a blender with all of their Black Sabbath CDs and a lone copy of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band vinyl, the guys in Soundgarden placed themselves on a separate - but parallel - path from fellow grunge music icons Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

They were the first to shed the stigma of signing to a major label, and used their newfound exposure to sneak heavy metal riffs and freaky, dissonant rhythms onto mainstream radio. 

Over time, Cornell stretched his wings even further, seeking to gain some personal satisfaction with disjointed solo albums and various supergroup excursions, with results ranging from "incredible" to "why are you doing this  to us?"

But no matter the vessel he's operating, Chris Cornell has made some of the greatest music of his generation. Let's see how it all stacks up against itself.

The union of Chris Cornell and hip hop producer Timbaland wasn't as unusual as everyone made it out to be. He'd worked with rock acts before, even culling together such disparate acts as The Hives, Fall Out Boy, and She Wants Revenge for the collaborative Shock Value album. 

But there was something strange about the way Scream turned out. Both Timbaland and Cornell seemed prepared to branch out from their respective comfort zones - why else would they decide to work together? - but neither fully bought into it, resulting in a schizophrenic, yet ultimately tepid, mess of an album.

There are brief moments of excitement to be had on Scream - though "Climbing Up The Walls" was probably a leftover from Timbaland's recording sessions with OneRepublic, Cornell's soulful lilt sells the cheesy pop-rock melodies surprisingly well - but on the whole, it's a hollow listening experience. 

For some reason, people didn't enjoy hearing the most passionate singer of the grunge movement robotically half-singing the lines "No, that bitch ain't a part of me" over futuristic synths and dull drum loops.