So far, 2 major rock icons -- Chuck Berry and Chris Cornell passed away this year.
1.) Chuck Berry
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Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry was one of the Founding Forefathers of Rock & Roll.
Rock music was started in the 1950's as a mix of blues and country with an emphasis on the electric guitar. Much of the music at the time emphasized youthful rebellion against authority and having a good time.
Chuck Berry was the epitome of that spirit as his songs expressed frustrations with school, and the joys of partying with the opposite sex.
His most famous song was "Johnny B. Goode" which celebrated a fictional guitar player with a story similar to his.
His other hits included "Maybelline", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Roll over Beethoven" and "My Ding-A-Ling".
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Much of the early rock music came from the southern U.S. which at the time was racially segregated. Jim Crow, the nickname for the racial segregation system didn't allow people of European and African ancestries to use the same facilities or have relationships together. This segregation was violently enforced by both police and the civilian population.
But things were about to change. The civil rights movement was starting to rise.
Meanwhile, rock music had musicians of both African and European ancestries. People were partying to each other's music, and sooner or later, people would start to question why can't we have fun together.
Chuck Berry, who was African-American delighted both "black" and "white" audiences. It was then European-American artists like Elvis Presley who spread the music to larger audiences, which caused some bitterness among some from the African-American community who felt Elvis was a "culture thief" and felt he had unfair advantages over Chuck Berry due to their skin colors.
As time went on, European-descendants started to dominate rock music while much of the African-American audiences moved on to soul, funk, and later -- hip-hop.
African-American participation in rock music didn't go away (as Jimi Hendrix, Lenny Kravitz, Slash, Tom Morello, Living Colour, Bad Brains, Fishbone, Bodycount, Jada Pinkett Smith, Baby G and more can tell you). But still, rock music was later seen as "white music" by the general public.
However, that didn't phase Chuck Berry continued to play his hits decades after his early days. After all, the real rock legends and the rock historians recognized his significance.
Chuck Berry died on March 18, 2017 at the age of 90. He lived for 9 decades, but his legacy will live much longer.
2) Chris Cornell
Decades after Chuck Berry hit the music scene came Chris Cornell.
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Chris Cornell
Cornell was the lead singer for various bands including Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and Audioslave.
Soundgarden was part of the Seattle rock scene with its own sub-genre called "grunge". The grunge scene started in the 1980s but really became popular in the 1990s with Soundgarden and other Seattle bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam.
Grunge combined elements of other rock genres like heavy metal, punk, alternative, and classic rock, mixed in a way that reflected the grey depressing skies of Seattle with its themes of alienation and depression.
Each grunge band mixed the other subgenres in their own different way. For example, Nirvana mixed the punk, metal and alternative with a rebellion against toxic masculinity. Alice in Chains was more of a heavy metal band but had a more depressing theme than the glam metal bands of the time. Pearl Jam had more of the Neil Young influence.
Soundgarden started as a more traditional heavy metal band. Songs like "Outshined" and "Rusty Cage" are masculine metal classics.
But Soundgarden also did some more depressing alternative songs like "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell on Black Days".
They also had a sense of humor as they played "Spoonman", a tribute to a street performer who played with spoons.
Soundgarden also teamed up with Pearl Jam to make a double band Temple of the Dog, most famous for their song "Hunger Strikes".
By the late 90s, Chris Cornell left Soundgarden. At the same time, Rage Against the Machine (L.A. based rock&rap band) lost their lead vocalists. So Chris Cornell teamed up with the remaining members of Rage Against the Machine.
Rage Against the Machine (RATM) had a reputation for their songs of political advocacy. They combined the grunge rock sounds with the rapping vocals by their vocalist Zach de la Rocha.
Chris Cornell wasn't going to start rapping and he told RATM's remaining members that he wasn't going to make political songs either. It was time for a name change for the band. They became known as Audioslave.
So Audioslave kept the same guitar styles of RATM's Tom Morello, but with the Chris Cornell vocals. It worked, as they had a hit record with "Like a Stone".
Cornell later did solo records as well as reunions with Soundgarden and Audioslave.
He died on May 18, 2017 at the age of 52. His death was reported as a suicide only hours after his last concert.
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Going back to the racial themes mentioned in relation to Chuck Berry. By the time Chris Cornell became a rock star, rock music has become seen as "white music" by the general public. While Chris Cornell was of European-American ancestry, he has played with multi-racial bands. Soundgarden had an Asian-American guitarist (Kim Thayil) and Audioslave had Tom Morello (who like Barack Obama, has Kenyan and European ancestries).
While Chris Cornell was reluctant to promote social activism in his lyrics, the fact that he played with multi-racial bands that were very successful was in itself a social statement of inclusion. Around the same time, Alice in Chains, No Doubt and Smashing Pumpkins also had a mix of European and Asian members. At the time, this was revolutionary to see Asian-Americans as part of mainstream musical acts. It showed that rock music isn't just a "white thing" or "black thing", it's an everybody thing!
As the life of Chuck Berry and Chris Cornell can tell you, can't we all just get along and enjoy the music!
