Chris Cornell’s Take on U2’s Best Album

May 26, 20253 min read

Soundgarden and U2 aren’t bands that typically come up in the same discussions, even when talking about rock radio in the early ‘90s. It’s well-known that Soundgarden’s breakout album, Badmotorfinger, arrived just weeks after Pearl Jam’s Ten and Nirvana’s Nevermind.

Meanwhile, U2’s mid-career shift, Achtung Baby (released in November 1991), might not seem linked to that same cultural moment. However, fans tuning into MTV during that time certainly remember hits like ‘Mysterious Ways’, ‘Even Better Than the Real Thing’, and ‘One’ as prominently as songs like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Jeremy’. Achtung Baby was more than just a chart-topping success; it marked a bold evolution for the band as they entered their 30s, briefly aligning them with the “alt-rock” scene and attracting both older arena rock fans and younger audiences who enjoyed these more eclectic sounds.

In 2011, the late Chris Cornell from Soundgarden shared his thoughts on this often-overlooked part of rock history in an interview with the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.

He remarked, “I think [Achtung Baby] is probably one of their more controversial and pivotal albums. It’s also one of the most personal and personally challenging ones they’ve done.” He referred to the album during its 20th anniversary, which was celebrated with a documentary, From the Sky Down.

Despite being active in the same era, there wasn’t really a generational divide between Soundgarden and U2; Cornell (born in 1964) was just four years younger than Bono (born in 1960). Even the geographical distance—around 7,000 kilometers from Seattle to Dublin—feels less significant when both bands hail from similarly rugged, rain-soaked coastal towns with their own punk scenes.

Cornell even showed his admiration for U2’s hit ‘One’ by performing a unique rendition during his 2013 solo tour, swapping Bono’s original lyrics with lines from Metallica’s classic of the same name.

Following Cornell’s tragic passing at 52, Bono honored him by dedicating the song ‘Running to Stand Still’ to him during a U2 concert at the Rose Bowl in California. Before performing the song, originally from U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree, Bono called Cornell a “lion” and a “beautiful, sweet soul.”

The choice of ‘Running to Stand Still’ was particularly poignant; the song, inspired by a couple Bono knew who struggled with heroin addiction, echoes themes present in many of Cornell’s own songs, as he faced his own battles with addiction. It stands as the closest Bono has come to writing a Soundgarden-inspired track, featuring lines like “Sweet the sin / Bitter the taste in my mouth / I see seven towers / But I only see one way out.”