Two years before his tragic and untimely death, Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman, Chris Cornell, performed what we at The Music Man can happily call one of the best music covers of all time: an exceptionally moving rendition of Prince / Sinéad O’Connor’s era-defying ballad, “Nothing Compares 2 U,” that’s racked up 164M views to date!
Taking to SiriusXM with his acoustic guitar, Chris Cornell truly makes the song his own as he pours his heart and soul into the shattering lyrics, creating all-new atmospheric depths within the classic pop piece. From Chris’ very first line, viewers KNOW they’re in for an absolute treat; bold yet tender, Chris’ beautifully rich-toned, country-style voice puts a powerful spin on the original, backed by a soloing acoustic guitar and a cello which sings the song’s iconic mid-verse riff.
Listening to Chris’ voice here is pure bliss. After a pretty much lifelong struggle with depression, addiction, and other personal tragedies which eventually took his life, Chris Cornell’s stripped-back rendition feels authentically downcast, like some foreshadowing sort of swansong. Every line lingers profoundly, resonating a heartbroken melancholy which puts any original version to shame. You can literally hear the inner ruin.
Originally recorded by Prince’s obscure side project, The Family in 1985 and featured on the band’s one and only eponymous LP, it took a full five years for this album track to reach the spotlight, after being re-recorded and re-arranged for Sinéad O’Connor’s second studio album, 1990’s “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.” According to pop music myth & legend, Sinéad’s vocals were recorded in a single take, before the single peaked at #1 in 18 countries, from Iceland to Italy, Norway to New Zealand.
Prince’s obscure original was finally released as a single in 2018. It’s wildly different from the version Sinéad immortalized, set against an odd rock soundscape, flitting progressively between a fairground-style organ riff and moments of blinding distortion. If you’ve never heard Prince’s original, The Music Man has tracked down the clip, and it’s well worth a listen. Check it out above!
In retrospect, it’s almost unnerving how every musician that made waves singing “Nothing Compares 2 U” wound up dead in their fifties, and all within ten years of each other. The Seattle-born rockstar, Chris Cornell, who was 50 years old at the time of this stellar SiriusXM performance, died in Detroit from an apparent suicide at age 52 in 2017, much to the shock of the rock world. Sinéad O’Connor passed away from natural causes in 2023, aged 56, while Prince’s fentanyl overdose landed him on the extensive list of celebrities lost in 2016, aged 57. A strange coincidence for a haunting song.
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