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Euphoria Mourning: No, It's Not a Typo

Second Chances #3

By Adam WallacePublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Hello, and welcome back to Second Chances where I take another look at a maligned or forgotten piece of pop culture.

For the longest time, I was behind the times when it came to my musical interests. When my classmates were part of the grunge revolution, I was still listening to classic rock. I didn't get caught up until I got to college in the late 90s. That was when I first learned of Chris Cornell.

Unlike the vast majority of the music-listening public, I didn't get introduced to the late Chris Cornell through his work with Soundgarden (though I did get caught up on that band's work later). My first introduction to him was through his debut solo album Euphoria Mourning. Now, most people would be quick to point out that I misspelled "Morning". I didn't. The homophone was changed for the 2015 re-release. His manager at the time insisted on the original title Euphoria Morning (without the "u") to be used as a counterpoint to the rather bleak lyrics, but Cornell changed it to what he originally wanted in the re-release to reflect them better.

The album was lauded by critics at the time of release, but it didn't sell enough copies to be certified gold, missing the mark by almost 200k. There are a few reasons I can see for that. One is that the hardcore Soundgarden fans who would've been the target audience just didn't want an album without the rest of Soundgarden. Another more likely reason was the timing. Euphoria Mourning released in September of 1999 when the public was more interested in the Latin Boom and the boy band craze. The final reason was that the album was nowhere close to what people would've expected from Soundgarden's frontman.

The whole album feels very experimental. When you grab an album from Soundgarden or Cornell's later band Audioslave, you generally know the sound to expect. Euphoria Mourning does a LOT of genre-hopping. Now, the genre-hopping doesn't feel as intentional as it would for a Beck album. It felt like Cornell was just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. I actually admire that. Not everything on the album works, but I can admire the daring attitude.

Of course, when something on the album works, it works phenomenally. "Can't Change Me" was easily the stand-out track on the album. The song has a sound far closer to acid rock than the grunge Soundgarden fans are accustomed to. I could imagine the Grateful Dead doing the instrumentation for this one. The lyrics look at a love affair as a means of self-evaluation, and they hit you hard when they're paired up with Cornell's powerful voice. Cornell had one of the best voices in 90s rock, and this track puts it on full display.

Another excellent track is "Preaching the End of the World". The song combines epic rock sensibilities with a distinct country twang to keep it from sounding as pretentious as that combo would imply. The heavy loneliness in the lyrics and Cornell's pained delivery ripped me to shreds. He was working on this album during a very bad time in his life. That's why he originally wanted to call it Euphoria Mourning (with the "u") since, for him at the time, euphoria was in mourning.

The rest of the album jumps all over the soundscape. "Flutter Girl" sounds like a missing Bond theme from the 60s with its heavy guitars. "Follow My Way" has a folk sound one would expect from Bob Dylan. "When I'm Down" wouldn't sound out of place at a blues club. Simply no two tracks sound alike. The connecting tissue for the album is Chris Cornell and his potent vocals.

Euphoria Mourning was a strong solo debut from Chris Cornell that deserved more attention than it got. While his genre-hopping was more experimentation than deliberation, he had a lot more hits than misses. When honoring the late Chris Cornell with your playlist, throw this album in with the Soundgarden and Audioslave albums. It deserves your time.

Are there other albums that deserve another shot on Second Chances? Let me know, and take care!

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About the Creator

Adam Wallace

I put up pieces here when I can, mainly about games and movies. I'm also writing movies, writing a children's book & hosting the gaming channel "Cool Media" on YouTube! Enjoy & find me on Twitter!

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