CHRIS CORNELL Explains 'Euphoria Morning' Album Title Change

SOUNDGARDEN vocalist Chris Cornell re-released his 1999 debut solo album, "Euphoria Morning", on August 14 under the original title of "Euphoria Mourning". The disc has been remastered and arrived on vinyl for the first time, along with CD and digital editions.

Cornell explained that he was persuaded to change the original name when the record was first released, telling Australia's Rolling Stone magazine: "It was a pretty dark album lyrically and pretty depressing, and I was going through a really difficult time in my life — my band wasn't together anymore, my marriage was falling apart and I was dealing with it by drinking way too much, and that has its own problems, particularly with depression. So I titled the album 'Euphoria Mourning', but right before the record came out and I was doing interviews over the radio, for example, if you say 'Euphoria Mourning', the listener doesn't know if it's mourning with a 'u' or morning without a 'u.' And that started to bother me. So I had a conversation with my manager at the time, and said I really love the title but do you think it's confusing? And he suggested that 'Euphoria Morning' would probably be a better title. I thought, in contrast to the lyrics maybe that works."

He continued: "It wasn't my manager's fault, I was a grown man and could say I don't think that's a good idea, and in the back of my mind I didn't think it was a good idea. But mentally I wasn't together enough to really know what was right. So I went with 'Morning', and it's bothered me ever since. It even showed up in an early review where someone reviewing the record said that the title sounded like a potpourri scent, and when I read that I was just like [with disdain], 'Fuck! Fuckin' bullshit!'"

Cornell added: "The title was so beautifully poetic to begin with, just the concept of euphoria in mourning; it was a moment I felt inspired and I let all the air out of it. So when we decided to do its first vinyl release I thought, I want to change the fuckin' title! [Laughs] It's time to change it."

"Euphoria Morning", as it was originally called, was Cornell's first set of new recordings after SOUNDGARDEN initially disbanded in 1997.

He wrote and recorded the album in collaboration with Alain Johannes and the late Natasha Shneider of the band ELEVEN, who played on the album, co-wrote five of the tracks and were credited as co-producers.

The album's first single, "Can't Change Me", was nominated for "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" at the 2000 Grammy Awards.