SOUNDGARDEN's CHRIS CORNELL Says Rock Has 'Lost Its Place'

According to The Pulse Of Radio, SOUNDGARDEN frontman Chris Cornell says in a new interview with Details that rock music has "definitely lost its place at the center of the musical universe." Asked about the state of rock today, Cornell remarks, "When I was growing up in the late Seventies, everyone could identify the five or 10 bands that formed the center. Even if you preferred the fringe — THE CLASH, over, say, VAN HALEN — you still knew what the center was. Now kids turn on the radio and hear Eminem or Kanye, so that's what they gravitate towards."

Cornell also says that he thinks modern technology has played a role in the decline of rock, adding, "They're making music on iPhones. Everything's fractured. The reason there's no modern-day Shakespeare is because he didn't have anything to do except sit in a room with a candle and think."

Cornell also speaks about his past drug use, saying, "When you pick up the pipe for the first time, you don't know that that's your fate. The moment isn't that dramatic. And then that was it — I didn't want to care anymore."

The singer admits he doesn't know why his generation of musicians was hit so much harder by drugs than previous ones, explaining, "Those bands somehow had the ability to be completely fucked up all the time and still function. They could play an amazing guitar solo even though they could barely walk. The Eighties killed that — everyone was doing coke."

The first new SOUNDGARDEN song in almost 16 years, called "Live To Rise", will appear on "Avengers Assemble", a companion album to the movie "The Avengers" also featuring new tracks from SHINEDOWN, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and others. The set arrives on May 1, three days before the movie opens on May 4.

The song was recorded during the sessions from SOUNDGARDEN's first album of all-new material since 1996's "Down On The Upside", which is due out this fall.