Total F*cking Godhead by Corbin Reiff

Total F*cking Godhead by Corbin Reiff

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Chris Cornell, which I won't get into here (yet) in the spirit of keeping this a review focused on the book. Basically, that setup is to explain how eager I was to read this book. I wanted to learn more about the prolific, mysterious musician that dominated so much of my youth and continued to impact me in more ways than I realized growing up.

Overall, this book delivered what I expected. It begins with a disclaimer that interviews were hard, or impossible, to get, or perhaps fizzled out after legal issues sprang up with Cornell's widow, Soundgarden, and probably many more parties. So as much as I love a juicy tell-all, it's understandable that there was no way that would happen here.

The book had a bit of Cornell's childhood and a lot about his start in Seattle, which was interesting and definitely set the stage for all to come. However, the recording of one or two Soundgarden albums took up almost entire chapters, while ten years pass in two pages later in the book.

If the entire book was as in-depth as those Soundgarden albums, I would have a different feeling about it, because it would feel even. But the pacing was off here, and it felt like, once we reached 1997 or so, the deadline was looming next week and we had to race through the rest of Chris's life to finish a draft. With so much attention given to reviews, interviews, and performances earlier in his career, it felt lacking that the same wasn't done at the end of his career, especially as he tried so many different things.

Given that the book is (seemingly) mostly pulled from interviews other people conducted with Cornell and those who knew him, I think the writing handled that well in trying to make it feel more immersive, like the reader is along for the ride. There were detailed scenes at the beginning of each chapter that felt like stepping into the story, but then the chapter would backtrack to sometimes years earlier than that scene, and I feel like the time jumps weren't handled in a way that made the timeline clear. I typically had to flip back to the start of the chapter once I reached that event later and kind of insert the action back into the right context.

As I said, the book is largely written based on interviews conducted by others - but I do appreciate the writer's extensive notes on sources! I flagged a lot of those to look up later, so in a way, this almost felt like a textbook. It gathered the foundational information in one place for me, then gave me all the resources I needed to go down my own rabbit holes.

While there are some things I wish were different about this book, I say that "criticizing" it very loosely, because I realize it's an unauthorized biography written at a time when his death was still raw (if you're arguing it isn't always feeling like a massive loss) and there was a lot of legal mess abound. I don't blame the author and publisher for wanting to tread carefully in that landscape without giving up the project entirely. So as long as you're not expecting a juicy tell-all, this is a worthwhile read.