Yesterday I woke up to the news of Chris Cornell's passing. My first instinct was to think that this couldn't be real, but my Facebook timeline was littered with several pages reporting that he has died. His importance to my musical growth cannot be understated.

I remember a segment on MTV that was a behind the scenes for the Spoonman video. When they finally played the video, my feeble teenage brain couldn't quite process what the hell I was experiencing.

Eventually, I did come around to Spoonman, but it's arguably their biggest hit that drew me in, Black Hole Sun. Then, when I heard My Wave, it was the first time I noticed they utilized odd time signatures. I didn't know until later that both Spoonman and Black Hole Sun have odd time signatures in them. Therein lies the brilliance of their riffs, where they just fit perfectly in that time signature that it doesn't feel off.

When I finally listened to the album in its entirety, it's all killer and no filler which is somewhat rare in those days. I was so used to buying albums where most of the songs were garbage. Not so with Superunknown.

Beyond Soundgarden, Cornell's debut solo album Euphoria Morning is probably one of his most underrated albums. It lacks the heavy sludginess that Soundgarden has, but Chris' songwriting and singing are top notch, and this is definitely one of his finest moments.

When it was announced that Cornell and members of Rage Against the Machine were going to collaborate, it was one of those WTF moments. RATM never had any melodies sung over Tom Morello's riffs, so what would this even sound like. Cornell pulled it off beautifully, and I still pick this album up once every few years and I forget how much I enjoy it.

I've had the pleasure of seeing Chris perform twice, once with Audioslave and once with Soundgarden. There are a lot of vocalists that fall off with age, but Cornell sounded on top of his game both times.

As I was listening to my favorite Cornell albums throughout the day, it eventually sunk in that he's gone, and I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. Some of the songs take on a whole different meaning now (Say Hello 2 Heaven, Like Suicide). I can't imagine Soundgarden moving forward, but Alice in Chains was able to do it. If anyone were to take his place, my vote is Richie Kotzen.

Chris Cornell, may he rest in peace, and much love to his family and friends that are going through a difficult time.