Total F*cking Godhead: The Biography of Chris Cornell

EDIT: Finished my second read-through yesterday and had a change of heart. Five stars. All the way.Some people get it. Many people don’t. If you do get it, you’ll love this book, though you may come away from it feeling like you actually know less about Chris Cornell as a person, rather than more. Not that the full complexity of a human life can be compressed into a single book. But if you were hoping that you could tell a fellow music fan to read it with the intent of getting the unconvinced to reassess a musician who is, at times, somewhat overlooked and underrated in the history of rock, it probably wouldn’t be enough to inspire that fan to have a listen.The book was written by a fan, for fans. And that’s not a bad thing. Unfortunately for Corbin Reiff, the myriad legal issues surrounding Cornell’s estate in the past few years since his untimely death prevented Reiff from talking to former band mates and members of Chris’ family. This is an unauthorized biography, very well researched, thorough, and above all, heartfelt. But the lack of new input from the people closest to Chris hampers what could have been the definitive book about him.One thing I noticed (I’m on my second read-through since picking it up the day it came out) was that the majority of the focus was on Soundgarden, and to a lesser extent Audioslave. I adore both those bands, but the parts of the book that talk about his solo output are rather less detailed. "Euphoria Mourning" and "Higher Truth" are high (as in, Top 5 high) on the list of my favorite albums Chris was a part of, and I would have liked more on both.Another thing is that parts of the book are rather dry. There are a lot of passages that are simply a litany of where and when Soundgarden or Audioslave played various shows. ‘They went to [name of city] on [date] and played a [length of time] show for [number of people], before heading to [name of another city], where they played for [number of people]...’ And so on.Still, for a fan, these flaws are minor. I still love this book, in part because there simply isn’t anything else like it. Yes, I would have liked more info on his personal life and childhood, but not to be a voyeur. I’m just more interested in the man, the story, behind all the amazing music, as opposed to what type of amp he used to record “Black Hole Sun.” And there are glimpses of that man scattered throughout these pages. But they are still only glimpses.I'd still recommend this book, especially to fellow fans. I even shed tears at the end (twice). I just hoped there would be more. But until those thorny legal issues are settled, I’ll have to wait for the next book on Chris Cornell, assuming anyone else wants to give it a go. And someone absolutely SHOULD give it a go. I can only hope it’s written with the same love and care as this one was, by another true fan, as Corbin Reiff so clearly is.

Corbin Reiff announced in 2018 that he was working on this book, and that it would come out in 2020. I was so looking forward to it, that it was hard to wait for 2 years. I wanted to love this book, and it's not awful, yet I was still disappointed. Reiff admitted that he wasn't able to procure many interviews, people that he had lined up for them backed out due to all the lawsuits flying around. So there are no interviews with Chris' parents, brothers and sisters, other family members, kids he grew up with, ex-girlfriends, people he was in his first bands with, the Soundgarden guys, the Audioslave guys, his first wife. Reiff said he decided to focus on Chris' music, but in that case, it can hardly be called a "biography". It's more so a "career retrospective". Reiff focused on old interviews that Chris gave, but I feel Chris could be guarded in interviews, and careful about what he said. Reiff states that as a young man, Chris fell so in love with Susan Silver that it scared him. Yet when married to his second wife, Chris said the marriage to Susan was "abusive", and a "mistake from the beginning". How did things get so nasty between Chris and Susan, with the constant lawsuits? Why was Lily brought into the world, (she started her life in a petri dish according to Chris), when he was deep into drug and alcohol abuse, and stated he was unhappily married? His marriages and children are only briefly touched upon. There is almost nothing mentioned about the intervention that got Chris into rehab in 2002. Tim Commerford flew to Seattle to look for Chris, and ended up in jail for attacking the man who was supplying Chris with drugs. Again, for a "biography", so much is left out. I wanted to know much more. Hopefully, in the future, when the lawsuits are over and settled, someone will write another book about this man, that is more in depth. Because that is what a biography should be.

I was disappointed in this book. I thought it was going to talk about Chris Cornell's life. The majority of the book is about Soundgarden and how the band got started. If you are interested in most of the gigs they played and the other band members coming and going, this is the book for you. It tells very little about Chris Cornell's personal life. There are interviews from music mags, talk shows, and such, but is that really personal? I became a fan of Chris after he had left his bands and I wasn't really expecting a rehash about his life in them.

My late teens and early twenties were enhanced by the music of Chris Cornell and Soundgarden. His death left me numb, and I still cannot understand it. This book allowed me to get to Chris and his passion for music. I highly recommend this book if you love music and want to learn about a musician who cared deeply for getting it right. If you were a fan of Cornell, Soundgarden, and/or Audioslave it is absolute required reading. Outstanding - I go 10 stars if Amazon would let me.

Outrageous!!! A page turner from the word go!! An excellent job of writing by author Corbin Reiff!! As soon as I finished it I started to read it again! Corbin takes you on a journey inside the band- you can feel what it’s like trying so hard to become mainstream BIG while not pandering to the masses. This book is FULL of insightful and very interesting chapters that doesn’t pull any punches and tells it like it is. I was, and still am a HUGE Grunge and Soundgarden fan and this book was exactly what I was hoping for- A WILD ride that takes you inside the mind of Chris Cornell and allows you to feel the unbelievable work ethic and complete commitment he gave to become the absolute KING of Grunge! The book also covers his solo career, his days with Audioslave and his 2012 reunion and King Animal Tour. The only problem is the ending......R.I.P. Chris! You are missed more than you’ll ever know. ~K. 😢

Big Chris Cornell fan but perhaps didn't get into him till his latter career era and not so big on the back catalogue of Soundgarden. This isn't the longest book in the world by any stretch of the imagination, however, it took me an absolute age to get through cause just over 50% of the book goes through the formation and life and times of Soundgarden's first time through the mill rather than the stuff a lot fans who were not sound garden fans loved about Chris Cornell. The latter half of the book, I though moved really quick on the other hand and crammed a lot in that I'd have loved more detail on. As I started to enjoy Corbin Reef's account of what happened during the life of Chris Cornell, the book was over and left me wanting more. Ironically this perhaps mirror's the life of the person the book is about and how it tragically ended.If you're an early Chris Cornell Soundgarden person, defo the book for you and you can tell Reef writes with passion, regret, dismay and portrays genuine grief during sections regarding his own perspective on what happened. If you're an Audioslave, Songbook tour kinda person, you'll read it but it'll be a bit of a slog.As I mentioned, found it a real effort the first half of the book for the most part. There was some good stuff in the first half don't get me wrong but it was quite slow until the point when Soundgarden was coming to it's end. Nonetheless, feels like a must buy for any fan of Chris Cornell. The less is more word choice/ count used to describe how it ended for Chris was also quite powerful too.

I was disappointed with both the style and content of this biography of Chris Cornell. The book reads more like a simple account of his musical accomplishments, and not an exploration of his life and development as an artist. It was clear from the content that the author has cobbled together biographical material that is readily available online and in existing biographical sources (Grunge is Dead, Everybody Lovers Our Town, Spin, etc.). There is very little (if any) new information or in-depth interview material that sheds light on his character, personality or emotional essence.Chris Cornell was one of the most creatively charged and multi-talented musicians to come out of the late 80's and early 90's modern music scene. He almost single handedly drove the musical entity that was Soundgarden. The rest of the band are all excellent musicians in their own right, but it was Cornell who was at the creative core of the band, and whose songwriting and performing skills catapulted them above the rest of the Seattle music scene.This book does little to delve into the life events that fueled his ascendancy to musical genius, nor provides insights into how his personality was shaped by the people and circumstances he encountered in his youth. It provides almost no in-depth details on his personal relationships with the rest of Soundgarden or Audioslave, members of the musical community or his manager/first wife. There was also no exploration of the circumstances behind the controversy that erupted between his widow and the remaining members of Soundgarden after his death.Unfortunately it will probably be some time before a detailed, introspective biography of Chris Cornell appears, most likely by someone within his inner circle who decides to come forward and provide the world with a more personal and insightful look into this amazing and complex man's life, and tragic death.

Love Chris Cornell and this book means a lot for me! Thank you!

The beauty of this book is it's both a biography, but also a back catalogue - as it's narrative adheres closely to the music of Chris and Soundgarden - you find yourself re-listening to his entire career and musical legacy as you read through the book -

This book was well written and well researched. I respect that it was written from the point of view of a fan, but it doesn’t beat the reader over the head with with fetishism. I followed the author through Chris’s story learning, feeling and adding my own reminiscing to the impact. It’s like talking with a friend about something you both were passionate about. This biography does Chris Cornell justice. This should be a definite read for music fans, especially those who grew up with the music of the nineties.