I don’t really watch a lot of late night TV, know what I’m saying? Since Arsenio went off the air in ’94, I don’t feel as though there’s been a late night host that represents me. But I got swept up in all the team CoCo brouhaha and I’ve watched the first two episodes on TBS-both of which have been pretty good (I wish I could say the same for George Lopez, who has good guests but is absolutely horrid as a host).
Conan’s musical guest on his show’s second night was the newly-reunited Soundgarden. This had to be the next step for lead singer Chris Cornell following his universally-reviled Timbaland-helmed “Scream” album. Despite the inconsistent quality of his music, one thing Cornell has never lost is his voice. From a pure vocal power standpoint, he is the rightful heir to Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, and he doesn’t appear to have lost a step more than fifteen years after Soundgarden’s commercial apex, 1994’s “Superunknown”.
“My Wave” was always my favorite song from that particular album, and although it doesn’t get the same love as “Black Hole Sun” (or even “Spoonman”, it’s still a rocking-ass song, given extra lift via Cornell’s hair-raising yells.
(and you can check out Soundgarden’s performance of “Black Rain” on “Conan” here):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo7JA1Xm04g