Taylor Momsen's name will always carry an association with Soundgarden. Her band, The Pretty Reckless, were chosen to support the Seattle grunge legends on their ill-fated 2017 North American tour, which was tragically cut short, 12 dates in, when Chris Cornell died by suicide on May 17, following a show at the Fox Theatre in Detroit.
Since then, Momsen's ties with the surviving band members have only grown stronger. Momsen was one of the guest vocalists who fronted the band at the epic January 16, 2019 Cornell tribute concert I Am The Highway, held at The Forum in Inglewood, California. On the night, Momsen sang Badmotorfinger-era single Rusty Cage alongside Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron, a performance that would be reprised when Soundgarden were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on November 8 last year. Thayil and Cameron guested on The Pretty Reckless' 2021 album Death By Rock And Roll, on the song Only Love Can Save Me Now.
"Chris Cornell’s work speaks to me on a level that nothing else does," Momsen says in a new interview with NME. "When something touches you that way, it’s hard to put into words just exactly why. There is just this connection, and it’s like it is speaking to you on a level that is so deep that it feels like a part of you. I’ve listened to his solo work and to Soundgarden so many times, but every time I listen to them, it evokes something different in me.
"There is the sheer amount of depth and sensitivity and aggression… [but] also, it’s so smart. It’s musically exquisite and complex — like this never-ending onion where you discover something new about it and about yourself every time you listen to it. I think that is so powerful and so fucking rare. It’s coming from a place that’s so deep and so powerful that it touches your soul."
In the same interview, Momsen is asked for her thoughts on the as-yet-unreleased Soundgarden album that the surviving band members are currently at work on.
"Oh, man, I don’t think that’s my place to talk about," the singer replied. "But what I will say though is that I love those guys. I’m so excited and proud of them and everything that they are doing, and just stay tuned.”
Of that album, guitarist Kim Thayil says, "It's important for the legacy of Soundgarden, It's important for the legacy of Chris Cornell. It is doing right by our collective work. It is doing right by our partner and friend."
