Former Soundgarden and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron opened up about his late bandmate Chris Cornell and how he continues to process his passing.
Cameron reflected on what made Cornell such a singular presence and talent from an early age.
“Chris is just one of those guys that had it,” Cameron said. “He had it from when he was 18, the X factor that you can’t teach; you can’t go to Berklee [College] of Music [to learn it]. There’s a presence, but there’s also like… this sense of identity, kind of knowing who you are, and what you want to do with a certain aspect of your life.”
He went on to describe the charisma Cornell carried even during the band’s early, humble days.
“He had that like early on, and he worked his ass off,” Cameron continued. “He was always working a full-time job. We were all working day jobs back then, but he had that effect on people. It’s like, ‘Whoa.’ When someone with that kind of charisma walks into a room, you’re just like, ‘Who’s this?’ You feel the energy change in a room somehow.”
Cameron then turned to the lasting impact of Cornell’s death and the ongoing grieving process for those closest to him.
“I’m still feeling it (his loss). I know his family’s still feeling it. His fans are,” he said. “It’s been a hard process for all of us, as you can imagine. But at the same time, it’s also been you know a a chance for me to learn and to try to figure out the best way for me to move forward without thinking about all the other stuff, of the hugeness of the of the fallout, because the fallout’s been pretty massive.”
He also spoke about the personal void left behind and the difficult questions that come with loss.
“I miss him. I think about him. I wish he was still here,” Cameron said. “You know, I wish I could have talked to him some more or something. When that does happen to a family, because we’re definitely family, you’re just left with all those stages of grief. One of the main ones is, like, ‘Why? Could I have done something different?'”
Cameron closed by acknowledging that healing from such a loss follows no set path.
“So, once I got past that point personally, I was able to process it better,” he said. “It’s a universal thing, but also… there’s no rule book for how to process it.”
Cameron’s words carry the weight of nearly a decade of grief, one that stretches back to the night the music world lost Cornell for good.
Cornell died on May 18, 2017, hours after performing with Soundgarden at Detroit’s Fox Theatre. He was found in his hotel room at the MGM Grand. The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a suicide by hanging. He was 52 years old.
An autopsy later confirmed that several substances were present in Cornell’s system at the time of his death. Medical examiners determined that none of them contributed to the cause of death. The findings reinforced that his passing was the result of the hanging alone, closing the door on early speculation about what led to that night.
Nearly a decade later, Soundgarden’s legacy received a long-overdue honor. In November 2025, the band was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Cameron was among the members recognized for the induction, alongside Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and Hiro Yamamoto.
The induction stands as one of the clearest signs of how deeply Cornell’s voice and songwriting shaped rock music, even years after his death. For Cameron and his surviving bandmates, moments like these serve as a celebration of what Soundgarden built together. They also serve as a reminder of the friend and frontman they continue to carry with them.
