Taylor Momsen Explains The Impacts Of Chris Cornell’s Death Over The Writing Process Of Pretty Reckless’ 2021 Album

The Pretty Reckless frontwoman Taylor Momsen opened up about how the passing of Soundgarden lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell affected the creating process of the band’s brand new album, ‘Death by Rock and Roll’ during a recent interview with Untitled Magazine.

As many of you know, The Pretty Reckless performed as an opening act for Soundgarden at the Fox Theatre on May 17, 2017. That was the night when Chris Cornell’s bodyguard found him unconscious in the bathroom of his hotel room after the performance. Cornell was lying on the floor with a band around his neck and blood in his mouth which revealed that the cause of death was a suicide by hanging.

Taylor Momsen once opened up about what really happened that night during an interview and apparently, it was very traumatic for Momsen as she said goodbye to Chris and gave him a hug before he left. Momsen also revealed that she started crying the minute she saw the news about Chris and healed herself through music.

During a recent interview, Taylor Momsen revealed that the tragic passing of Chris Cornell made ‘Death by Rock and Roll’ possible in addition to stating that the tour with Soundgarden started incredibly, however, ended tragically since she has always been a huge fan of Soundgarden.

Along with this, Taylor Momsen also opened up about the decision to call off the rest of The Pretty Reckless’ tour and stated that she had to cancel everything because of the fact that she was not in a good headspace after the whole heartbreaking incident.

Here is what Momsen said:

“100%. Not to immediately get very heavy, but there is no way to speak about this record without talking about it. We were on tour with Soundgarden which was just the most amazing experience of my life. I’m the biggest Soundgarden fan in the world so to be opening for them and to be on that tour was absolutely incredible and then to have it end so tragically – a shock is an understatement. We were all just devastated. We were still in the middle of touring at the time, we were promoting our last record and we had another year of touring planned. We played a few shows after that but I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t in a good headspace to be public – I couldn’t get on stage every night and fake my way through a show when I was dealing with my own personal grief.

So I took a step back and I canceled everything. I needed to go home to process this in my own time and not in front of the entire world. So we did that and left touring – which was not the best business decision but it was something that I really needed to do. Chris’s passing really affected all of us deeply. Soundgarden was one of the reasons we all bonded in the first place over 10 years ago. It was The Beatles and Soundgarden – so we were all going through it together. I started to write again and I was calling them and I was saying we need to move forward, let’s get in the studio – I have a few songs I don’t know what they are for, I don’t know if it’s for a record or an EP or just maybe nothing but let’s start doing something.”

You can see the source of the interview by clicking here.