Chris Cornell’s posthumous compilation Chris Cornell was released on November 16, 2018. The collection put his solo recordings alongside Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and Audioslave, with a 17-track standard edition and a 64-track deluxe box. One song gave listeners something they hadn’t heard on those earlier records: “When Bad Does Good,” drawn from Cornell’s personal archive.
Cornell had produced, recorded and mixed the song himself. According to UMe’s announcement, his friend Josh Brolin reminded Vicky Cornell about the recording, prompting her to include it in the release. It first reached listeners in September 2018, ahead of the compilation. The official music video followed with the album, casting Cornell’s son Christopher as a younger version of his father delivering newspapers in Seattle.
Director Kevin Kerslake had already worked with Soundgarden on “Loud Love” and “Hands All Over.” The “When Bad Does Good” film incorporated locations and mementos connected to Cornell’s life, with lyrics from across his career appearing throughout Christopher’s journey. His son’s role made the tribute a family undertaking, while the references to Cornell’s writing connected the new recording to the catalog surrounding it.
Vicky assembled the collection with input from Cornell’s bandmates and friends, releasing it on behalf of his estate through UMe. She wanted it to represent the different parts of his life alongside his work as an artist. “This album is for his fans,” she said in the release announcement. Kim Thayil told Vulture in 2018 that his selections traced Cornell’s development as a singer and songwriter across different projects.
Even the shorter edition made room for different approaches to the same catalog. Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike” appeared alongside Cornell’s live solo version of “Call Me a Dog,” previously released on Songbook in 2011. The collection also selected the rock version of “Long Gone.” Those choices gave the retrospective room for Cornell revisiting his own material, as well as the original group recordings. His live SiriusXM performance of “Nothing Compares 2 U” added another previously unreleased recording to the standard album.
The deluxe edition expanded that archival side considerably. Its 64 tracks included 11 previously unreleased recordings, ten of them live performances. Among them were acoustic versions of “Wide Awake” and “All Night Thing” from Sweden in 2006, plus Temple of the Dog performances from the band’s 2016 reunion tour. That broader selection let listeners follow Cornell’s writing between full-band recordings and performances built around his voice and acoustic guitar.
The packaging carried the Seattle connection into the physical release. Jeff Ament handled creative direction, and limited-edition slipcases featured tree-line graphics on the front and imagery of other cities Cornell had lived in on the back. Booklets paired previously unpublished photographs with liner notes from his collaborators. Their recollections accompanied the music, giving the collection a personal history alongside its sequence of recordings.
“When Bad Does Good” went on to win Best Rock Performance at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Cornell’s daughter Toni and son Christopher accepted the award on his behalf.
