Chris Cornell Tells Howard Stern How He Wrote ‘Black Hole Sun’ Before Performing the Song Live in Studio

In 2007, the now tragically late singer Chris Cornell appeared on The Howard Stern Show and performed a haunting acoustic version of his iconic Soundgarden song “Black Hole Sun”. Before doing so, Cornell shared with host Stern how he wrote the song. Cornell stated that it was mostly written in his head while driving home.

I was in a car driving home, like at 4 AM…I tried to keep it revolving so I wouldn’t forget. I went inside and whistled it into a tape recorder, which I never listened back to but just in case I forgot it. And the next day I wrote out the lyrics – but I did have the lyrical idea at the time.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.