Chris Cornell

The Best and Worst Bond Themes of All Time

There are plenty of reasons to be excited about Skyfall, the newest installment in the venerable James Bond movie franchise (fifty years and counting): Daniel Craig is back as Bond, Javier Bardem as the new Bond villain, Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes bringing it all together with wit and grace. But our first indication that this one might be something special came a few weeks back, when we got a listen to Adele’s moody, smoky theme song for the film. It’s got a big, brassy sound that immediately recalls Shirley Bassey, who became the signature voice of the Bond movie theme songs (and while she only did three of them, that’s two more than anyone else), and digging up Bassey’s tunes sent us down a YouTube rabbit hole of Bond themes. As you might expect, over the course of fifty years there have been some timeless, immortal songs; there have been others that, to put it charitably, haven’t aged quite so well. After the jump, we’ve picked our five best, four worst, and one in between of the Bond themes thus far. Some controversies may erupt, so by all means, throw in your two cents in the comments. … Read More

Chris Cornell Is Completely Insane: A Quiz

In an effort to prove the sound-mindedness of his universally disparaged collaboration with Timbaland, Chris Cornell released an unnecessarily massive mix-tape on Monday. As far as we can figure it, Cornell’s intention is to justify his terribly misguided excursion into the murky realm of genre-blending by providing 63 songs (!) that exemplify the artistic heights of the idea. Instead, the result is a hilariously murky mix-tape that inadvisedly mashes the likes of N.E.R.D. against Audioslave. After the jump, see if you can distinguish between the songs Cornell deemed worthy of inclusion on his compilation, and those that are merely absurd, Flavorpill-selected impostors. (Hint: only one track per group failed to receive the official Chris Cornell seal of… Read More

Exclusive: Talking Avant-Garde Electronics with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Like Kurt Vonnegut’s Dresden, the Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is burning itself to the ground, on purpose. From the beginning, the Dadaist cabaret’s spectacle of metal piping, industrial textures, gothic pantomime, and avant-garde electronics has attempted destroy music as we know it. Ashwin Sodhi, of Flavorwire’s sister publication Earplug caught up with with Matthias Bossi —  percussionist, curator of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and member of the (very) extended Vonnegut family — on the cusp of the band’s first national tour in two years, to talk Stockhausen, Neubauten, and “rock against rock.” … Read More

What's on at Flavorpill: Links that made the rounds in our office.

Today at Flavorpill, we decided it might be time to swear off pork (farewell sweet Bistro burger — we hardly knew ye…) for good. We prayed that a  “cannonball of comedy” called Wet Dreams that’s inspired by Michael Phelps is not in our cinematic future. We wondered if a world with Craig’s List… Read More

Chris Cornell Is Completely Insane: A Quiz (Answers)

1. And the impostor is?
a. California Wonderwall – 2pac & Oasis (Rock-it! Scientists Remix)
b. Boulevard Of Flashing Lights – Kanye West, Green Day & Oasis (Party Ben Mix)
c. Rise Up & Stay Fly – Three 6 Mafia & Yves Larock (Mikiwar Mix)

2. And the impostor is?
… Read More