The preliminary song titles from Soundgarden’s unreleased album

Here are the tentative song titles from Soundgarden’s unreleased album, which they were working on before Chris Cornell’s death in May 2017.

Behind the scenes of the unreleased album

Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, began a legal battle in late 2019 when she filed suit against the remaining members of Soundgarden – Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd – claiming that the tracks Cornell had worked on before his death were solely the singer’s property and therefore the property of his estate.

Soundgarden responded to the lawsuit and filed a countersuit against Vicky the following year, claiming that the seven tracks were the property of the entire band because they had worked on them as early as 2015 and discussed them via email.

In their lawsuit, they cited seven songs they had worked on as a band before Cornell’s death and mentioned several multi-day recording sessions they had booked at Strange Earth Studio in Seattle between August 2016 and January 2017.

The parties have now agreed to publish the recordings. You can read the joint statement at the bottom of the page.

The preliminary titles of the songs on Soundgarden’s unreleased album

The lawsuit included a table that listed the song titles, whether the vocals were finished, information about the songwriters, and the running time of each song.

According to the chart, the songs were tentatively titled “Road Less Travelled,” “Orphans,” “At Ophians Door,” “Cancer,” “Ahead of the Dog,” “Merrmas,” and “Stone Age Mind.” The vocals were marked as complete on all seven songs, and Cornell was credited as a songwriter on all of them.

Thayil and Shepherd were each mentioned on one track, Cameron on three. The total running time of all seven tracks is over 29 minutes.

Details about the songs on Soundgarden’s unreleased album

There is a footnote next to the title “Stone Age Mind” on the table above. Read it below.

The song “Stone Age Mind” was introduced to the band by Cornell shortly before his death, but was intended by Cornell to be a band track for the planned new album. This intention is evidenced, among other things, by an email from Cornell to the band dated March 3, 2017, in which Cornell says of the song: “To make it sound right, it needs you guys… I think we all need to work on it in a room. After I sang the chorus, I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so all three are different… Anyway, we’ll improve it when we’re in a room.” On this basis, it is assumed that audio files of this song would contain instrumental parts as well as vocals, possibly performed exclusively by Cornell, but still owned by the band.

The band has written a definition of the album files, which you can read below.

At the time of his death, Cornell was in sole possession of unique audio files containing digital multitrack recordings that had just been produced by Cornell and the Band for the new planned Soundgarden studio album subject to the Universal Recording Agreement (collectively, the “Album Files”). Specifically, the Album Files consist of: (a) the seven unreleased sound recordings; (b) other band recordings, including band performances of songs, “riffs and jams” from the Band’s recording sessions in 2015, 2016 and 2017; (c) Cornell’s overdubs and other material produced by Cornell to supplement such band recordings; and (d) other recordings intended by Cornell for Soundgarden. The Album Files were stored on at least one (and possibly more) of Cornell’s laptops and possibly on other computers or devices owned by Cornell.

Furthermore, the document states that the song “Ahead of the Dog” was originally written for the band’s 2012 album. King Animal, and was titled “Summer Tiger”.

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The lawsuit also includes an email exchange between Cameron and Vicky in which Cameron explained that they needed access to the late singer’s vocal recordings in order to complete writing music for her.

Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell have agreed to release the music

In April 2023, Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell announced in a joint statement that both parties had reached an agreement that would allow the release of the final songs the band was working on.

Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell, on behalf of the estate of Chris Cornell, are pleased to announce that they have reached an amicable out-of-court settlement. The reconciliation marks a new partnership between the two parties that will allow Soundgarden fans around the world to hear the final songs the band and Chris worked on. The two parties are united and coming together to advance, honor and expand Soundgarden’s incredible legacy as well as Chris’ indelible impact on music history – as one of the greatest songwriters and singers of all time.