Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell has done a new 28 minute video interview with 3news.co.nz where he discusses his acoustic shows, Soundgarden’s reunion, MTV’s role in the Grunge explosion, and Temple of the Dog. Chris says that he loves experimenting with new things musically as far back as the early Soundgarden days when he would write strange songs that didn’t quite fit Soundgarden. He said before doing Temple of the Dog he didn’t know if he could successfully make music outside of Soundgarden, but Temple of the Dog proved to him that he could do it and it made him eager to explore further musically in the future with projects like Audioslave.

When talking about Soundgarden’s reunion he mentioned that their new music is neither nostalgic or latching onto a current trend, it’s the music they want to make. He also said that there now aren’t bottles of Jack Daniels around when they’re making music, he said it wasn’t a conscience decision they discussed but it’s made their writing and recording far more productive.

Another interesting thing Chris talked about was how MTV was vital in the success of bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden during the Grunge explosion. He also mentioned that Bleach is his favorite Nirvana album. He also discussed the Songbook shows, saying how much he enjoys the interaction with the crowd. Great interview, it’s always interesting to hear Chris talk.

Click here to watch the interview.