Remembering That Time Chris Cornell Provided A Song For The First Avengers

Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell passed away last week. Cornell will be remembered for many milestone moments in his career, including helping to pioneer the 1990s grunge movement, winning multiple Grammy Awards and being nominated for several more along with plenty of other music industry honors.

Marvel fans have another reason to remember Cornell. In 2012, Cornell wrote the song “Live to Rise” for Soundgarden. The song never appeared on a Soundgarden album, but was the rock theme song for Marvel’s the Avengers and the breakout single from the compilation album Avengers Assemble: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t typically known for the kind of tie-in anthems that at one time seemed to go hand-in-hand with superhero and other blockbuster films, which makes Cornell and Soundgarden’s contribution all the more special. A music video for “Live to Rise” was also filmed and released and includes footage from Marvel’s The Avengers.

“Live to Rise” also marked a milestone for Soundgarden and their fans as it was the first single fully recorded and released following the band’s 2010 reunion (singles “Black Rain” and ‘The Telephantasm,” both released in 2010, were each at least partially recorded prior to the band’s first breakup).

So if you’re a Marvel fan looking to pay respects to Cornell, “Live to Rise” may be the most appropriate way of doing so. The “Live to Rise” music video is included above.

Cornell was found dead in his hotel room on May 17. Police officials say that Cornell’s death was an apparent suicide, though his wife disputes that claim.

Cornell’s career as a musician spanned over 30 years, including fronting Soundgarden and then Audioslave, time as a solo act, and several other side projects.

In Marvel’s The Avengers, when Thor’s evil brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), gains access to the unlimited power of the energy cube called the Tesseract, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of S.H.I.E.L.D., initiates a superhero recruitment effort to defeat the unprecedented threat to Earth. Joining Fury’s “dream team” are Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

Marvel’s The Avengers was written and directed by Joss Whedon and stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård, and Samuel L. Jackson.

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