Watch: Chris Cornell plays Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U,’ Soundgarden classic

Grunge pioneer Chris Cornell — who was in town to promote his new solo album, Higher Truth — recently stopped by the SiriusXM studios for an in-depth interview with Rolling Stone’s David Fricke and an intimate acoustic performance backed by cellist Bryan Gibson and fellow guitarist Keaton Simons.

Much like his ongoing acoustic tour for the album, he treated us to a variety of tracks spanning his storied career, including songs off the new solo album (Josephine, Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart), nods to his days with Soundgarden (Fell On Black Days) and Audioslave (Like A Stone), and an unexpected-but-beautiful cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U.

“The reason we are doing [Nothing Compares 2 U] is because I saw an interview with Prince not long ago, it was a talk show, and the host asked him, ‘Is it true that you hate it when people do covers of your songs?’,” Cornell explained. “And I was so surprised with the answer, which was ‘Yeah it really pisses me off.’ I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute, what makes Prince ‘Bob Dylan from Minneapolis Only Soul Songs’ is that other people have had career-defining moments doing one of his songs.’ So in direct defiance to Prince’s wishes, who is a hero of mine by the way … It’s one of those songs if you just had a relationship breakup, it’s going to make you throw up probably.”

Catch Chris on tour through October, ending November 2 at Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater. He’ll also be featured on Lithium’s Luminary Series, which spotlights groundbreaking 90’s alternative and grunge artists, all week long starting Oct. 12.

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