These days, everyone has catchphrases. For President Barack Obama, it was “Change We Can Believe In.” For former President Bill Clinton, it was “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” For singer-songwriter Chris Cornell, the catchphrase of the year has been “album-oriented album,” which he has used in nearly every interview to describe his upcoming record, Scream.
For those of you who do not know Cornell, he is one of the most prolific rock singers of the past 20 years. From his early days singing lead for grunge pioneers Soundgarden to his more recent work with Audioslave, a supergroup he formed with members of Rage Against The Machine, his voice has become iconic. In 2007, however, Cornell split with Audioslave and has since been working on a solo career. For Scream, he decided to go in a slightly different direction, collaborating with famed pop producer Timbaland to fuse his rock sensibilities with a more dance-oriented, R&B-ish beat. Hardly a surprise for a singer whose favorite artists growing up were R&B acts such as Earth, Wind, & Fire. Unfortunately, this unexpected turn in his musical style has angered some fans — with blogs such as “Save Chris Cornell” serving as evidence.
While the album is not yet released, Cornell has already started releasing singles and videos for the album, including the title track. In my opinion, many modern music videos are ineffective artistically. Most are too esoteric for viewers to understand or having nothing to do with the song. In the video for “Scream,” though, Cornell and director Alan Ferguson team up to make a great, representative clip.
The video begins with Cornell, who plays the song’s main character, and a woman, who is assumed to be Cornell’s significant other, driving home after a party. The woman is clearly irate, screaming at Cornell — who stares straight ahead and pretends not to hear her while singing the song. This leads the viewer to believe that this scene is taking place inside the main character’s head. The scene continues in a hotel room after the pair’s car breaks down, and the woman’s anger becomes more intense. This scene fits well with the lyrics, which describe a failure of communication between the main character and his lover. Calm, rational discussions regarding disagreements end up devolving into shouting matches, hence the refrain, “I said hey / why you keep screaming at the top of your head?”
The final scene takes place in an art museum. Cornell sits in between a young boy and girl making fun of each other, drawing a direct comparison with the argument in the previous scene. The atmosphere in the museum is otherwise calm, with the lyrics reflecting many of the same themes as before. Then, without warning, everyone in the museum starts arguing with each other, and the scene descends into chaos, with one woman even pushing her male companion through a glass window. Here, the video applies the principles discussed in the previous scene to a more general context, illustrating what would happen if bad communication plagued all human relationships like the character’s. The lyrics shift slightly as the song closes, with the lines, “Silence is golden / I used to think that silence was golden.” The character acknowledges his own shortcomings in effective communication.
Currently, the video is available for viewing on YouTube. If you like it, I would strongly encourage you to grab a copy of the album when it comes out March 10 and check back here for a review.
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