The Tentative 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 of 2017.

Behind the Scenes of the Unreleased Album

Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, initiated a legal battle in late 2019 when she filed a lawsuit against the remaining members of Soundgarden — Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd — alleging that the tracks Cornell had been working on prior to his death were property of the singer only, and thus the property of his estate.

Soundgarden responded to the suit and countersued Vicky the following year, asserting that the seven tracks were property of the whole band, as they’d been working on them as early as 2015 and had email exchanges discussing them.

In their suit, they noted seven songs that they had been working on as a band before Cornell’s death, and cited various multi-day recording sessions that they had booked at Strange Earth Studio in Seattle between August of 2016 and January of 2017.

The parties have since come to an agreement to release the recordings. You can read their joint statement at the bottom of the page.

The Tentative Titles of the Songs on Soundgarden’s Unreleased Album

The suit contained a table, which showed the song titles, whether the vocals were finished, the songwriting credits and the running time for each.

According to the table, the tracks 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 completed for all seven songs, and Cornell had songwriting credits on all of them.

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

Details About the Songs on Soundgarden’s Unreleased Album

On the aforementioned table, there is a footnote marked next to the track “Stone Age Mind.” Read it below.

The song “Stone Age Mind” was brought 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 intent is provable by, amongst other evidence, an email from Cornell to the Band dated March 3, 2017, in which Cornell states of the song: “Needs you guys for it to sound right….I think it needs work with all of us in a room. Once I sang on the chorus I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so all three are different…Anyway, we will improve it when we get in a room.” On that basis, it is believed that audio files of this song would have instrumental parts, as well as vocals, possibly performed solely by Cornell, but would still be Band property.

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

When he died, Cornell was in sole possession of unique audio files embodying digital multi-track recordings in the process of being produced by both Cornell and the Band for the new planned Soundgarden studio album governed by 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 augment such Band recordings; and (d) other recordings intended by Cornell for Soundgarden’s use. The Album Files were stored on at least one (and perhaps more) of Cornell’s laptops, and perhaps on other of Cornell’s computers or devices.

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 suit also contains email exchanges between Cameron and Vicky, where the Cameron explained that they needed access to the late singer’s vocal recordings in order to finish writing the music for them.

Soundgarden + Vicky Cornell Came to an Agreement to Release the Music

In April of 2023, Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell shared a joint statement that both parties had come to an agreement that would allow the final songs the band was working on to be released.

Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell, on behalf of the Estate of Chris Cornell, are happy to announce they have reached an amicable out of court resolution. The reconciliation marks a new partnership between the two parties, which will allow Soundgarden fans around the world to hear the final songs that the band and Chris were working on. The two parties are united and coming together to propel, honor and build upon Soundgarden’s incredible legacy as well as Chris’s indelible mark on music history – as one of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of all time.