Most important NFL games now have halftime entertainment. Gone are the days when people would just spend the time getting refreshments or going to the bathroom. Fans must not be able to spend any time at a game without being shown a spectacle, it seems.
Such is the case with the first game of the new league season, when the Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots on Wednesday, September 9, at Lumen Field. Since it is the opening game, a halftime show is a necessity. The band performing at halftime will be Soundgarden.
That is where things get complicated. Soundgarden is, of course, one of the more important grunge-era bands, and grunge began and was perfected in the Pacific Northwest. The group had a fantastic frontman in Chris Cornell and excellent musicians, such as guitarist Kim Thayil.
Soundgarden picked to play halftime between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots
Unfortunately, Cornell died by suicide in May 2017. The group has continued, and while the excellent Taylor Momsen has sung with Soundgarden recently and will do so again during halftime, the band will always be missing Cornell, much like Joy Division would always miss Ian Curtis.
After Curtis's suicide, the band kept making music, but under the name of New Order, of course. Before Curtis's death, the band had made a pact that if any founding member left for any reason, a name change should be made. After all, Joy Division without Curtis isn't really Joy Division.
As great as Soundgarden was, the group isn't the same without the voice of Cornell. That is meant with no disrespect to Momsen. She fronts her own good band, the Pretty Reckless, and her making music with the rest of Soundgarden is promising, but a name change for the group would be better, too.
Otherwise, Momsen will be viewed as Cornell's substitute, not a worthy replacement, which she definitely is. That said, Thayil and others have a right to call themselves whatever they want and have earned that right, but being the halftime of the first game of the NFL season and doing so in Seattle seems off.
A better choice, and maybe the only other one due to the deaths of so many fantastic frontmen, such as Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, would have been to ask Pearl Jam to perform at halftime. There will be a taste of Pearl Jam while Soundgarden plays, though.
Guitarist Mike McCready will be a temporary part of Soundgarden for the halftime show. That's fitting. The shame is that Chris Cornell will be missed.
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