Chris Cornell's Sunshower was played many times over on NU-107. And yet, I didn't bother listening to it from start to finish. I might have found Cornell's vocals too raw, or the song gained radio airplay at a time when my sound preference had already shifted to Electronic music.
It is only when the song was played - for the last time - by the same radio station did it hit me with elegiac discontent. "Why only now?!?" I bemoaned while leaning my forehead against the glass surface next to the disc jockey's booth. Maybe it was the pervading glum that allowed me to absorb the message and the climactic vocals near the Outro served as my soft pillow that evening. I was grieving and Sunshower made me feel it wasn't the end.
Alternative music lives.
Released in 1999 as a bonus track for Cornell's first solo studio album "Euphoria Morning," the single was also featured in the Great Expectations' soundtrack album.
Chris Cornell went on to become the front man of the rock supergroup Audioslave. He seldom spoke about his first solo album, which flopped commercially. Sunshower on the other hand edged closer to being forgotten. No explanation was ever given as to what the single is all about. Yet, for all its obsolesce, the song plays best when everything around seems to crumble. It is a depressingly uplifting song that leaves you hoping - for better days - even when the timeline remains uncertain.