In 1998, grunge was declared dead when Soundgarden broke up. The pioneers of the genre fell out and with Pearl Jam being the only band at the time carrying the dim torch, grunge was buried. A year after the Soundgarden split, singer Chris Cornell released his solo debut, Euphoria Morning. What fans had come to appreciate about Chris at the time was his voice, Cornell ranks high as one of the greatest rock and roll vocalists of all time, probably behind Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant and his thunderous vocal chords took to a more blues and romantic sound with Euphoria Morning. It was a far cry from the storm of rock and roll he had created before, this was not Chris Cornell the singer, this was Chris Cornell the musician. Produced by Cornell himself and husband and wife duo, Natasha Shneider and Alain Johannes and with assistance from Soundgarden drummer, Matt Cameron on drums, Cornell wrote some of his most introspective and best songs for his first venture on his own. With some songs that had arrangements with woodwinds and piano, Cornell's fans responded well when the record sold 75 thousand copies it first week, however, not the numbers the label was expecting. Yet, for Cornell, numbers did not matter, he showed another side of himself as a songwriter and musician that proved he could do it on his own. Sometimes coming from a band on your own may even be harder than coming from nowhere without any preconceived notion. Euphoria Morning is Cornell at his best and what helped him land the job as the front man for Audioslave with the former members of Rage Against the Machine a few short years later.